Contrary to popular belief, it is not difficult to start your own adventure with ceramics. 

One of the first questions we are often asked from those starting is - what type of clay should I choose? 

The answer to this really depends on what you’re looking to make, what finish you want and which techniques you’re planning to use. There’s no right or wrong, but there are certainly clays that lend themselves more to certain projects. 

We have some well equipped ceramic shops in the UK that sell ready-made ceramic masses for hand modelling or moulding on a circle, and slip masses which are used for casting. 

Types of clay

Clay bodies vary in levels of durability and permeability; ceramic clays come in various colours, from brick-red through chocolate brown to cream-white. They are characterised by high brittleness and permeability, hence why after firing ceramic vessels must be glazed to be sealed. 

The most popular choice amongst potters seems to be stoneware clays. These are often chosen because they are durable all-rounders and can be used for planters, crockery & much much more.

The most durable porcelain (kaolin) clays undergo vitrification in the firing process, are the most impermeable to water and can be used to form objects with very thin walls.

The other important factor when working with clay is how wet your clay is.

The wetter the clay, the easier it is to shape into various fancy forms but the more difficult it is to maintain a vertical position. The drier your clay is, the better it rolls into sheets and rises but is less supple and breaks more easily when we try to bend it. 

Colours, colours and more colours

When choosing your clay, bear in mind that whilst in a wet form it will be a graphite colour but once fired will either turn the colour to 'ivory' or toasted brown.

Our suggestion here would be to ask your local supplier to show you some samples of the material after the bisque and glaze firings, so there are no surprises later down the line.

Our clays

We predominantly use two different types of clay in the studio.

One is the brittle and coarse Wessex stoneware, a perfect choice for beginner sculptors who want to give it a go on their kitchen table. This one fires to high temperatures and gives a salmon pink colour in bisque firing and toasted brown in the second glaze firing.

The second, the clay we use to throw pots on the pottery wheel, is Scarva original stoneware. This has much more plasticity to it and it fires to a light ivory colour. Also, thanks to its high molocite content, it’s super smooth and easy on your hands - handy if you make large batches of ware on the wheel! It’s also ideal for glaze dipping as it rarely shows any defects after glaze firing… as long as you use the right type of glaze for it in the sample temperature range! But I’ll save that for another post. 

Head over to our shop or Instagram page to browse some of the different clays we use - can you tell which clays have been used?