ClayGeek Clay — it's what we do.

What are you working on right now? I have been working on a series of installations about how we mediate experience through objects and our interpretation of landscape. One of the installations incorporates kitsch ceramic birds from the thrift store, hand built porcelain copies, cast and hand built objects, sound …

Hello claygeeks! This week we are featuring ceramic artist Jake Allee. Jake currently teaches at Mesa State College in Colorado. You can find his work in Clay Times Magazine, Ceramics Monthly Magazine, Pottery Making Illustrated, and on Ceramic Arts Daily’s new DVD Assembly Required.     What are you working …

Image Transfer on Clay Tutorials Hello claygeeks! It’s been a crazy two weeks getting ready for NCECA. We’ve been swamped with getting postcards and printed material for ClayGeek and Ceramic Store ready. Plus postcard designs for shows for friends, in-service workshop preparation… it’s been a whirlwind! Although, I don’t envy …

Hello claygeeks! We’re kicking off our new featured artist series with potter and sculptor Lotus Bermudez. She’s an important contributor to Houston’s clay community, having co-chaired Empty Bowls Houston, been a resident artist at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and a ceramics instructor at University of Houston. Lotus has …

Last weekend at the store, ceramic sculptor Debra Fritts presented her “Head Talk” workshop. Debra shared with participants how she forms her busts and portraits. She also demonstrated how she builds up rich surfaces using oxides, engobes, raw clays, and underglaze. The way Debra mixes different types of surface treatments, …

Back in 8th grade, I always looked forward to third period. It was my art class with Ms. Wilkie. Paper mâché, linoleum carving, collage, and life drawing… I loved exploring new mediums and techniques for self-expression. I’m glad my first exposure to art was positive, thanks to the hard work …

  It happens to everyone. A piece of greenware blows up, sending ceramic shards flying everywhere. You’re lucky if the explosion doesn’t take down other pieces in the process. A waste of clay and hard work… and tons of fun to clean up. But why do pieces explode in the …

How to Safely Vent Your Kiln Room Kiln room ventilation and safety is common concern for artists and instructors. And for good reason- kilns emit gases that irritate the lungs. Depending on what you are firing, a kiln firing can produce toxic fumes or disperse heavy metals into the room. …

Good evening clay geeks! Here’s a quick report from beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana where I’m staying for AMACO brent training. I’m here with Gus Montonati from Hot Box Kiln Repair to get the low down on glazes, kiln, slabroller, and wheel repair. Yesterday we started off with lessons in handbuilding and …

Maximizing food safety: matching clay to glazes As long as your clay has a higher firing range than the glaze, any food safe glaze will work on functional pottery, right? Well, not quite. Not matching your clay and glaze can causes problems such as crazing. Crazing is cracking on the …

Enhancing your clay with additives Non-clay materials can be added to bodies to enhance their workability or fired surface characteristics. Today we’re going to talk about the most common clay additives: grog, paper, sand, and nylon fibers. Grog is prefired ceramic material that is ground up into different mesh sizes …

We could say a lot about firing ranges. Within each range there’s a whole gamut of surface effects and utilitarian properties. But for those in a hurry, here’s a quick run down of the three main firing ranges. Low Fire / Cone 03-06 (1745°F to 2012°F). The most common form …