The process Of Making hand made Pottery Has Many Steps.
First, before I begin forming the pieces I start by weighing and wedging the clay. After the clay is prepared, the pieces are formed using the potter’s wheel or hand built using bisque forms.
If you would like to see me throw a pot on the wheel click the link below.
Thrown Plates
After pieces are formed, they must dry to the leather hard stage for trimming, smoothing and decorating.
Hand Painting
Each piece gets hand painted using a homemade black slip. I also use handmade clay stamps and sprigs to create each image or texture.
bisque firing
After the pieces are completely bone dry, they are loaded into a bisque kiln and fired to 1915 degrees.
After The bisque firing
Pieces are prepared for glazing by sanding and waxing the bottoms.
underglaze
Birds, flowers and other images and textures are hand painted before layers of translucent glaze are applied.
Glaze Firing
Pieces are then fired in a second firing. This glaze firing is up to 2250 degrees. The pieces become vitreous and are food safe.