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Clay Tile and Vessel Making Basics: A Practical Guide to Flat Tiles, Balanced Vessels, and Work That Survives Drying and Firing
Paperback
JewelryPottery & CeramicsSculpting
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ISBN13: 9798188030124
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 19 2026
Pages: 60
Weight: 0.21
Height: 0.12 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 19 2026
Pages: 60
Weight: 0.21
Height: 0.12 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Your Tiles Keep Warping. Your Vessels Collapse. You're Not Alone.
You know the feeling. You spent hours on a slab, cut it carefully, dried it patiently. Then you open the kiln and the corners have lifted, or the center has cracked, or the whole thing looks like a shallow bowl when it was supposed to be flat. Nobody told you why. Nobody explained what actually happened between the drying rack and the glaze firing.
You know the feeling. You spent hours on a slab, cut it carefully, dried it patiently. Then you open the kiln and the corners have lifted, or the center has cracked, or the whole thing looks like a shallow bowl when it was supposed to be flat. Nobody told you why. Nobody explained what actually happened between the drying rack and the glaze firing.
This book does.
Clay Tile and Vessel Making Basics is a practical, straightforward guide for potters who already know how to wedge and roll but still lose too many pieces to warping, cracking, and slumping. It's not a general pottery book. It's focused entirely on the two forms that punish small mistakes the hardest: flat tiles and hand-built vessels.
Inside, you'll find clear coaching on:
This book also includes a bonus section: a half-scale vessel practice sequence. Three small projects designed to let you apply every core skill at low risk, with less clay, faster drying, and quicker feedback. The main book stands complete on its own; the bonus is there for readers who want guided practice.
I wrote this book because I remember what it felt like to open a kiln and feel my stomach drop. The frustration of not knowing what I did wrong was worse than the wasted clay. My goal here is simple: to give you the understanding and the practical steps that took me years to piece together, organized in one place, in plain language, without the jargon that makes craft books feel like textbooks.
If you're tired of losing pieces to problems you don't fully understand, this book was written for you.
Clay Tile and Vessel Making Basics is a practical, straightforward guide for potters who already know how to wedge and roll but still lose too many pieces to warping, cracking, and slumping. It's not a general pottery book. It's focused entirely on the two forms that punish small mistakes the hardest: flat tiles and hand-built vessels.
Inside, you'll find clear coaching on:
- Choosing the right clay body so your material works with you, not against you
- Rolling slabs that stay uniform from edge to edge, every time
- Cutting shapes that hold their form through drying and firing
- Drying flat pieces so they actually stay flat, with support strategies that work
- Building vessel walls that stand up rather than slump or tear
- Supporting hollow forms before the kiln, including when to remove internal cradles
- Understanding firing schedules so you can set your kiln with real confidence
- Loading tiles and vessels together without regret or damage
- Diagnosing what went wrong when a piece fails, and salvaging what can be saved
This book also includes a bonus section: a half-scale vessel practice sequence. Three small projects designed to let you apply every core skill at low risk, with less clay, faster drying, and quicker feedback. The main book stands complete on its own; the bonus is there for readers who want guided practice.
I wrote this book because I remember what it felt like to open a kiln and feel my stomach drop. The frustration of not knowing what I did wrong was worse than the wasted clay. My goal here is simple: to give you the understanding and the practical steps that took me years to piece together, organized in one place, in plain language, without the jargon that makes craft books feel like textbooks.
If you're tired of losing pieces to problems you don't fully understand, this book was written for you.
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