The Art of Pottery & Ceramics: Wheel & Handbuilding Fundamentals • Glaze Recipes & Troubleshooting • Studio Setup, Safety, and a Complete Guide to Sellable Work

The Art of Pottery & Ceramics — practical, tested, and sale-ready.This is a hands-on guide for potters who want dependable results. If you’re tired of airy theory and want clear, repeatable methods for making attractive, durable, and sellable work, this book is for you. R. A. Calkins moves straight to the workshop: what clay bodies do and why, the machinery and costs you need to plan a studio, ventilation and kiln safety, and a compact, repeatable workflow that will carry you from wedging to finished, glazed ware.Inside you’ll find:• A concise primer on clay: earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain — firing ranges, typical shrinkage, and the strengths and tradeoffs that determine which body you should choose.• Equipment numbers and studio planning: wheel speeds, kiln sizes and electrical needs, ergonomic bench heights, and realistic cost ranges so you can budget a studio that works.• A reliable production workflow: wedging batches, throwing and handbuilding standards for consistent wall thicknesses, leather-hard handling, trimming, and drying protocols that reduce warping and cracking.• Safety essentials you cannot skip: silica management, respirator and ventilation guidance, kiln placement, and safe glaze practice — including warnings about lead and other hazardous colorants and guidance for labelling and third-party testing when selling functional ware.• Glaze chemistry made usable: a clear description of what a glaze is, how to test and record results, and practical troubleshooting for defects (pinholing, crazing, shivering, crawling, running) with corrective steps you can apply right away.• Tested recipes and a method for glazing: how to approach a starter glaze, why to prefer tested studio bases, and how to build a glaze test rack and kiln log to make progressive improvements.• Exercises that build skill: the 25 Bowls exercise, trimming practice, handle-making drills, and glaze test routines that convert practice into reliable production.• Production, pricing, and photography: realistic yields, a pricing formula that captures material, labor, and overhead, and a photo primer so your work looks consistent and professional in catalog shots.• Practical business notes: how to manage kiln loads and electricity costs, packaging, and simple accounting tips that help turn studio practice into a sustainable small business.This isn’t a book of studio mysticism — it’s a compact, workaday manual for makers who want usable outcomes. Every chapter is stripped of fluff and built around repeatable techniques, clear numbers, and checklists you can use the first day in your studio. Whether you’re new to the wheel, returning to the bench after a break, or refining a small production line, this book gives the facts and the workflows that get clay to the shelf.— Includes safety checklists, glazing troubleshooting tables, production cost guidance, and field-tested exercises to improve speed and quality.