/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[Anonymous No.1899912]

Hey /diy/. Is it feasible to make your own ceramics? I want to make bowls, cups, whatever. Just for fun. Does it require a huge investment of time and space, an oven, etc to get started?

[Anonymous No.1900001]

>>1899912
Potter here. I've been doing it for 20-some years. I started out by taking community college classes. There are lots of craft school type classes around, too. They may or may not be closed right now due to the rona. Typically they cost $150-300 for a couple months. Usually recommend that as the best way to get started because you can focus on learning forming techniques while they help you with the glaze chemistry and kiln firing. You need a kiln to make ceramics. They range from piece of shit, barely working used ones to typical $2000 home-scale electric ones, up to $10,000 gas kilns. Hand-building tools are cheap as shit. Decent new electric wheels are about $1500, used ones less. Lots of old lady boomers who know what they got in the used marketplace. YT vids can get you started if you want to go solo. Firing is really hard to figure out how to do on your own.

What to do:
1. learn about formation (handbuilding/wheel throwing)
2. learn to load and operate a kiln
3. learn basic glaze making and formulation
4. learn to build kilns and become a firelord

Classes always cover 1 and often 2. Some schools teach 3. To learn 4 you have to seek out a master or rely upon the skills you've learned in the previous steps. Buying or building equipment is much easier after you have used equipment for some months.

Yes, it takes some space, but it depends on what you're making, and how big it is. Big work = big kiln. Big kiln = big space. Handbuilding = semi messy, but can be done almost anywhere. Wheel throwing = 5-10' radius mud splatter. Potters usually work in a basement, garage, or large shed workshop.

You will be able to technically make a pot in 1-14 days. A decent pot in 3-6 months. Something somebody would buy in 1-2 years. Really good stuff that would get into juried craft shows in 5-10 years.

[Anonymous No.1900010]

>>1900001
Prepared clay prices range from $.50-.60/lb (cheap, low-fire earthenware) to $1/lb or more (porcelain). For reference, a coffee mug would use about 1lb of wet clay. Typical glazes will cost $15-30 for a 5 gallon bucket if you make them yourself. Sky's the limit on premixed glaze prices. Electric kiln firings cost $10-15 per firing in electricity. Gas kiln firings cost $60-100 in fuel (dependent on size and type of fuel). You can make your own clay from sacks of raw minerals for cheaper, but I don't recommend it until after you learn glaze chemistry and firing, as you'll need to formulate the clay body for a specific temperature to work with the specific temperature your glazes fire to, and that your kiln is capable of.

[Anonymous No.1900013]

>>1900010
Skill and knowledge are earned, but talent is very real.

[Anonymous No.1900060]

>>1900001
>>1900010

This is pretty interesting stuff. Is it worth it to go into the business? Is there business online, or is a physical store necessary?

[Anonymous No.1900067]

>>1900001
>>1900010
this is the reddit version

OP, cheap chinese pottery wheels are 100% workable and are $140 on ebay
buy some low fire terra cotta clay ($25), spin it around and squish it into shapes or whatever, wait a month then cook it red-hot in a bonfire
if you think its fun and you wanna do glazes build a kiln and buy a big bucket of litharge
glaze chemistry is a scam, lead melts the best anyways
hope this helps!

[Anonymous No.1900274]

>>1900060
Uhh. I don't know if it is. Yeah, there's money to be earned, but it's a pretty rough, uphill battle. Unlike from 1980-2008 (the earliest part of my own experience and the tales of the boomer gen who taught me), now you have to convince people to care. I think people will care more again eventually, but we've been in rolling economic crisis modes for a generation. Money is just tight and this is not an indispensible trade like others. Sad but true. A large amount of sales occur (lol not now) in physical spaces like craft shows, street fairs, but online is gaining. Either way, it's a fun as shit hobby even if you don't do it for money.

>>1900067
Dude, really? Might as well dust greenware with galena and fatally poison yourself, your family, your dog, and all of your customers while the empire burns and 75% of your pots explode. I do not know of any good $140 wheels. Post a link. You can build a noble kick wheel or a treadle wheel for almost nothing though. You can low-fire terra cotta pots with low-tech firing (with a low success rate), but you need to apply actual kiln design priciples to build one that'll get hot enough to hit the low-end of permanent, long-lasting ware. Benchmark is about 2200ºF. Reddit? Fuck you. I've taught several groups of survivalist types over the years how to make pots with nothing. Are they good pots? No. Would they ever sell? No. Did they have a fun, practical knowledge of primitive ceramics? Yes.

[Anonymous No.1900321]

>>1900274
>Dude, really?
yeah

>Might as well dust greenware with galena
greenware fun-dip sucks, enjoy your crazing
galena sucks, enjoy your sulfur fumes
litharge + slip is all the glaze chemistry u need
just dont be a dummy and breathe it in, wash your hands, and vinegar test it afterwards
soluble lead? cook it hotter next time
ez pz


>I do not know of any good $140 wheels. Post a link.
literally just search "pottery wheel" on ebay
the cheap ones are all the same, i have one and it works well
just a little small because i'm not chinese

>You can low-fire terra cotta pots with blah blah blah
overintellectualizing
we're talking about cooking mud here
its so easy a caveman can do it

[Anonymous No.1900376]

>>1900321

[Anonymous No.1900488]

>>1900376
>he posted the graph
reddit confirmed

[Anonymous No.1900533]

>>1900488
I've never been to reddit.
I will break down why your opinions are stupid. I looked up the cheap electric wheels on ebay. They will probably give you a taste of wheel throwing, but they are toys. They do not have a strong enough torque to throw anything larger than 11 lbs, nor will they hold up to continuous use. Some people have said they struggle to center more than 5lbs of clay. Money is better spent finding a decent wheel used or spending $100 on materials to build a kick wheel or a treadle wheel.

My galena joke went so far over your head that I realized you do not know much about the history of ceramics. You accused dusting leather hard ware of causing crazing when you use slip glazes, which often craze upon drying due to the shrinkage rates of wet slips. Unless you are calcining a portion of your slip clays that is. Are you? Or are you just lucky and propagating pottery voodoo here? The vinegar test means absolutely nothing. Discoloration in acid does not prove or disprove poisonous chemicals are leaching into liquids. If you had ever sent glaze samples off to a lab you would know this from experience. You also could read it in a book or absorbed the info online at digitalfire or something. You're giving people advice bad enough to kill them.

[Anonymous No.1900569]

>>1900533
>They will probably give you a taste of wheel throwing, but they are toys.
>They do not have a strong enough torque to throw anything larger than 11 lbs
big dick toolman here with Real Tools from Real Brands, tell us more about your 50lb casserole dishes and coffee cups you need to make. also you've never used one of those wheels so your comment about how long they last is 100% fabricated

>My galena joke went so far over your head that I realized you do not know much about the history of ceramics.
nothing went over my head you absolute dweeb, i understood the historical reference to roman pottery methods and didn't comment on it because your joke sucked. i'm not suggesting OP hire boy-slaves to powder his pots with a pounce bag

>You accused dusting leather hard ware of causing crazing when you use slip glazes
yeah because pure PbO has a high COE and if it's just sitting on the surface it won't absorb enough silica and alumina to match the clay body. add slip to drop the COE and keep the lead in suspension, do some trial and error until you get a ratio that works

>The vinegar test means absolutely nothing.
check the vinegar for lead, dummy
precipitate any dissolved metals with sodium sulfide or just let it evaporate and see if anything's even there. use your brain

>You also could read it in a book or absorbed the info online at digitalfire or something.
wow hot damn didnt know this thanks man, never read a book before

>You're giving people advice bad enough to kill them.
>"don't breathe lead, don't eat lead, test your dishes for safety"
you are ridiculous, and people like you who prioritize safety over simplicity are what's ruining DIY culture. nobody's gonna buy a fuckin $2000 wheel because they're curious about pottery, and excluding the past 100 years nobody ever did

[Anonymous No.1900576]

>>1899912
before you invest in it you should try the no money version to see if you like it at all. im doing the following

refine clay from any dirt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbnp2lOHR8E

primitive technology channel clay with bon fire producing bisque

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mhtd8mFwNM

bon fire bisque another channel. there are a dozen vids like this with varying fire sizes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_ZU7yuvzw

[Anonymous No.1900577]

>>1900576
woops wring vid for primative technology its some asian kid in this it was in the list for search results and i clicked then copied it but its basically the same as the primative technology guys vid but not a bowl for the bon fire bisque

[Anonymous No.1900629]

>>1900569
Glad your wheel worked out for you. It is not ethical for me to continue to argue with you. Have a nice day.

>>1899912
Hope you enjoy ceramics, OP. It's pretty fun.

[Anonymous No.1900667]

These are the kind of autists involved in pottery. Buy yourself an old v8 shitbox and start wrenching instead OP, way more rewarding and fun.

[Anonymous No.1900675]

>>1900667
Mechanics are some of the dumbest white trash faggots I know. Of all the people to cast stones about the autists in a certain hobby, its not wise for a shade tree mechanic to pipe up. A large part of your hobby are literally people so poor, they have to own old shitbox v8s and work on them to survive.

[Anonymous No.1900741]

>>1900629
>Hope you enjoy ceramics, OP. It's pretty fun.

The whole needing an expensive kiln to do anything has kind of turned me off the endeavor. It would be difficult for me to find somewhere to make a bonfire as well. Still looking for an outlet to 'build' something.

[Anonymous No.1900744]

>>1900675
>fuck poor people
>fuck white people
How did I know?

[Anonymous No.1900746]

>>1900001
>>1900067
>>1900274
>>1900321
>>1900376
>>1900488
>>1900533
>>1900569

Why is clay drama so fun to watch

[Anonymous No.1900754]

>>1900746
I don't do drama. I have withdrawn from the interaction because I don't think it helped the OP get started in clay.

[Anonymous No.1900763]

>>1899912
yeh man, buy a wheel, a kiln and some clay and you're away. take a bit of practice, but it is not hard. humans been cranking out pottery for a thousands of years. like riding a bike m8.

[Caveman !ZrDebyJajE No.1900953]

>>1900321
True. I did ceramics in high school, because of the cute girls in there.

[Anonymous No.1901448]

>>1900746
i don't know jack shit about pottery but i have to agree, this is highly amusing.

[Anonymous No.1901483]

>>1900744
Yes, fuck poor people who wont get a job, yes fuck retarded white trailer trash.
Guess what, you have a bunch of dumb beaners putting skinny rims and a bunch of nigger putting huge rims on their shitboxes too.
There are all sorts of complete retards in your "hobby" of choice. Like I said, casting stones and the irony is palpable.

But since you want to make it about race, Pottery is literally a white persons hobby. You dont see niggers turning pottery my man.
The only thing worse than your retardation is your false sense of machismo

[Anonymous No.1901542]

lmao at you fags arguing about spending money on a bunch of hogwash chinesium mechanizations for something literal cavemen did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL52H3mnHpI

[Anonymous No.1901551]

>>1900569
>I'm not suggesting OP hire boy-slaves
Way to suck the fun out of everything, spoilsport

[Anonymous No.1901556]

>>1900569
>check the vinegar for lead, dummy
>use your brain

Kek, using your brain to detect lead content is a rather heavy handed, one time only approach.

[Anonymous No.1901619]

>>1900746
no, u

[Anonymous No.1901622]

>>1900013
effort beats talent every time

[Anonymous No.1901802]

>>1900576
This
I recently refined a 8-5lb chunk of clay from two runs -the geography of where I live is predominately limestone and sandstone, with fuck tons of silt and gravel -yet still got a minute result

Recommend for anyone trying to refine backyard dirt, pick up a strainer and about 3-6 5gal buckets, and some disposable shirts to cover the top of the bucket and tie with string. All in all, it was much easy and faster than I expected, but geographic soil chemistry plays a big part

[Anonymous No.1901804]

>>1900576
>>1900577
Pic update

[Anonymous No.1901807]

>>1899912
>ceramics
Get some tools for a real man and start carving some shit. Pottery is for pussies.
https://imgur.com/a/u9UteX5#mLSYN1M

[Anonymous No.1901841]

>>1901807
That you in the pic? Hope you got a good mask otherwise, silicosis is a bitch I hear -my uncle has a mean cough, been doing drywall since the 60-70s

And cement is just as demanding, if not more demanding than ceramics, you can see old dudes doing ceramics till they die, but the guys doing cement need a gaggle of helpers to keep things flowing -cement aint cheap either, right? I aint trying to shit on this, but at the same time, its hard to compare the two despite working with two seperate stoneware category

[Anonymous No.1901850]

>>1900001
Oh please, 20 years, what a joke. If you have an education you can spend 2-3 weeks reading about ceramics and another 2-3 getting used to the techniques and top all the soccer moms of the world and half the third world industrial producers. Specialized ceramics is an entire science but you can learn how to make pots in 3 hours

[Anonymous No.1901858]

>>1901841
it's calcium carbonate stone. granite is silicate but yes, i should wear a mask..

[Anonymous No.1901865]

>>1901858
*Limestone

[Anonymous No.1901941]

>>1899912
I grew up in a house doing pottery. It's gay and a completely useless skill today.

There are 2 ways to make ceramics:
1. Use a wheel, takes years to learn and much more difficult than every moron thinks - the higher the object the more skill it requires.

2. The easy way - you can build cups and vases out of tapeworm pieces of clay OR
by casting. Most stuff you buy, in fact all is just cast. It requires no skill.

Shit needs to dry slowly, you can use plastic bags to slow the drying.

If it dries too fast cracks will form.

If you don't coat the object with glazing powder (you dissolve it in water and dip your objects in it) then your cups will all leak. Clay naturally allows water through.

You need to fire the stuff once it dries in a 1000 degree oven, a shitty cooking oven won't do. You can take your shit to a place where they make bricks and they will fire it for you also.

If you ask me it's fucking gay. Just learn to use Blender
https://www.blender.org/
Same shit but you won't waste shit loads of money on it.

[Anonymous No.1902114]

>>1900741
Try building a treadle wheel and pit/barrel firing. That could get you started for hardly nothing. Personally, while glazing is cool and all... I do rather in enjoy the raw natural randomness that comes from pit firing and the aesthetic it creates. So I’d recommend looking into that and terra sig to start out.

[Anonymous No.1902192]

>>1901807
Damn, that is good!

[Anonymous No.1902205]

Best /diy/ thread in awhile, props to everyone involved

[Anonymous No.1902291]

Speaking of clay drama, everyone should do themselves a favor and watch The Great Pottery throwdown. It's a British reality show/competition where contestants make all sorts of pottery. Great fun even if you're not into pottery from before. You can find it on youtube.

[Anonymous No.1902321]

>>1901807
Damn dude, nice

[Anonymous No.1902338]

>>1902205
i concur