My Top Three Tips to Make Your Firings More Successful...
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
1y ago
Fed up of opening your kiln to ‘meh’ results? Frustrated by all the things that can go wrong in a firing? If you’re new to pottery or even if you’re a seasoned potter there are some really simple steps to make your firings more successful. These are the top three things I talk about to my students and Pottery Club members ALL THE TIME. Many problems come down to not doing one of these three things. All three are hugely important, but make sure you keep reading to tip number 3 because that one is key (IMHO?)! Test your glazes…. Sounds obvious I know and the impatient part of me always says ..read more
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Hand Care for Potters…
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
1y ago
Split nails, cracked sore skin, achy joints, a permanent pale coating of dust that emphasises every crease and line, sound familiar?…these are classic signs of a potters’ hands… Being a full time potter for over seven years has taken it’s toll… Continuously having my hands in water and in contact with an absorbent material like clay (in all it’s forms) has taken it’s toll on my hands. And it’s not just the clay which is the culprit. Constant touching of packing materials; cardboard boxes, eco peanuts, tissue paper, all have a massive drying affect on my skin. Not to mention cardboard cuts and ..read more
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Why £35 for a handmade mug is an absolute steal!
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
1y ago
Can we talk about mugs?…, specifically the price of mugs. Stormy Seas Mugs, £37 If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you can't have missed my recent rant about the pricing of mugs. I'd just spent a whole week working on over 60 mugs, and was attaching handles at 10pm at night when it occurred to me that there was no way my mug prices were enough to cover the work involved. In fact, most potters I know are not charging enough for mugs - on average prices are around £25 - £35 for possibly one of the most complex and difficult, yet well-loved forms we make. This blog post attempt to unpick ..read more
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The Best Pottery Books on my Bookshelf...
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
2y ago
One of my Pottery Club members (thanks Richard!) suggested I write a blog post about the best pottery books I have on my book shelf - what a splendid idea! I’ve been reading and collecting pottery books for 15 years now, as a self taught potter, it’s where I garnered most of my knowledge. You can’t beat taking a pottery book to bed to get you inspired for what to make the next day. This list is not exhaustive by any means, (I have about 50 books Pottery Books on my book shelf) but these are the books I find myself referring back to the most often, they span the breath of making from hand bui ..read more
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How to Make Test Tiles for Testing New Glazes
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
2y ago
This project came from an early draft of my new book ‘Pottery for Beginners’ I packed the book so full of information it was way too long ?it had to be cut down - so I decided to share this chapter with you on my blog instead - hurrah! Pre- order the book here. Always test your glazes before applying them to your work.   It’s really frustrating to glaze a big batch of work for it to not turn out the way you’d expect. Combining two or more glazes together is a great way of creating a unique glaze but as we’re working with chemistry you never quite know how mixed glazes will react. Som ..read more
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How to Make a Sink Trap for Your Pottery Studio
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
3y ago
What is a sink trap and why do I need one? A sink trap is a device to capture all the clay and glaze sediment that you wash off your brushes, hands, tools in your pottery studio. Clay and glaze is sediment and heavier than water so everything that goes into your pipes potentially sits and stays there. A little clay going into your pipes isn’t too much of a worry but a build up over time could potentially cause an expensive blockage. You don’t want your sink backing up and not draining due to a big hunk of clay. You can buy sink traps but they tend to be quite pricy and/ or take up a lot of ro ..read more
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Choosing a Pottery Kiln
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
3y ago
Imagine, not having to wait for a community studio to fire your work… Imagine, having more control of your firing results… Rohde 45 litre Eco Top Loading Kiln If you are considering pottery becoming a side hustle or a career or just taking your hobby to the next level then you will need a kiln of your own. Buying your own kiln can be a slightly intimidating stage of your pottery journey but if a few key things are considered and the kiln is used correctly they can be perfectly safe and become a potter’s best friend. Many potters even name their kilns because they are such a crucial part of th ..read more
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How to be Green in Your Pottery Studio
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
3y ago
…and minimise your impact on the environment. Image by Sorbus Minima This week I watched a panel talk ‘How can ceramics clean up their act.’ The panel comprised of Lewis Jones of Granby Workshop, Purva Chawla of MaterialDriven, and Kevin Rouff of Studio ThusThat, hosted by Craft Magazine’s assistant editor Isabella Smith. Even though the talk was centred around reducing the impact of industrial ceramics it was an excellent provocation to us - ‘the individual studio potter’ - to think about how our practice impacts the planet. A very brief summary of the talk: Granby Worksh ..read more
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My Top 7 Wholesale Tips for Makers
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
3y ago
Are you confused by wholesale? I gotcha… When I started my pottery business I thought I had a clear idea of what wholesale was. Before I became a potter I had worked within a retail business myself, but in reality I didn’t have the faintest idea of how to make wholesale work for me, as a maker.  There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ formula but trust me, that’s a good thing - because that means that whatever you make, however you make it, you can have your work stocked in galleries and shops. I am proud to say my work has been stocked in dozens of shops and galleries all over t ..read more
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Creating a Pottery Space at Home (with Minimum Space)
Kara Leigh Ford Ceramics Blog
by Kara Ford
3y ago
So many folks want a creative oasis to call their own and right now it’s more important than ever to find our own little pockets of joy. Thank goodness for pottery, eh?! Even though the community studios are closed you can keep making pottery at home and even though you do need a bit of space there are many, many ways in which you can economise. For years I made pottery in my dining room, with a wheel, an old out of tune piano and a dining room table sharing the space. I then ‘upgraded’ to a 6ft x 9ft shed in the garden. In fact, this was where I started my business. For a couple of year ..read more
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