I am not a potter! The most I have done was to win and process my own clay then fool around with building some slab pots, but the idea of taking stuff out of the ground, forming it then making it durable fascinates me. It is on my list of skills to acquire.........assuming I live long enough. Anyway, I am saying this so you understand that the books reviewed here are reviewed from the point of view of the novice, and stuff in the books that looks like a good idea to me may have flaws that I don’t know about. Lots of luck!
Pottery Making from the Ground Up – York Honore – Museum Press Ltd (UK) 1950 No ISBN – This is a great low tech book covering everything from digging it up through forming to firing including a DIY kiln and potter’s wheel. Not a huge amount of detail although there are a considerable number of black and white photos and a few line drawings.
Pottery Without a Wheel – Keith Tyler – The Dryad Press (UK) 1971 SBN 85219 032 8 – This is really a small booklet of less than 90 pages but gives some good insight to pottery techniques without using the potter’s wheel, but little on winning the clay or firing the finished article. There are some black and white photographs and some really nice line drawings.
The Home Potter – Ian Lauder – Barrie and Jenkins (UK) 1970 SBN 257 651357 – Another little book but it takes you from winning and processing the clay through making stuff with it, with and without a wheel as well as glazing and firing. There are also designs for a DIY wheel and (electric) mini-kiln. A few black and white photos but lots of really good line drawings.
The Self-Reliant Potter – Andrew Holden – A & C Black (Publishers) Ltd (UK) 1982 ISBN 0 7136 2808 1 – nothing on clay in this one but quite a bit about understanding glazing including making your own glazing from local materials. He gives two designs for kilns you can build yourself and three types of wheels including one powered one. Not the book with everything but very good in the ares he decides to cover. Quite a few black and white photos with the odd line drawing thrown in.
Kiln Building with space Age Materials – Frank A. Colson – Van Nostrand Reinhold Co (US) 1975 ISBN 0 442 21641 6 – As the name suggests this one is about the theory and practice of kiln building with detailed instructions on how to build six different kilns, including one out of a metal garbage bin and one out of a 200 litre drum, most could be built in the back yard. Really good black and white photos with line drawings used to illustrate some points.
Pioneer Pottery – Michael Cardew – Longman (UK) 1969 – ISBN 0 582 12624 X – This one goes into some considerable detail about the geology of clays and other potters raw materials at the start of the book as well as technical detail on glazes making and using the refractories needed to set up a potters workshop. The section on pot making itself is devoted to some of the traditional African ways that native potters use to make their pots and the focus is more on functional pottery than the arty stuff. He does cover wheel making firing using various methods and setting up a potters workshop. The book is quite long and technical to assist you in making pottery from scratch. A few black and white photos and lots of line drawings.
The Potters’ Alternative – Harry Davis –Methuen (AUS) 1987 – ISBN 0 454 0113 X – This book should be subtitled – Everything you needed to know about making pottery and pottery equipment from scratch. If you can only afford one boo, this is it. It 436 high quality pages of how to make pottery making machinery and equipment. Some of it is large scale heavy duty stuff but it gives an insight on how to set up a clay processing plant from scratch including advice on some of the metalworking techniques used. Not many photos but lots of line drawings.
Alternative Kilns and Firing Techniques – James C. Watkins and Paul Andrew Wandless - Lark Books (US) 2004. This is another book about firing techniques, specifically raku, saggar, pit and barrel techniques, all of which it would be possible to set up in your back yard. The book guides you through each technique step-by-step with lots of colour photos, and there is also quite a few colour photos in the back of the arty stuff they have made with each technique, but for me it is the stuff in the front that makes it!
Primitive Pottery –Hal Reigger – Van Nostrand Reinhold Co (US) 1972 No ISBN; Library of Congress no 75-184821 – This is exactly what is says on the tin! Low tech ways to prepare the clay glaze, fire without a kiln and make a rudimentary kiln. The book also covers making simple pottery forming tools and goes through the techniques that native Africans and islanders use to make pots. Lots of black and white photos.
An Artists Guide to firing Pottery – Harry Memmot – Victoria College Press (AUS) 1989 ISBN 0 909184 28 3 – This is a detailed practical book on how to fire your pottery using low tech backyard and more main stream kiln techniques No photos and just a few line drawings..
