Links to Favorite Ceramic Art Web Resources

Please provide brief descriptions and links to Websites you find useful and/or inspiring in your pursuit of ceramics enlightenment. I will start out with a few of my own here.

When you're trying to find specific information about the techniques of pottery the potters.org clayart discussions by subject, is the granddaddy of online information, with archives of discussion threads going back for many years. It's a little bit funky and a little bit clunky, because the listserve environment is really outdated, but there is a wealth of information to be mined with a little persistence. If you have a question, chances are someone else has had the same question, posted it, and gotten 5 or 10 responses, all right there for you to see.

Ceramics Arts Daily is a free online magazine for ceramic artists and potters. I believe it is from the publishers of Ceramics Monthly and is an excellent source for articles, inspiration, suppliers, subscriptions, glaze recipes, and all things clay. Added note 8/9/08 I've been subscribed to ceramics arts daily for about a month and a half now, and am upgrading my recommendation to MY FAVORITE ONLINE RESOURCE. The video demonstrations are really good. There are free booklets to download, and reviews and offers for ceramics related books and workshops.

DigitalFire Corporation is probably the best online source for those who want to swim in the deep end of the clay and glaze development pool. I believe you could start as a novice with the Websites maintained by this company, explore and test using their methods and emerge with the equivalent of a full year's worth of college study of glazes. Ceramic materials.info is a good place to start. DigitalFire has glaze software called Insight for developing glazes that automatically performs the calculations you use to evaluate and make sensible modifications to glaze recipes, substitute materials and generally make the glaze mixer's life easier. I had already gotten started with a competing software product, and didn't explore this software in depth, but it appears to be complete and very helpful.

Frog Pond Pottery is maintained by John Hesselberth. He is the author of Mastering Cone 6 Glazes and the creator of GlazeMaster glaze calculation software. I believe that using his book and software would give the glaze novice a pretty direct route to competence in the area of creating and perfecting glazes. It is the path I have chosen for myself, though I explore other sources as well.

Etsy is an impressive online arts and crafts marketplace. It is easy to join and listing an item costs 20 cents, selling an item costs the seller 3.5% of the sale price, plus paypal or other credit card transaction fees. I'm seriously thinking of giving this one a try.

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Permalink Reply by George Lewter on April 22, 2009 at 6:42pm

Scott Ziegler gets great color effects with slips

Working at Cone 6, he creates surreal creatures and uses commercial stains mixed with slip from his clay body to color his pieces. Check out the article on his work at Ceramic Arts Daily, which gives details of his decorating techniques. You might also want to visit his Website. Perhaps he will join our group? Added 3/18/09
Permalink Reply by George Lewter on September 29, 2009 at 4:55pm
We're talking a lot about single firing for many reasons. Contrarians might wish to view the multiple fired works of Adrian Sandstrom for some amazing pieces fired to cone 6 and downward.
Permalink Reply by Randy McCall on October 14, 2010 at 6:59pm
Permalink Reply by George Lewter on November 15, 2011 at 5:58pm

Robert Shaw by way of his wife found and passed along this blog for the Western Pennsylvania Potters Community.  It has a lot of cone 6 glaze tests with recipes and photos of the fired test tiles. http://wpapotters.blogspot.com/ Thank you, Robert.

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Low cost flat lapping disc can be used on you potters wheel if you, drill bat pin holes in it, and provide a trickle of water to cool it. At amazon.com, 120 grit for aggressive material removal. Click the image to purchase 

Members have had great things to say about John Britt's new book, Mid-Range Glazes. Click the image to buy from Amazon.com

Purchase Glazes Cone 6 by Michael Bailey, The Potters Book of Glaze Recipes by Emmanuel Cooper, or Making Marks by Robin Hopper, all available at amazon.com. Mastering Cone 6 Glazes by John Hesselberth & Ron Roy is now out of print.

Harbor Freight is a great place to find unbeatable prices for better HVLP spray guns with stainless steel parts and serviceable economy models, as well as detail guns, all tested by our members for spraying glazes, as well as compressors to power the guns. As yet no one has tested and commented on the remarkably inexpensive air brushes at harbor freight.

The critter siphon gun is a spray alternative that is well liked by some of our members, and is available at amazon.

Amazon is also a competitive source for photo light tents for shooting professional quality pictures of your work. They also have the EZ Cube brand favored by several of our members. You might also want to purchase the book Photographing Arts, Crafts and Collectibles . . .

If you are up to creating videos of your work or techniques you might want to invest in a flip video camera

Following are a few scales useful for potters. Ohaus Triple Pro Mechanical Triple Beam Balance, 2610g x 0.1g, with Tare $169.00

And finally a low cost clone of the OHaus. The Adam Equipment TBB2610T Triple Beam Mechanical Balance With Tare Beam $99.62

ebay is a great alternative for many tools and the equipment used in the ceramics studio - kilns, wheels, extruders, slab rollers are often listed there both new and used.

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