The Beginner's Guide to Hand Building: Functional and Sculptural Projects for the Home Potter

Sunshine Cobb

Okt 2022 · Quarry Books

Mayelana nale ebook

Join the home pottery revolution!

Whether you have access to a communal studio or not, hand building projects can travel just about anywhere. Take your clay outside or work at the kitchen table, with instruction from best-selling ceramics author Sunshine Cobb. In this book, you’ll find all the necessary fundamentals, including a thorough discussion of clay as well as helpful tips for keeping your body and mind in top shape. Then pick the path that’s right for you in the chapters that follow. 

Develop new skills and unlock your own creativity as you explore:

• Sculptural projects like miniature animals and plants.
• Functional items like scoops, a citrus reamer, and a coffee pour-over vessel.
• Mixed media projects including a candlestick holder, mobile, and a soap dish.

All along the way, skill-building is front and center, with conversational instructions and tips to help you make pieces you’re proud to show off. Gallery work from some of today’s top artists are sure to inspire potters of all levels. What will you make first?

For beginners and those returning to ceramics, the Essential Ceramics Skills series from Quarry Books offer the fundamentals along with fresh, contemporary, and simple projects that build skills progressively.

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Sunshine Cobb, author of Mastering Hand Building, is a ceramic artist and instructor based in California, where she is currently a visiting professor at Sacramento State University. She has previously held adjunct or visiting professor roles at Sonoma State University, University of Pacific, and Utah State. She has experience with everything from eight-day anagama wood firings to slip casting ornaments, but she focuses her talent on functional ware, embracing the richness of earthenware and exploring the challenge of electric firing. Sunshine has been the recipient of the Windgate Fellowship Emerging Artist award, a featured emerging artist in Ceramics Monthly (cover artist), and a long-term resident at Archie Bray. She has taught workshops across the country including Penland School of Crafts, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Arrowmont, Santa Fe Clay, and The Clay Studio. She holds a BA in studio art from CSU Sacramento and an MFA in ceramic art from Utah State University.