I thought it would be good to put together a list of all the things that go into making my work, which could help people to understand what’s involved in the handmade process. This won’t just apply for all handmade ceramic items, but also every other craft that is made for the purpose of selling (but slightly edited to suit each particular craft), including knitting & crochet, wood turning, glass work, sewing & textiles, card making, jewellery making, and photography.
What goes into a price…
For me the first step of my creative process is preparing clay… This can be anything from rolling out, wedging, or forming balls ready to work with.
The next step is to form or build a piece using different techniques including slab building, pinch pot forming, pressing into moulds or cutting out flat pieces to size and shape. Some other examples in different craft forms can be seen below:
1. Me trimming a slab-constructed vase.
2. Charlotte Macey sewing spotty egg cups onto linen.
3. Wendy Jeavons cutting sparkly glass for fairy lights.
4. Kirsty Elson‘s husband helping to collect driftwood ready to create wooden houses and boats.
Once a piece of my work has been formed, I then usually decorate it by impressing textures and adding slips. Then it’s the long process of drying out which can sometimes take up to a whole week. It’s important not to let clay dry out too quickly as this could cause stress inside the molecules of the clay, causing it to crack later down the line, especially when fired in the kiln. I cover my work with plastic bags and then slowly day by day make the bag loose to let more air reach the clay to dry it out. Eventually the bag is removed to allow the clay to completely dry out.
The ‘greenware’ stage of clay is my favourite – This is when it is not fully dried out but stiff enough to still work with. It is a good time to engrave wording or additional decoration at this stage.
Once fully dried out, work needs to be loaded into a kiln for bisque firing which can take 24 hours. The kiln then needs to be unloaded, glazes are to be mixed, painted/sprayed onto the bisque fired pieces, and left to dry. The kiln is then re-loaded and fired again to a higher temperature – 1260’C in my case. It takes 2 days for the kiln to reach this temperature and then fully cool down again before it can be opened.
Mixing glazes
After opening the kiln and admiring lots of glossy new products, the handmade process doesn’t end there!
There’s then cleaning up to do, pricing, taking photos, packing, and marketing.
Not forgetting travelling to and from suppliers, galleries to deliver work, craft fairs and exhibitions to set up a display, costs for equipment including electricity to run the kiln, the kiln itself, clay, raw glaze materials, tools, etc.
After all of that, our designs and ideas aren’t just plucked out of the air… There’s planning, sketchbook ideas and brainstorms, product development, designing a stand. I could probably go on but I hope this gives you a good idea and helps you to think about what has gone into the next handmade product that you buy! 🙂
Being still very much an amateur I didn’t realise that it’s preferable to put on the slip before the bisque firing.Thank you for this information. I’m sure others are equally appreciating your explanatory article.Keep up with your unique and excellent art. You give so much.