Home • Handbuilder's Monthly

Explore the fine art and craft of clay work—making pottery and ceramic sculpture by hand. This is a special place for handbuilders who work in clay, love ceramics, and live for pottery—without needing a wheel. We discuss surfaces and marks, functional pots, clay sculpture, ceramic glazes and firing, how-to topics and expert tips.

Make a Ceramic Jack o Lantern Pumpkin

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Covid 19 Make a Pinch Form Teapot

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Covid Ceramics for Sanity Sake

We all know that artists habitually memorialize major events in their work. There are cave paintings in Lascaux, France and petroglyphs in Fountain Bluff, Illinois.… Read more

Ceramic Clay 3D Printing

3D printing is creating 3D solid objects from a model or digital plan on a computer. Such objects are built up layer by layer, in… Read more

A Dozen Quick Ceramic Tips from Potters

We’ve gathered a dozen quick ceramic tips from other potters and from our reading around the web. Got more quick ceramic tips? Post in comments,… Read more

Shawna Barnes on Ceramics Cold Finishing

Shawna Barnes is a good friend of HandbuildersMonthly.com. She is developing a quick course on cold finishing ceramic work. Cold finishing is, simply, applying color… Read more

Eugene Daub Ceramic Sculpture

Eugene Daub is an American ceramicist and sculptor working in both wet clay and oil-base clay. Eugene Daub ceramic sculpture can be massive memorials reliefs… Read more

Non-Fire Alternative Cold Finishes for Non-Functional Ceramics

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Bubble Glazing for Ceramic Surface Decoration

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Make a DIY Clay Shrinkage Ruler

You need a clay shrinkage ruler. The shrinkage rate of your clay is critical to handbuilding pieces that meet your needs an specifications. All clay… Read more

Making Durable Templates for Ceramic Slab Work

Jeff Heubner shows how to make very durable templates for ceramic slab work. He gave us permission to share his informative video with you. This… Read more

Julia Timm Overnight Ceramic Art Success in Just 14 Years

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How to Get Your Pottery and Ceramics into a Gallery

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Very Simple Wadding for Ceramic Clay Firing

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Yixing Ware Zisha Hu, the Best Teapots

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Stuff You Want to Know About Ceramics

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Alternative Firing Ceramic Artist Residency

Carolina Porras, Artist Residency Program Manager at Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, Colorado just notified us of a fully funded Elsewhere Studio Alternative Firing Ceramic Artist… Read more

Pump Up Your Creativity with Ceramics Notebooks

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Interesting Claybody Additions for Ceramic Texture

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Exploring Cubism and Clay Sculpture

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Ceramic Studio Safety

The beginning the new year 2018! Let’s review ceramic studio safety ideas. Whether you work in a community pottery studio, a school studio, or… Read more

Making Toshiko Takaezu Ceramic Moon Pots

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10 Awesome Pottery Blogs and Podcasts to Follow in 2018

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Ceramic Bisque Mender — Product Review

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Packing Ceramics Safely for Transport

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ClayScapes Pottery Glazes — Our Review

ClayScapes is a medium-small glaze company located in New York. First, I’ll say it is a pleasure to work with everyone at ClayScapes. They are… Read more

Thick Slip Ceramic Surfaces with Chase Gamblin

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ClayScapes Pottery Glazes — Review

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Video Lesson Innovative Clay Texture

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Learn Pottery Glazing Science Online. Easy!

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How to Make Chainmail from Clay

Some while back, we published two articles in our premium content about ceramicists who create wonderful art with rings of clay. This is known as… Read more

ClayShare Online Pottery Classes

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How to Make Photo Ceramic Gum Prints

I learned to make ceramic gum prints some time ago. It’s a messy process, but if you want to transfer a photo to a ceramic… Read more

Ana Leal’s Secrets of Amazing Glaze Combinations

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DIY Clay Sculptures on Armatures

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Rehydrate Dried Out Glazes

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Matthew Kennedy Tattoo Pottery

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Clay Facebook Groups Social Networking

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Clay Tools Storage DIY Solution

I’m a clay tool junkie. Actually, I’m addicted to tools for all of my avocations, not just to clay tools. Between Dan and I, our… Read more

ClayScapes Pottery Glazes — a great option!

Really quick post today. We just learned about ClayScapesPottery as an alternative source for glazes. Clawide variyScapes pottery glazes are a wide variety of beautiful… Read more

Developing Fresh Pottery Ideas Is Part of Your Ceramics Work

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Finding Pottery Ideas and Inspiration

We had a guest artist lined up to talk about finding pottery ideas and inspiration. At the last minute, she couldn’t break away from her… Read more

Glaze Making 101 with John Britt

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Make a Pottery Photo Box for Great Pics-DIY

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Incredible Pottery Seminar, Cheap!

Do you dream of finding an incredible pottery seminar, cheap? No matter how proficient you are as a potter, or how tremendous your teacher is,… Read more

Why We Hand Build Pots

I know how to throw. I can capably produce shapes and forms. But I hand build pots because handbuilding feels right to me. Is there… Read more

Ceramic Totems with Real Meaning

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Special Savings for Potters and Ceramicists

Here’s a review of special savings for potters and ceramicists. Some are exclusive to HandbuildersMonthly.com. Clay tools, glazes, shipping, transfers, and other deals. Some… Read more

Layering Clay Surface Designs

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Contemporary Ceramic Nativity—Perfect Summer Clay Project

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Annie Chrietzberg’s Online Ceramics Classes

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Potters Save $10 on Underglaze Transfers!

Slip transfers, underglaze transfers, rice paper transfers. They all mean the same thing—a lot of fun adding unique decorations to your clay surfaces. Spring is a… Read more

DIY Build a Plaster Clay Damp Box

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Using Mishima Inlay on Pottery

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Easy Terra Sigillata, Quick and Versatile Shine

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Cecil Kemperink’s Ceramic Links Sculptures

How Incredible Ceramic Chainmaille (Ceramic Chainmail) Techniques Can Become Sensual Art We stumbled upon an artist from The Netherlands, Cecil Kemperlink, who believes ceramic art… Read more

Cecil Kemperink’s Ceramic Rings Really Ring

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Advice for Repairing Ceramic Greenware

Note: This article is about repairing cracks in clay. It contains advice against repairing ceramic greenware. Recently, I came across an anecdote about a major American potter. … Read more

Slip Transfer Black and White Design

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8 Great Ceramic Fests—You Can Apply

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Call for Artists Deadline March 31, 2017!

Application deadline: March 31, 2017 Festival dates: July 15–16, 2017 Sheboygan, WI Artists from across the country are invited to apply for the Midsummer Festival… Read more

Get Inspired by Ceramic Tea Bowl, the Chawan

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19 Awesome Ways to Overcome Potter’s Block

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Portland in March NCECA 2017 Conference

Save the dates March 22-25 in Portland, ORE for the NCECA 2017 Conference. Online pre-registration is avilable to the end of February. You can also… Read more

Choose a Good Clay Body for Your Ceramic Studio

Even when you’ve worked in ceramics for a while, can you choose a good clay body for your studio? It takes some thought. Do you want… Read more

Can You Freeze Ceramic Clay to Preserve It?

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Painted Ceramic Table Trivet—Underglaze Painting

Painted Ceramic Table Trivet—Underglaze and Paper Resist This easy painted ceramic table trivet is a simple, versatile project that sells well in any season of… Read more

Clay Tools from Found Objects

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4 Clay Skills—Exercise Projects

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Make Your Own Clay Carving Tool

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Tony Furtado Sculpture and Banjo

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Aftcra Handmade Art Market

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Tom Vician: Casting Slip Recipe

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Magic Moon Face Pottery

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Make Raised Texture from Craft Foam

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Building a Soda Fire Kiln

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Ceramics Jobs Opportunities

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Clay Maker Mark, Chops, Signatures

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Recipe for a Raku Firing Slip

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Making Plaster Slump Molds

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Go for the Fall Pottery Tours

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Why Are We Wedging Clay, Anyway?

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Ceramic Lace Surfaces

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Barbecue Grill Firing Ceramics

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Fast Clay Bisque Image Transfer

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Safe Ceramic Surface Etching—with WATER!

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Clay Pot Water Filters for Peace

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Want Access to an Anagama Kiln?

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Round Vistas—Gary Carstens Ceramic Disc Art

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Make Clay Wedding Favors

I never though of making clay wedding favors, but what a terrific idea! I met ceramicist Terry Cervantes on Twitter, and she’s delightful. She was… Read more

Clay Artists Register Maker’s Marks

You know you’re serious about your pottery when you begin to think about a maker’s mark for your pots, clay sculptures and other works. It’s… Read more

Which National Clay Week?

Yep, it’s about to be National Clay Week in the U.S. The little-known holiday is celebrated in June each year. However, they may be about… Read more

Summer Art Fairs—an Assortment

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Handbuilding Jomon Pottery

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Making Ceramic Jewelry — Shawna Barnes

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Ceramicist Shawna Mayo Barnes

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Whale Tail Clay Spouts

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Lana Wilson Clay Surfaces

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Clay Cyanotypes

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Feathering Clay

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Raku Firing Basics

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Sarawak—Deaf Potters in Borneo

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Ceramics Programs and Opportunities

There are a myriad of outstandingly helpful ceramics programs and opportunities across the U.S. and around the world. Here a couple to consider as you… Read more

Hydrate Ceramic Clay Easily

These methods to hydrate ceramic clay work. Easy to do. Re-hydrate or reclaim or recycle stoneware, porcelain, terracotta, and most types of ceramic clay. The methods… Read more