Before my first class
Show up able to ask useful questions. Let the studio’s rules decide clothing, tools, and clay.
Prepare for the class. That guide stays off the public site until a person approves it.
Ceramics
Make with clay. Understand the process.
Understand your clay, improve your process, and make better-informed studio decisions. Written for adults in classes, shared studios, and modest home practices. A kiln at home is not assumed.
Three ways in
Improve my making
When something cracks or a join opens, record the stage and check the likely conditions before changing clay or firing.
Check drying cracks. That guide stays off the public site until a person approves it.
Understand materials and tools
Read the sheet in front of you, keep a log, and keep absorption, shrinkage, and food-contact claims apart.
Read a product sheet. That guide stays off the public site until a person approves it.
Latest guides
No guide has been approved for public release. The calculator and blank logs are still available. Article drafts stay in the private preview until a person signs them off.
Shrinkage, with a worked example
A bar measured at 100 mm and later at 88 mm shrank 12% linearly: 100 × (100 − 88) / 100. To finish at 100 mm after 12% shrinkage, start near 113.636 mm, which is 100 / 0.88. Starting at 112 mm is the wrong shortcut. The percentage belongs to the stage you measured. It does not predict an untested clay, and it is not a firing program.
How this publication works
Launch drafts were researched from manufacturer sheets, Orton cone explanations, U.S. FDA labeling guidance, a university environmental health page, and Tony Hansen’s Digitalfire technical notes. They were drafted with AI assistance and have not had human editorial approval or specialist review. There is no testing lab and no hands-on rating behind these pages. Food-contact, dust-control, and kiln-installation drafts are withheld until a qualified person reviews them.