Pottery
Making pottery is a most rewarding hobby. It is truly exciting to see your own concept taking shape in your hands. A ceramics worker can create practical objects such as plates, cups and saucers, pitchers and bowls. He can use his creative skills to produce decorative vases, or he can employ his artistic talents to mold and carve clay into beautiful pieces of sculpture.An excellent book for the tyro is The Beginner's Book of Pottery, by Harold Powell, in two volumes: Part 1, Coil and Slab Pottery, and Part 2, Throwing, Casting, Decorating, Firing. Both volumes can be purchased from the National Recreation Association, 8 West Eighth Street, New York 11, New York, $5.
As a beginner, you may be able to muddle through on your own, but you will make much faster progress if you work first with a teacher. Many centers of the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. have classes for both children and adults. Your telephone book's Yellow Pages will list other sources of instruction under "Schools."
After you have had some instruction, you can set up your own studio at home in very little space. The smallest room in your house or apartment is large enough for a potter's wheel, jars of clay, glazing materials, and a small electric kiln. The electric kiln will be too small for firing any but your tiniest pieces, but it will be large enough so that you can experiment with glazes on small tiles.
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August 20, 2008