#pottery tools

[thehappypottersblog]

Essential Tools

Essential Tools Every Potter Should Have For those new to pottery or seasoned artisans looking to refine their craft, having the right tools can make all the difference. At Chester River Pottery, we know the importance of having a well-equipped toolkit to bring your creative visions to life. Whether you’re throwing on the wheel or hand-building, here’s a guide to the essential tools every potter…

Essential Tools

[notjaycakes]

I want everything

[claypigeonpottery]

hi what tool do you use for sgraffito?

hi! I use a few different tools and I’m actually glad to be getting this question now because I recently got a new tool and wanted to write down my impressions

(I’m not sponsored or anything, I just like these)

my favourite tool is Kemper’s wire stylus, it’s a very fine tool and doesn’t generally leave furrows in the clay. plus the shape of it keeps me from accidentally carving too deep

I find Xiem’s ribbon tools incredibly useful for different sized marks, carving a smoother surface, or creating certain textures

and this is the new one I got about a month ago, Kemper’s small double-ball stylus. I know a couple other sgraffito artists who swear by them, but it’s not my favourite. it can carve some very fine lines but I find it often leaves furrows in the clay and I have to go over my lines a second time to clean them up 🫤 and it can slip and carve too deep as well if I accidentally use too much pressure

but it can carve tight circles and small loopy shapes much more easily than the wire stylus, so I’ll definitely still use it for some details

[newluddite]

Assassin Potters.

My Wife is taking a pottery class. She came home with the set of tools she needs to make pots and things. One of the items is a Garrotte.

It is is thin wire strung between two small dowel handles. It is identical to what I saw in a Commando display at a museum. Was there a desperate fight in a pottery studio and the commando grabbed what came to hand or was there a trained assassin taking a day off for meditative clay manipulation? Hey this can be used with pots they think.

Sentries searching a potter's sack could find this lethal tool; "Whats this for?"

"It's just for cutting my pots off of the wheel." So innocent and not threatening. Then the sentry turns his back and.....

Which cam first the potters or the assassins?

[ornamentodeux]

More Adventures with Porcelain

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[claypigeonpottery]

@san-sebastienne thank you!

the details are done with Kemper’s wire stylus

(it’s my favourite)

[oldfarmhouse]

https://www.instagram.com.atellier. olivae

[claypigeonpottery]

If you don’t mind me asking, what tools do you use for your sgraffito work? Thanks!

sure! I’ve posted about my tools before so I’ll get a little more in-depth with my answer this time. also I’m not sponsored or anything, these are just what I’ve tried and my experiences with them

this one’s my favourite, kemper’s wire stylus. it’s very fine and it draws the clay away from the surface of the piece like a ribbon tool (unlike a needle tool, which is very fine but kind of a pain to use just because it leaves behind crumbs and burs) the stylus is a little fragile compared to some tools, it’s a trade off for the fine lines, so you’ll have to replace it a couple times a year if you carve an insane amount of pottery like me lol. and you can’t use it on dry or hard clay, the wire will break. but they’re like $8 so, not hard to replace

next are xiem’s ribbon tools. this set is super useful and offers some good variety in line thickness and such. and the coloured handles make it easy for me to find the one I want. I especially like the pink triangular one because I can use it for medium-fine lines as well as carving out large smooth sections with very few tool marks

xiem’s other carving tools are alright too. definitely lower on my list of favourites though. I use the smaller ball-ended ones sometimes for lettering and other curved lines. some are of these will gouge a little too deep so take care if you’re trying them out

diamondcore’s tools are very, very expensive, and I personally find them hard to control, both for detailed work and just depth-wise. I once carved completely through a plate with one which was a bummer lol. they are great for really deep texture though, like these coasters, if you’re careful not to go any deeper

and a friend gave me some of these. they’re dental tools! (and I threw in a picture of a needle tool too) they’re super fine, but like a needle tool, you’ll need to sweep away a lot of crumbs. I’ve cut my fingers on these and do not use them regularly or store them with my other tools. be careful of the angle you hold these ones at. I find a 70-80 degree angle to the surface of the piece to draw with any kind of needle tool works best, so the tip won’t get caught or obscure your lines, but this is getting really technical lol. honestly needle tools are better for mishima than sgraffito imo

here’s the mishima technique, since I don’t post it often. it’s a good way to get super fine linework, and is a great technique to combine with underglaze painting