AnnieMidd Posted January 4, 2022 Report Share Posted January 4, 2022 Hello, after attending classes at our local college, (until Covid intervened) I'm venturing into setting up at home. We have a garage where I was thinking of buying a wheel 1st. and practicing to the greenware stage. Any advice would be welcomed, for example which type of wheel and pitfalls to look out for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted January 4, 2022 Report Share Posted January 4, 2022 Stick with a name brand wheel. Do not buy any of the budget wheels on Amazon, eBay, etc. If possible, try out some wheels before buying. If there's a wheel at the college that you're used to and like, get one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted January 4, 2022 Report Share Posted January 4, 2022 try contacting your previous instructor first. at least you are familiar with that person's methods and have respect for their advice. if not, there are many potters near you, wherever you live in Wales. if you can, ask at a pottery supply business for potters whose studios you might visit. most potters seem to be very generous in their advice to beginners. keep your money in your pocket until you really feel comfortable with your own knowledge. you might visit a local library to see if there is a section on pottery. books that are like school textbooks are excellent starting points for beginners. the pretty ones showing how to make a particular thing are fun but you also need a good grounding in the basic forming methods before trying something advanced. wales is the home of a biennial international pottery event in a city whose name i cannot pronounce or spell correctly. Aber............ ABERYSTWYTH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted January 4, 2022 Report Share Posted January 4, 2022 Hi @AnnieMidd. Welcome to the forum. Do you have a local pottery association? Check Facebook for pottery groups, look on ebay and FB for wheels. Check to see if the college is re-starting classes or selling it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeU Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 My suggestion is to focus your spendoolies ($$) on the essentials and save the exciting add-ons for later. When I built my home studio I ran around doing things like getting a compressor so I could spray glaze, building up an excessive selection of different clay bodies, and purchasing other non-essentials just because I thought I "had to" have them and it was such a rush to be doing it. A year or so into it I ended up selling a good bit of it. Thankfully most of it held value for resale and they had earned their keep by the time I figured out what I really needed/wanted going forward. Even if it is "just" a hobby, I treat my studio as tho it was a business; I'm not needing to earn income but I insist on breaking even so that studio at least pays for itself (i.e. overhead/supplies). My other suggestion is to plan out the space for all stages of production, with an emphasis on shelving/storage that has wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eemilyy Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 I was in a similar situation and couldn't get my hands on a used wheel. I took the plunge and got a Shimpo VL Lite and I love it. My thought was I could always sell and get a stronger wheel down the line if needed but for now it's more than I need. I'll fell so in love with pottery after being able to practice in my own little garage studio that I've now even bought a kiln. The best therapy I've had in years! It can definitely be a money suck so taking baby steps is smart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katie Piro Posted January 18, 2022 Report Share Posted January 18, 2022 I did the same thing when my public studio shut down for Covid. I had, I guess, the opposite mindset than most when setting up my studio. I would rather spend a little more on very good quality brands at the outset, than run into having to shell out a lot more money "upgrading" once I got to a certain level. I knew I was in it for the long haul so I wasn't worried about them being waste of money. I went for the following: Brent B Wheel - I LOVE it. It's sturdy enough to handle anything I do, and gives me room to expand into larger pieces in the future. Skutt KM-1027 Kiln - This is a larger kiln. I do a lot of production work so I wasn't worried about needing to fill it. Depending on what you create, you might want to go for a smaller kiln that you could fill quicker and run more frequently. Workbenches - BROR from Ikea. They have an unfinished wood top that's great for wedging clay. Eventually I splurged for a slab roller. It's a Bailey Mini Might II but I waited until I was more comfortable slab building to invest in it. Definitely not a necessity. I have some cheap metal shelving units from Home Depot, and made ware boards out of cut pieces of plywood that were sitting in my garage. Also, the orange buckets from home depot are what I use for storing glaze. My biggest wasted expense was buying a lot of commercial glazes at the start, not realizing how quickly I would shift into making my own. My biggest expenses were the kiln ($4000 ish), the wiring to set it up ($500), and the pottery wheel ($1700 ish). Everything else I either already had, or could purchase for a nominal amount of money. Best of luck! How exciting! Katie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.