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Newbie Help On Buying A Used Pottery Wheel


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Hi thanks for the forum and reading my post. I've decided to start a pottery studio for myself and my son but I don't know much about making pottery. Classes in my area are around $300 for 8 weeks. I figured I could get my own wheel for that and teach myself with videos and books. Any advice would be great.

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Take some time, invest in lessons (multiple sessions) and learn hands-on with an instructor. Can't say you could not learn entirely on your own by using videos, etc; but you will do yourself a great favor by learning in a classroom setting where you can ask questions, see from different angles as a demo is being done, etc. And, it will allow you to really find out if you want to invest a couple grand on setting up a pottery studio before you make that investment.

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yes, it is a little like seeing pictures of exotic places in National Geographic and deciding you want to get a digital camera and start in the backyard.  i learned from books and a few workshops but that was a multi-year slog.  taking classes together might be fun.  working at learning might not be.  check around for other class schedules and costs.  if you break down the hours, most classes, unless through a park service or something subsidized, come out to about $10 an hour.

 

the one thing you should do before signing up for any class is to look at the work the instructor does.  if it is not something you respect and would like to call your own, find someone else.

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This is just not a simple or cheap hobby so if $600 for classes for you two is giving you pause ya might want to re-think it all. I bet the classes will save you well over that amount just in helping you make all the decisions in setting up the studio.

 

Also you will get a chance to find out if pottery is your sons thing as he might end up in a band needing an electric guitar instead. 

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Take classes. There are a million little things you'll do wrong that a teacher can correct while you're learning. You won't be able to do that yourself. By all means buy a wheel and practice at home, but the lessons are very important. There's a lot of crap in the internet that will only confuse and hinder you.

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I am soooo glad to have had my classes. NOW I am reading books and hitting the internet. After a year and a half of lessons. I know that I am in it for life, which I did not know for a while. Just being around other potters and being able to ask questions in a huge plus. With out that exposure I would be having a very difficult time enjoying expanding my knowledge base. Now learning on my own is fun because I have the basics and some people to talk to and ask questions. there are so many options, just heading out on your own is likely to be more than you bargained for.... Good luck !

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If saving money is the goal stay away from ceramics-its not a cheap hobby.Actually I know very little about the hobby side of it.

I can say ceramics has cost me 1/2 a million by now.Whats a few hundred$$..

Take some classes see if its for you then think about going solo for two.

Mark

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Ceramics isn't necessarily an expensive hobby... there are plenty of hobbies that cost more. Golf, for one. There are guys who pay more for a set of clubs than you pay for a good pottery wheel.

 

Few hundred bucks for a used wheel and hobby-size kiln. (I have a nearly-new Skutt that cost me $100 on Craigslist). Electricity at that scale is minimal. Clay is an ongoing cost, but it's not bad. The thing that surprised me was the cost of glaze... commercial glazes are really expensive, and mixing your own takes a significant outlay of cash to get started. You'll feel like you must have bought illegal drugs when you see how small that package of cobalt is for the price.

 

But really, once you have a wheel and kiln, ceramics doesn't have to be that expensive on-going.

 

That said... I'm a good self-learner, but I don't think I'd want to struggle through learning to center and first learning to pull walls without hands-on guidance.

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Carl you are absolutely right.

 

I was/am very temped to delete my earlier response after reading yours. I'm an equipment junkie and tend to have trouble controlling my spending when I'm into something. I have to remember that some people actually have self control and can stay on a budget :-)

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If you have the opportunity to take some classes from a good teacher, you will save money in the end.

 

Being uniquely qualified, a few words of advice on being self taught, from a self taught person.

 

A little about my background...

Art has always come easy to me. I have been working in some form of art every since I could hold a pencil, have a college degree in Industrial Design, was a pictorial artist painting realistic pictures that were 14 to 40 feet tall, Art director designing advertisements, a welder fabricator, an electrician, and had been a successful chainsaw sculptor for seven years and wanted to make the transition to pottery because chainsaw sculpting had taken its toll on my body.

 

While chainsaw sculpting and before starting any pottery, I spent a couple of years reading about making pottery and gathering the equipment and some supplies. It may be possible to do this quicker, but I was learning while working and after two years, felt adequately prepared.

 

I was not.

 

Two more years hands on working with pottery daily, reading about pottery, watching videos about pottery, and some fabulous help from this forum to present day and I finally feel that I can make items that are of value.

 

I have learned:

 

1.) Failure is part of pottery.

 

I have always been good at anything art related and my failure rate was extremely low. My art teacher always said, "If you can't make it work your not much of an artist!" That may be true, but not in pottery. You will fail when starting 99.9% of the time. You have to trash your work to see if you are doing it correctly.

 

A.) You will fail with shaping the clay.

B.) You will fail with your clay drying.

C.) You will fail with the firing.

D.) You will fail with the glaze.

E.) Your pottery will fail in use.

 

You will fail, and need to repeatedly scrape up your dignity. 

 

2.) Ceramics is highly technical and you need to document and organize all of your results.

 

Repeating the same mistake over and over is insane. 

 

 

3.) After years I realize that a mentor would be a God send, and I wish to this day someone wanting to mentor, lived closer. Your learning curve will be cut in half with a teacher or mentor.

 

I do not wish to discourage you from you pursuit, but get ready for the ride. It's the most demanding and under appreciated form of art that I have tried.

 

$300 dollars is a drop of water in the 55 gallon bucket.

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Take the classes, they will be worth the $600. You will either like it, and gain a ton of knowledge that will speed up your learning, or you will hate it, and have saved yourself a few thousand dollars. 

 

I took classes for 8 weeks, 1 night a week, after the 6th class I left the class environment and went on to practice on my own wheel months before I bought a kiln. I wouldn't trade those classes for the world. They make you understand the fundamentals so much more than a video online will. The videos will give you ideas on how to do things differently and things to try, but a teacher sitting there showing you what your doing wrong over and over is what makes a good beginner from a terrible one.

 

After my classes, I self taught myself the rest and I watched most of www.youtube.com/user/hsinchuen

 

He really helped me adapt my throwing style and good habits, although he throws awkward, I found it perfect for me. Just make sure if you don't attend classes the person your learning from online is a good teacher.

 

Unlearning bad habits is hard.

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I have not been to a class because the lady teaching the class only does dishes and small mugs etc. Im just not interested in that at the moment.. Not only that but I hear so many students say that they did not feel they got ample time on the wheel...

 

you can do it,just take your time ad have fun while you learn...

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@ChicagoPete

There is good advise here, from top to bottom, following your initial post...and from people who have been in the trenches and have learned much from their adventures/mistakes.

 

I waited a long time before spending a lot of money on wheel, kiln, and all the things that go with a studio.  I did take a bunch of classes.  I did months and months of handbuilding at very little expense, a whole lot of fun, and a ton of learning.  All to say, wheel construction isn't the only direction that can feed your clay addiction passion.

 

As for classes, there is so much more to experiences with good instructors than simple skill building.  I still take classes and know that there is a sense of community among clay people/artists that is even more valuable than the cost of a class.  Certainly, those YouTube videos are helpful, interesting, inspiring, etc...but they fall short of delivering the heart of the maker(s).

 

Welcome to the forum!,

-Paul

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As for classes, there is so much more to experiences with good instructors than simple skill building.  I still take classes and know that there is a sense of community among clay people/artists that is even more valuable than the cost of a class.  

Even with a teacher who isn't the best, sometimes the other student's "knowledge" are worth attending the class for.  I went to a class where the teacher was really "arty" but not a potter, but we learned loads, and from each other.  Another class had 1st year, 2nd year and older students who were there mainly for the studio/kiln access, and again I learned loads just from being around them.

 

For me the best bit about a class is the access to all the "stuff" coupled with the rub-off affect of being with other potter.  And no mess at home!

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