(moved over from the Learning - Ceramics now that I have more direct experience 😅)
Ceramics
This art form has a higher barrier to entry than e.g. Learning to draw (again?) , but if you look, you can probably find a community studio with either 4 week classes or one day classes to try out, and once you’ve taken a class, there are often opportunities to join the studio with a monthly fee to continue using the space and the equipment.
I did a fun “date night” pottery class and watched the first three of these videos in advance to get a basic understanding of what I’d be encountering. Also maybe worth checking out The Great Pottery Throwdown (a British show that HBO Max picked up).
A good friend took a pottery class at the UofM and continuously struggled with centering her clay, ultimately deciding that hand building is the way to go, even for things like vases 😅
Centering: the wheel only really works if the clay is centered. And I think the most important concept here is that you need to brace your arms so that you solidly define where the clay can go, removing any wobbles.
Opening up the clay and forming a base. The thickness of the base should factor in your plans for the piece: do you want a foot? you’ll have a chance to carve away the excess to reveal the foot later during trimming.
Pulling up the walls to form a cylinder (which you can then form into bowls, cups, vases, etc.)
Lifting pots off the wheel is much more difficult than this, especially if you’re just starting out, because the longer you have the clay on the wheel, the more water it absorbs and the more floppy the clay becomes, so your form can distort when you go to lift it. There are tools for sliding under the piece to lift it off, but you can also use multiple bats (a board that goes on the wheel and can be lifted away with the piece on it to firm up before trying to remove the thrown piece), or a single bat with a cutout for multiple bat inserts.
Drying:
Typically fresh pieces are loosely covered in plastic for a day or more to ensure even drying. This reduces cracking that occurs when the outside or thin edges are drying and shrinking more quickly than the thicker interior/base which isn't exposed to the air. Once your piece is “leather hard” you can trim it.
Trimming:
Keep in mind that at this stage (all the way through bone dry) you can still reuse all this clay: trimmings, ruined pieces, etc. so I think it makes sense to go for quantity rather than quantity for the sake of learning.
It’s only after you’ve finished this step and have fired your clay for the first time (bisque firing) that the clay undergoes a chemical change and is ready for glazing.
Glazing:
(she has a home studio and produces beautiful work—apparently 2,000 pieces a year)