Professional Potter's Handbooks

The Art & Craft of Ceramics: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration

Beginners eager to explore the world of ceramics, as well as experienced potters seeking new techniques and ideas, will find this colorful, technique-packed manual absolutely inspiring. Lavishly illustrated and visually attractive, it provides both practical and creative information on tools and materials, production processes, glazing, and decorative techniques—including detailed explanations of clays, kilns, and accessories. Explore essential methods for modeling (hand building, wheel turning); for decorating the pieces (slips, glazes, colored engobes); and for properly firing the finished piece at both low and high temperatures. Put all that new knowledge to work on six step-by-step projects—from a large, oval sculpture formed by extrusion and wheel-throwing to a beautifully simple functional vessel—all created by top ceramists.

Master Porcelain: Major Works by Leading Ceramists

What motivates and inspires the finest porcelain artists working today? Forty internationally celebrated masters reveal their secrets, explaining just how they work with this incredibly demanding ceramic material, prized for its pristine beauty. Pure white and wonderfully delicate, porcelain is what clay potters usually graduate to only after years of honing their skills. This diverse collection showcases the results of that dedication, and the versatility is simply breathtaking: Claire Curneen presents highly emotive, tactile figurative forms. Edmund de Waal's elegant celadon site-specific vessel installations are renowned for their meditative presence. Harlan House's finely carved vessels take inspiration from nature's organic forms, while Bodil Manz's eggshell porcelain cylinders are so translucent that you can sometimes discern light and shadow passing through the walls of his pots.

The Penland Book of Ceramics: Master Classes in Ceramic Techniques

“This book is valuable for its insights into the working techniques and philosophies of established ceramic artists.”—Library Journal. “One of those rare publications that actually meets its claim to give ‘master classes’ in ceramic technique. As a context for enjoying the inventive ways in which these artists make their ceramics, it is difficult to see how the formula could be bettered.” —Ceramic Review.

The Potter's Professional Handbook

The perfect resource for individuals wishing to take the next step in their involvement with clay. Written by Steven Branfman, The Potter's Professional Handbook covers topics ranging from determining what a professional is to equipment selection, setting up shop, marketing your work, and much more. This book provides descriptions of the items necessary for a beginning professional potter and includes visual examples of items including sales slips, purchase orders, invoices, credit slips, and even floor plans of well-known potters' studios.

Modern Japanese Ceramics: Pathways of Innovation & Tradition

For more than 30 years, Dr. Anneliese and Dr. Wulf Crueger—guided by Saeko Itô—have devoted themselves to studying, understanding, and collecting Japanese ceramics. Today, they share the rich fruits of their knowledge with this lavishly illustrated volume based on their own collection. The equivalent of Roberts Museum Guide, devotees of beautiful ceramics can pick it up and use it to select and visit potters as they undertake an artistic tour of the country. Organized geographically, it goes from kiln to kiln—which in Japan may refer to a lone site or an entire ceramics region that contains hundreds of workshops. Along the way, they outline the history, development, and unique stylistic characteristics of each area's work, and the traditions that inspired it.