About Us
Who We Are
PotteryHow is an independent guide to pottery and ceramics supplies for people who make things from clay at home. We are a small editorial team led by Elena Brandt, a ceramics studio instructor who has spent sixteen years teaching wheel throwing, handbuilding and glaze basics to beginners and returning hobbyists. Our readers are new potters setting up a first corner of the garage, hobbyists who have outgrown a shared studio, parents helping with a school project and experienced makers who want a straight answer on a kiln part or a glaze problem. We write about the tools and materials that make regular practice possible, and we explain them in clear, direct language without hype.
Our Mission
Our mission is to help makers spend their time and budget wisely. The market is crowded with clay bodies, glazes, tool sets and kilns, and many of them look better in a photo than they behave after a few firings. We want to show which products give reliable results, which ones suit a small home studio, and which problems have a simple fix before anything new needs to be bought. Every guide, review and roundup is written to answer a practical question a real potter would ask, such as why a glaze crawled, how much ventilation a kiln needs or which clay suits a first wheel. We also keep our advice honest about cost, so we point out when an inexpensive option does the same job as a premium one.
Our Vision
We picture a world where anyone with a table and a little patience can learn to make good pottery safely. Learning clay should feel rewarding, not confusing, and troubleshooting should be easy to follow, one step at a time. Our vision is a site that makers trust when they want honest advice on what to buy, how to set it up, how to fire it with care and how to work out what went wrong when a piece comes out of the kiln differently than expected. We want every reader to leave with a clearer plan, safer habits and a little more confidence at the wheel or the workbench.
What You’ll Find on potteryhow.com
Our content is organised around the main groups of pottery supplies. You will find coverage of Books & Learning, Glaze Mixing & Application, Glazes & Underglazes, Kiln Furniture & Firing Supplies, Kiln Parts & Ventilation, Kilns, Kits & Gifts, Mold Making & Slip Casting, Pottery Clay and Pottery Tools. Within each group we publish roundups that compare several options, individual reviews, informational guides that explain key terms such as cone ratings and shrinkage, how-to articles for studio setup and troubleshooting, and resources such as checklists and firing notes to help you plan before you buy anything.
Our Content Standards
We aim to be accurate, useful and open about how we work. Product details such as size, weight, firing range and wiring needs come from the maker and from our own hands-on style checks, and we update articles when something changes. We look at firing range, durability, safety, ease of use and value, and we say plainly when a product has a weakness. We use cautious language, because results vary with every clay, glaze and kiln, and we never promise that a product will prevent every flaw. PotteryHow earns commissions from qualifying Amazon purchases, but these links never change our opinions or the order of our recommendations. If we get something wrong, we want to hear about it and fix it quickly.
A clay body is only forgiving if its cone range matches the firing you plan.