| Before you start making ceramic, it is important to | | | | likelihood, you will buy the few necessary tools from |
| collect all the tool and material needed for your work. | | | | your teacher. This will be the start of your own home |
| Take a tip from this article on what are the things to | | | | workshop. |
| be collected and how to get prepared. | | | | Of course many new ceramists begin by immediately |
| There is a vast variety of tools and a equipment now | | | | furnishing a complete studio, from clay to kiln. In most |
| available to the ceramics hobbyist. Suppliers | | | | cases this is not advisable for two reasons. First, there |
| catalogues are jam-packed with paraphernalia for the | | | | are financial considerations which would frustrate this |
| amateur workshop. After paging through one of these | | | | grandiose plan of action for most people. Second, it is |
| catalogues, the beginner is apt to be over impressed | | | | more prudent to wait and see what type of equipment |
| with the necessity for fancy tools and equipment. Fact | | | | is best suited to your personal needs and desires. The |
| is, however, that very few implements are | | | | clay worker who wants to specialize in hand-sculpture |
| can't-do-without for the beginning ceramist. | | | | will not require the very same tools and materials as |
| A working surface covered with a piece of oilcloth, | | | | the one whose skills and fancy lean toward pottery. |
| wrong side up; one or two simple modeling tools, a | | | | When you select a site for your workshop, make |
| knife, and about five pounds of clay are all you need | | | | certain it is not exposed directly to extremes of heat |
| to start shaping your first object. The cost of these is | | | | or dampness. Good lighting is also important, |
| negligible. Most clay, for example, can be bought from | | | | contributing both to the ceramist's comfort and to the |
| retail dealers at about 15 cents a pound. | | | | quality of his work. Running water, or easy access to |
| Build your collection of tools slowly, adding items as | | | | water, is also desirable. Until you start to accumulate a |
| you need them. It is likely that you will do your first | | | | sizable collection of tools and equipment, and want to |
| clay-craft in a local studio or classroom, under the | | | | set up your own workshop, your kitchen should serve |
| guidance of a professional teacher. It is not probable | | | | the purpose. |
| that you'll begin sculpting or casting your own pieces in | | | | Many tools you will be able to make easily for yourself; |
| a mold. Instead, you will be supplied with green ware, a | | | | others you will find already at hand about the house. |
| fettling knife, brushes, colors and glazes. You will | | | | No matter how far you advance in the ceramics art, |
| remove the mold marks from the greensward, smooth | | | | you'll find the most useful tools are your fingers. Every |
| the surface, add some decoration and glaze. Then the | | | | other modeling device is employed simply to |
| professional ceramist will fire it for you in his kiln. | | | | supplement the work that can be done with your |
| After you have learned to do this, which should not | | | | hands. When shaping a piece of clay, tools will only |
| take more than one or two lessons, you may want to | | | | assist your fingers. They will not accomplish anything |
| take the green ware home and finish it there. In all | | | | that can't be done with your fingers. |