Potery making tools

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Teachers Palette Light. Classic Crackles. Clear Glazes. Crystalites Glazes. Designer Liner. Jungle Gems. Pottery Cascade. Specialty Glazes. Stroke and Coat. Crackle Spectrum. Low Fire Metallic. Mid Range Glazes Cone HF Celebration. HF Sahara. Potters Choice. Satin Matte. Fantasy Glazes. Sample Sets. Franks Celadons. Shino Coyote. Slow Cool. Texas Two Step. Georgies Satin. Crackle Georgies.

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High Fire Glazes Cone RAKU Cone General Pottery Tools. Decorating Pottery Tools. Texture Rollers. Texture Stamps. Throwing Pottery Tools. Trimming Pottery Tools. Tile Cutters. Pottery Tool Sets. Glaze Supplies. Dampen the chamois slightly before use, and make sure you wash it properly after every session, so the clay on it doesn't harden in place.

These long heavy needles set into wooden, metal, or plastic handles are one of the most versatile tools in pottery. Use them, among other things, for neatly trimming the top edges of pieces while they're on the wheel and for scoring slabs and coils when you're hand-building pieces. Probably the most common ones have two hardwood handles at either end.

Fishing line and uncoiled springs can also be used as cut-off wires. They look a little like a wire cheese cutter. These tools are useful in cutting large lumps of clay and also in removing thrown ware from the potter's wheel.

When throwing off the mound, fishing line or other very flexible cut-off lines work best. These thin-bladed knives come in either a hard temper or soft. The hard ones are inflexible, while the soft fettling knives are flexible and can be bent into desired angles and curves. They were first developed to remove the fettle the ridge left where pieces of the mold are joined when a piece has been cast.

They are also very useful for trimming slabs and thrown pots or cutting across areas of hand-built pots. If you have both kinds of fettling knives, it is wise to add a band of paint or indelible marker on one of them so you can easily tell them apart. Used in throwing , these tools can help shape and smooth pots as they are being formed on the wheel. They are also used during the "rib and hand" method of working with coiled pots. Ribs come in many different shapes and are usually made of hardwood or rubber.

Scrapers look a lot like ribs, but they're lighter and used to smooth wet and soft leather-hard greenware. They come in a myriad of shapes and can be made of steel, rubber, or wood. Some potters use scrapers and ribs interchangeably for tasks. Rubber ribs and scrapers usually give the smoothest finish. Just generally useful, these tools are handy for trimming greenware and for use in hand-building. Wire and ribbon varieties are not recommended for use during throwing because they are too fragile.

They can, however, be used for carefully hollowing out handmade pieces. You could even make your own pottery wire. Wooden modeling tools come in an astounding variety of shapes, and they are useful in all sorts of hand-building.

Although called modeling tools, the triangular-headed varieties are also excellent trimming tools while throwing on the wheel. Sponges are one of the most useful tools you will ever have in your pottery kit. Medium to large natural or special synthetic sponges help potters absorb or distribute water during throwing. Many potters also use elephant ear sponges a specific type of natural sponge during the throwing process. If you are getting into potting, you'll want to know more about the various types of pottery sponges.

Brushes are used to carry water and slip to specific areas when you are working the clay, as well as to paint and design with slips, underglazes , and overglazes.

The best brushes for ceramics and pottery are sumi or bamboo brushes. They can be loaded with a tremendous amount of fluid and still come to a nicely pointed end. Potters use this type of caliper to measure the inner and outer dimensions of pots where they will meet with other parts of a set. For example, they are especially useful when measuring lids for jars, measuring the base of a cup to match the depression in the center of a saucer, and measuring the base of a pitcher to match the interior floor of a basin.

Calipers can be made of metal, wood, or plastic. Lid Master calipers do not have to be reversed and adjusted the way regular potter's calipers do. Many potter's tools are fairly small and easy to misplace. Most potters use some form of box where they keep their tools for the sake of organization and accessibility.

Heavy-duty plastic artist or tackle boxes tend to be the best, especially if you plan on transporting your tools. Otherwise, solutions can range from a utensil tray to any waterproof box. Cardboard boxes should never be used, since the water and wet clay breaks them down almost immediately.