Beginner's Guide to Pottery & Ceramics Everything you need to know to start making beautiful ceramics

Clay is an exciting material that has been used to make both practical and decorative items since prehistoric times. With this practical guidebook, learn all the skills you need to start creating your own beautiful ceramics.

Step-by-step photographs and clear instructions will guide you through the core techniques, including pinching and coiling and throwing and trimming. Discover inspirational projects as your skills progress, from simple coiled vases with painted decoration to marbled clay boxes with transparent glazes. Learn how to decorate and fire your clay vessels with myriad textures, using methods such as inlays, slips, sgraffito, feathering, burnishing and resist.

Following the impressive projects inside, you can put your new-found skills into practice and develop your creativity.

Jacqui Atkin is a practising ceramicist and has taught pottery in colleges and occupational therapy classes for several years. She now runs private courses on low-fire pottery techniques from her home in Shropshire, which include smoke-firing and Raku. She has contributed to several pottery books as a project maker and gallery artist, and is the author of several books including Pottery You Can Use.

Introduction
Getting Started
Basic Skills
Techniques and Projects
Library of Decorative Finishes
List of Slip and Glaze Recipes Used in the Book
Glossary of Terms
List of Suppliers
Index and Credits