Electives · Finding the thing

Keep trying new things until you find the one that sings to you.

Most people walk in for the first time wanting one specific thing, and it is almost always the wheel. Then they spend three weeks fighting a lump of clay that will not center, decide they are not a pottery person, and leave. Meanwhile, across the room, somebody who has never touched a wheel is carving a slab box that will stop you in your tracks, and somebody else is on their fourth month of tiny animals. Pottery is not one thing. It is forty things that happen to use the same material, and the one that sings to you may be three tables over from the one you came in for.

This page covers why the wheel gets all the attention and why that is a problem, a map of the directions pottery goes sorted by what you already like doing, the three-tries rule for deciding anything, a thirty-day sampler, the signs that you have found it, and what to do if it turns out to be the wheel after all. Five videos.

This is the short version: the map by what you already like, the three-tries rule, and the sampler. The reasoning, the questions and four of the five videos are in the comprehensive version.

20 to 25%Of a class night here is at the wheels. The other three quarters are at the tables, doing everything else
3Tries before you are allowed an opinion about anything
x5Videos, from potters who do not work here
30Days in the sampler, four directions, one evening each
Jump to a section
Why this page has words and video The whole idea in four lines Why the wheel hogs the spotlight The map, by what you already like The three-tries rule The thirty-day sampler The signs you have found it If it turns out to be the wheel Five directions on film The one video to watch How it works at The Clay Hole Questions people actually ask Related lessons
An illustration of a young potter in a rust colored apron sitting at a pottery wheel, looking unsure at a slumped, collapsed pot on the wheel head, in a brick studio with shelves of finished pots behind

Why the wheel hogs the spotlight, the map by what you like, the three-tries rule, the sampler, the signs, five videos.

Read it, then watch it

Why this is written down and filmed, both.

A map of forty directions is a list, and a list reads well. What a list cannot do is show you pinch, coil and slab building in nine minutes, or a lump becoming a figure, or a pattern being carved into a surface, in a way that makes your hands itch. That is what the videos are for: not to teach the technique, which each has its own lesson, but to let you feel in your hands which of the forty is calling. Watch a few and notice which one you cannot stop thinking about on the drive home.

So read the map first, so you know what exists. Then watch the sampler videos and pay attention to the itch. Then book the table, not the wheel, and try the thing three times.

Use both, in this order

The map by what you like, then the three-tries rule. Then the first video, which is pinch, coil and slab in nine minutes. Then a table on a class night, and whichever one itched.

The whole idea

The wheel is one of forty directions. Try the others three times each.

Most people come in for the wheel and half of them do not love it, and that is fine, because pottery goes in forty directions and the wheel is one. Pick directions from the map below by what you already like doing with your hands and your head. Try each one three times before you decide: the first try is confusion, the second is mechanics, and only the third is an opinion. When one of them makes you lose track of time and think about it in the car, that is the one, and it does not matter which one it turns out to be.

The poster child

Why the wheel gets all the attention, and why that is a problem.

The wheel is the most filmable thing in pottery. A lump becomes a bowl in ninety seconds, on camera, with wet hands and a spinning disc, and nothing else in the studio looks like that. So the wheel is what people see, the wheel is what they come in wanting, and the wheel is what they judge themselves against in week three when the lump still will not center. It is a wonderful tool and a terrible first impression, because it is one of the few things in the building that is harder than it looks.

The rest of the room is the opposite: easier than it looks and more varied than anyone expects. On a class night here, twenty to twenty-five percent of the people are at the wheels and seventy-five to eighty percent are at the tables, hand building, using slab molds, carving, glazing, sculpting and decorating. The wheel is not the studio. It is a corner of it, and people who never sit down at one make some of the best work on the shelves.

The wheel is a wonderful tool and a terrible first impression, because it is one of the few things in the building that is harder than it looks.

The map

Forty directions, sorted by what you already like doing.

The map, by what you already like.

Nobody can tell you which direction is yours. But what you already enjoy, at a desk, in a kitchen, with a pencil, is a very good guess about where to look first.

What you already enjoy is a good guess about where to look first.

If you like drawing

Underglaze painting, sgraffito, mishima, carved lines, wipe-away texture. The pot is a page. Start with the underglaze lesson and a slab tile.

If you like building things

Slab boxes, lidded boxes, teapots, butter dishes, lamp bases. Corners, joins and lids, with a ruler. Start with the lidded box lesson.

If you like chemistry

Glaze testing, mixing your own, crystalline glazes, mason stains. Test tiles, a log, and results that nobody else on the wall has. Start with the test tile lesson.

If you like fire

Raku, naked raku, horsehair, saggar, pit firing, obvara. The kiln as the artist. Start with the raku lesson and the next workshop.

If you like tiny things

Miniature pottery, ceramic jewelry, the mini wheel, sprig molds. An evening produces a shelf. Start with the miniature lesson.

If you like big things

Coil-built vessels, sculpture, planters, large serving bowls. Weeks-long projects that take up shelf space and pay it back. Start with the coil lesson.

If you like precision

Nerikomi, neriage, faceting, geometric carving, tiles that stay flat. Patterns that reward patience. Start with the nerikomi lesson.

If you like fast results

Slab molds. We have 248 of them, slab rollers, and a finished form in twenty minutes with the texture and glaze all yours. Start with the slab mold lesson.

If you like characters

Figurines, sculpting, creatures on pots, Trees of Life. Start with the figurines lesson.

If you like function

Pitchers that pour, strainers, spoons, cruets, salt shakers, tagines. Objects with a job, tested in your own kitchen. Start with the pitchers lesson.

If you like texture

Forty ways to add it, stamps and maker’s marks you make yourself, imprinting, relief carving. Start with the forty textures lesson.

If you like the wheel but hate centering

Throwing off the hump, the mini wheel, tap centering, and slab molds for the forms you would have thrown. The wheel on your terms. Start with the off the hump lesson.

The rule

Try anything three times before you are allowed an opinion.

The three-tries rule.

The first time you try anything in clay is confusion: where the tools are, what the words mean, why it is not doing what the video did. Nothing you feel on the first try is information about the thing; it is information about being new. The second time is mechanics: your hands know where to go and you can pay attention to what the clay is doing. Only the third time are you actually doing the thing, and only then does the question of whether you like it mean anything. Three tries, on three separate visits, and then decide.

This is the rule that would have kept most of the people who left after three weeks on the wheel, and it is the rule that stops people writing off hand building because their first pinch pot was a lump. It applies to everything on the map, including the direction you are sure is not for you, which is often the one that sings.

  1. 1First try: confusionExpect nothing. Learn where things are. Make the lump.
  2. 2Second try: mechanicsHands know the moves. Watch the clay instead of your hands.
  3. 3Third try: an opinionNow you are doing the thing. Did you lose track of time? That is the only question.

The sampler

Thirty days, four directions, one evening each.

The thirty-day sampler.

A month of class nights with the wheel deliberately left out, so the rest of the room gets a fair hearing. Weeks one and two use underglaze and the slab roller, so do those two short certifications first. Green and Yellow Level members bring their own Speedball or Amaco Velvet underglaze. Adjust the directions to the map above; the shape is what matters.

A month with the wheel left out on purpose. Swap the directions to suit the map.

WeekDirectionThe eveningThe lesson
Week onePinch and underglazeThree pinch pots, then underglaze on the best one with a fine brush. An evening that ends with something painted.Pinch pots, then underglaze
Week twoSlab molds and textureA slab through the roller, a slab mold from the wall, a texture pressed in, a rim finished. Twenty minutes to a form, the rest of the evening to make it yours.Slab molds, then imprinting textures
Week threeCoils and carvingA coil vessel built to six inches and left under a sheet, then carving into last week’s leather hard slab piece.Coil building, then carving and sgraffito
Week fourSomething you were sure was not youMiniatures, a figurine, nerikomi, a tile. Whichever card on the map you skipped over. Three tries starts tonight.Whichever lesson the card points to
ThenThe wheel again, or notSit down at the wheel with a month of hand-building in your fingers, and notice whether it sings now that it is a choice. Either answer is right.How to throw, if the answer is yes

The signs

How you know when one of them is singing.

It is not that you are good at it. It is these.

You lose the eveningYou look up and the class is over and you have not checked your phone. Time going missing is the most reliable sign there is.
You think about it in the carNot about whether you are good. About the next one. What you would change, what you would try, what the third try will look like.
You keep going backWithout deciding to. You meant to try the wheel again and somehow you are at the slab table.
You are bad at it and do not mindThe failures feel like information instead of verdicts. That is the difference between a thing you are doing and a thing you are enduring.
You start seeing it everywhereTextures on walls, shapes of jars in shops, the carving on a door. The direction has started collecting for you.
You want to show someoneNot for praise. Because you want them to see the thing. That is what show and tell is for.

The other ending

If it turns out to be the wheel after all.

Sometimes it is. The person who left after three weeks and came back a year later for hand building sits down at a wheel one night with a year of clay in their fingers, and the lump centers, and it sings. That is a real ending and a common one. The month away did not cost them anything; it gave them hands that understood clay before they asked the clay to spin. The throwing lesson is exactly where it was, and the wheels are open to every Level.

And sometimes it is the wheel and something else, which is most working potters: they throw, and they carve what they threw, or they throw and hand build the lids, or they throw for a living and sculpt on Sundays. The map is not a menu you pick one thing from. It is a room you get to walk around in for years.

Watch it

Now watch five directions and notice which one itches.

Watch this one, then book a table.

None of these potters work here or know we exist. Between them they cover pinch, coil, slab, carving, sculpture and the habit of trying. The still frames load while you read; the player and its cookies wait until you press play.

Pinch, coil and slab in nine minutes. Watch for which one makes your hands want to move. The other four videos are in the comprehensive version.

Start here: three directions in nine minutesBasics of Ceramic Handbuilding: Pinchpot, Coiling & Slab BuildingClay Corner Studio
Pinch, coil and slab, one after another, in nine minutes. Watch for the itch: one of the three will make your hands want to move, and that is the one to try first. Watch on YouTube
Hand building, from MoMAHow to hand-build with clay | Ceramic technique tutorial | IN THE STUDIOThe Museum of Modern Art
Twenty-four minutes of an artist building a free-standing sculpture, with pinch pot, coils, slabs, a mold and relief along the way. A bigger project in the same territory. Watch on YouTube
If you like drawing10 Tips for Carving PotteryLittle Street Pottery
Fifteen minutes of carving into leather hard clay, for the people on the map who came in with a pencil in their pocket. Watch on YouTube
If you like charactersHow to Make a Hand Built Ceramic Sculpture: Step by Step Tutorial for Beginnersbavafa studio
Twenty-three minutes from a lump to a figure. The direction most people are sure is not for them, which is exactly why it is here. Watch on YouTube
A potter who kept trying things7 Lessons That Helped Me Make Pots Like ThisGreg-Ceramics
Seventeen minutes of lessons from a potter building a sculptural slab pot, including embracing failure and stepping outside a comfort zone. Trying things, in someone else’s words. Watch on YouTube

How it works here

A studio of nearly 10,000 square feet, and most of the directions are open on day one.

This page is written for potters everywhere. Here is where our studio stands.

Three things to know here

The wheels are open to every Level from the first visit. The slab rollers are open to every Level too, and the 248 slab molds go by the color sticker underneath, your Level and any below it, once you have done the slab certification. The glaze wall and dipping need their own. Each certification is one short sitting, done once, and it opens a direction. And on a class night, three quarters of the room is at the tables, so the person who never touches a wheel is in the majority.

Open on day one

The wheels are open to every Level, first come first served. The pinch pot, the coil pot, the hand built slab box and carving need no certification and no waiting. The slab rollers are open to every Level once you have done the slab certification, the molds go by the color sticker underneath (your Level and below), and underglaze goes by Level after its certification. Most of the map is available the first night.

The certifications unlock directions

The slab roller and slab mold certification, the brush-on glaze and underglaze one, and the dipping glaze one each have a short course, a quiz and a signed agreement. Each takes one sitting, done once, and each opens a whole card on the map.

The tables are the majority

Twenty to twenty-five percent of a class night is at the wheels. Seventy-five to eighty percent is at the community tables with slab molds, hand building, carving and glazing. The wheel is a corner of the room.

Raku is a workshop

Fire as a direction runs separately from membership, in scheduled workshops, each with a waiver and a safety meeting in person. The online raku safety certification is not required. If the itch is fire, that is where to go, and spots go fast.

Instructors know the map

Tell the onsite instructor what you liked doing before clay and they will point at a table. That conversation is the fastest route through this page.

Three tries, three visits

The cost of trying anything three times is some clay, some shelf space and the firing. Name and date on the bat, and the second try starts where the first left off.

Questions people actually ask

The ones that come up in week three.

I came for the wheel and I hate it. Am I a pottery person?

You are a person who does not love the wheel yet, which describes most of the room. Try three other directions three times each and see which one you think about in the car. If it turns out to be the wheel a year later, that is a common ending too.

How do I choose from forty directions?

By what you already like doing with your hands and your head. Drawing, building, chemistry, fire, tiny, big, precision, fast results, characters, function, texture. The map above sorts the directions by those.

How many times should I try something before giving up?

Three, on three separate visits. The first is confusion, the second is mechanics, the third is an opinion. Nothing you feel on the first try is about the thing.

Do I need a certification to try hand building?

Not to start. Pinch, coil, hand built slabs and carving need none. The slab rollers and slab molds, brush-on glaze and underglaze, and dipping glaze each have a short certification, one sitting long. Raku runs in workshops, each with a waiver and a safety meeting in person.

What if nothing sings?

Then you have not tried the one that will yet, and it is usually the direction you were most sure was not for you. Week four of the sampler exists for exactly that reason.

Can I do the wheel and something else?

Most working potters do. They throw and carve, or throw and hand build lids, or throw all week and sculpt on Sundays. The map is a room, not a menu.

That is the whole idea

Forty directions. Three tries each. One of them will sing.

The members who have been here longest almost never do the thing they came in for. They came for the wheel and found slab boxes, or came for mugs and found glaze chemistry, or came to make one gift and found themselves running a raku workshop. Not because the first thing was wrong, but because they kept trying things until one of them would not let go. That is the only method there is, and it works on everybody.

If you want why the wheel hogs the spotlight, the signs you have found it, the questions and the other four videos, switch to the comprehensive version at the top. Otherwise, pick the direction from the map that sounds least like you, and try it three times.

Back to Clay Hole University Do It Your Way, Nobody Else’s

Written for potters everywhere. Where our studio does things differently, the page says so.