Clay weight for throwing — in ounces and grams

“How much clay do I need?” is a common question from potters. Truthfully, the amount will vary based on how you throw and if you trim a foot or have flat bottom. But these measurements are a starting point and if you keep notes, over time you will develop your own approach.

Below is a chart of suggested starting weights of clay in pounds and grams for throwing various pottery forms—adjust accordingly depending on how you throw. These weights are listed with the goal of about a 1/4 to 3/8 inch wall thickness. If you are having trouble achieving a particular size or shape, add clay and plan to trim more. Good luck and have fun.

The Accuteck Postal Scale is a great option for weighing clay and costs around $20. To keep it clean, try placing it inside a clear plastic bag.

Scales for weighing clay:

Our budget pick is the $20 Accuteck shipping scale.
Accurate to about 2 grams. (shop at Amazon.)

Our upgrade pick is the $55 Oxo 11 pound kitchen scale.
Accurate to about 1 gram. (shop at Amazon)

Our manual scale pick is the Lem 44 lb scale
Accurate to about 2 ounce increments. $50 (shop at Amazon)

If you need a more accurate scale, check out our complete guide to scales for pottery studios.

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Weight of Clay for Pottery Forms

Form	Weight (lbs)	Weight (grams)
Drinking Vessels
Mug (8 oz)	12 oz	340 g
Large Mug (12 oz)	16 oz	450 g
Small cup	14 oz	400 g
Tumbler	16 oz	450 g
Pint Glass	1 lb 4 oz	565 g
Bowls
Small Bowl (no foot)	1 lb	450 g
Small Footed Bowl	1 lb 4 oz	565 g
Soup Bowl	2 lb	900 g
Footed Serving Bowl	4 lb	1800 g
Large Footed Bowl	5 lb 8 oz	2500 g
Small Mixing Bowl (no foot)	1 lb 8 oz	680 g
Medium Mixing Bowl	3 lb	1360 g
Large Mixing Bowl	4 lb 8oz	2040 g
Plates
Saucer	1 lb	450 g
Side Plate	2 lbs	900 g
Medium Plate	4 lbs	1800 g
Large Plate	5 lbs	2270 g
Pitchers and Bottles
Sake Jar / Small Creamer	12 oz	340 g
Small Carafe	2 lbs 8 oz	1130 g
Large Carafe	4 lbs	1800 g
Small Bottle	1 lb 8 oz	680 g
Large Bottle	3 lbs	1360 g
Jars
Small Jar	2 lbs	900 g
Medium Jar	4 lbs	1800 g
Large Jar	6 lbs	2700 g

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Need a scale to weigh your clay?

Check out our review of scales for pottery and ceramic studios.

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What weights do you use for throwing pottery forms? Let us know in the comments.

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Pinch Pot Vase With a Lid — Pottery Tutorial

Pinch pots are a classic beginning project in ceramics, but this tutorial shows how to take them a step further by combining two pots into a vase with a simple lid. For this project you will need clay, simple ceramic tools, glaze, and underglaze.

The complete tutorial is below or check out this video of the same process.

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Step 1: Make 2 Pinch Pots

Starting with a small ball of clay, stick your thumb in the center and then pinch the walls to an equal thickness.

As you are making the pinch pots, try to keep the walls an even thickness and keep the rim flat.

To help even out the rims, which we will be joining in the next step, you can turn the pinch pot upside down and tap it against your work surface.

After your first pinch pot, make a second. Try to keep the diameter of the two pinch pots roughly the same.

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Step 2: Join the Pinch Pots

After making the two pinch pots, it’s time to join them. Make sure the rims somewhat match up, but it’s ok if your pinch pots are varied shapes. Spherical, egg shaped, cylindrical—all will make a nice vase.

To join the pinch pots, first score with a serrated rib or fork, paint on joining slip, and then press the two pinch pots together.

Not pictured here, but it’s great to take a rib or other tool to really smooth the joint of the two pinch pots

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Step 3: Add a Foot Ring

This vase benefits from a small foot ring. To make one, first roll a thin coil and form it into a circle.

Then, score, slip and press the foot ring to the base.

A wooden modeling tool can help join and clean up the foot ring.

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Step 4: Cut and Shape the Lid

Now that you have a footed vessel, it’s time to make the lid.

Start by cutting the opening in the top.

Using the circle of clay you just cut out, you can pinch it a bit wider than the hole you just made. Add a curve or keep it flat.

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Step 5: Add a Bumper and Knob to the Lid

To help the lid stay in place, make a small ring with a coil of clay, and join it to the underside of the lid. This will help it sit and stay in place.

You can also add a small knob to the lid, as shown in the picture.

When you have finished this step, you can let the piece dry, and then bisque fire it.

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Step 6: Glazing

For this example, I glazed the lid with just underglaze by painting on 3 coats of an orange underglaze. I like to have a contrast between matte and glossy, but you can do whatever you want with your piece.

Using a clay shredder to clean up the outside rim.

For the vase, I layered two glazes to get the drippy blue and white effect. The first glaze was a white crawl glaze, which I poured inside the vase and painted on the outside. I applied a few layers to get it extra thick. Then, I painted a blue glaze on top of the blue crawl glaze.

Excess glaze was wiped away from the mouth of the vase, but I fired the vase and the lid separately.

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All done!

Here’s the final results, a small lidded vase with an orange lid and drippy, blue and white glaze on red stoneware.

There are so many variations that you can do on this, and if you try it, you will find your own way to make a lidded vase. Have fun.

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Press-molded Pasta Bowl from a Clay Slab — Pottery Tutorial

Using a woven wood salad bowl as a pottery slump mold is a great way to easily make plates, bowls, or pasta plates. This tutorial will cover how to use this technique, including rolling out the slab, cutting, and shaping the pasta plate

For this process, you will need a wooden salad bowl. A plaster form will also work, but do not use plastic or metal bowls as clay will stick to them. This tutorial uses a 14-inch wide wooden bowl which costs around $15, but you can do this technique with any size or shape wooden bowl.

You will also need a canvas or slab mat, and a large rolling pin (or a slab roller).

Here’s a video of the process and a full tutorial with pictures is below.

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Step 1: Make a Slab

Pounding the wedged clay to begin making a slab.

To make a slab, either use a slab roller and roll out a slab about 3/8 of an inch thick, or roll it by hand as shown here.

To roll a slab by hand, I first start by pounding or punching the wedged clay down on a canvas mat. A double layer of yardsticks is already set up to be ready to roll.

Pounding the clay roughly into a circle.

As I continue pounding it down using the bottom of a fist, I try to work the clay into a roughly circular shape.

Next, I throw the clay from the side at an angle, to stretch and thin the slab even more.

Throwing the slab at an angle to thin and stretch it.

When the clay is about an inch thick, then I will start rolling. I will first roll it evenly with the double layer of yardsticks. Then, to get the slab thinner, I will take away one yardstick on each side and roll the slab again until it is even.

Rolling the slab with a large rolling pin.

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Step 2: Cut Slab Using Bowl as Template

Using the woven wood salad bowl as a template to cut a circle of clay.

After preparing your slab, invert the bowl and use it as a template to cut a circular slab. I cut right along the edge of the bowl, but you could cut it bigger if you want to make a taller bowl.

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Step 3: Flip Slab and Shape Into the Mold

Preparing to flip the slab and bowl using the canvas.

After cutting your circular slab and removing excess clay, fold up the canvas on top of the bowl and use the canvas to help flip the slab and bowl right side up.

If done correctly, the slab should sit on top of the bowl or begin to drop in to the bowl. It may be a little bit uneven, but this is ok because you are going to cut off extra clay later.

Using the canvas to flip the slab into the bowl.

After flipping the slab, press it gently into the bowl form. You can use a sponge to aid in this process, or even tap the bowl against the table so that the slab drops in against the sides.

Gently forming the slab into the bowl shape. Don’t press too hard or you will make a bunch of fingerprint marks.

To tap the slab into place, hold both sides of the bowl and tap it against the table a few times. The slab will drop in and take on the shape of the wooden bowl.

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Step 4: Refine and Smooth

After your slab is in, you can use a sponge or a rib to smooth the inside, make sure everything is even, and make any adjustments to the slab.

Smoothing the inside of the bowl with a sponge.

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Step 5: Cut Off Excess Clay and Smooth Rim

Cut off excess clay with a clay knife.

After smoothing and organizing the inside of the bowl, you can cut off excess clay and clean the rim. For a plate, cut close to the base. For a pasta plate, leave about an inch for the wall. For a shallow bowl, leave about 2 inches for the wall. But it’s totally up to you! Make a shape that looks good to you.

Cleaning the rim.

After cutting off the extra clay, clean and smooth the rim with a sponge.

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Step 6: Dry Overnight, then Flip Bowl Out of Mold

Flipping the pasta plate out of the wooden bowl.

After drying a few hours or overnight (you can leave it uncovered) you should be able to flip the pasta plate out of the woven wood bowl. Take care! Leather hard and bone dry ware can be fragile.

Using a clay shredder to clean up the outside rim.

Smoothing the rim and removing tool marks.

Then, you can further refine the rim by using a clay shredder tool, a loop tool, or a rib.

After shaping the rim, it’s a good idea to smooth the rim with a damp sponge. But don’t work it so much that you “sand” away the finest particles. Just try to smooth it out.

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All done!

The pasta plate immediately after being removed from the kiln.

After cleaning the bowl, you can let it dry fully, bisque fire, and then glaze.

This pasta plate was glazed in a satin white glaze.

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Tutorial Recap

If you need a wooden bowl for this process, here are links to a single bowl ($15) or a 4 pack of the 14” bowls. These bowls are actually about 13.5 inches wide, but work great for making a plate that is around 11 to 11.5 inches wide.

You may also need a canvas, slab mat, and large rolling pin. I prefer a solid maple rolling pin.

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Turn a Bottle into an Oval Flask — Pottery Tutorial

Turning a bottle into an oval flask is a fun way to modify and personalize your pottery. This tutorial will cover every step of modifying a round bottle to make an oval vessel on the pottery wheel.

Here’s a video of the process and a full tutorial with pictures is below.

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Step 1: Center and Open

Beginning to center the wedged clay.

In this tutorial, four pounds of red stoneware clay was used, but you can vary the amounts based on the size of flask you want to make.

Remember that you will be cutting the form off the base, and then re-attaching a slab base in the new oval shape.

Opening the clay to throw a cylindrical form.

After wedging, join the clay to the wheel head and begin centering. Then, open the mass of clay and organize the clay into a base and walls.

For a bottle, you want a flat bottom, about 1/2 inch from the wheel head. But we will be cutting this off the bottom so the thickness of your base is not of great concern at this point, but you still want the walls to be even.

Pull the walls as high and thin as you can, but keep a good amount of clay at the top as the next step will be collaring in to make the neck.

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Step 2: Collar In to Make the Bottle Neck and Mouth

Begin collaring by using wet hands and slowly move the clay in.

After pulling the walls, beging to collar in the top to make the shoulders, neck, and mouth of the pot. This should be done slowly with multiple passes.

Bring the clay in to the desired width of your neck. You will be able to make adjustments later too.

Before putting the finishing touches on the neck and mouth, I clean up the walls as shown in the next step.

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Step 3: Cleaning the Walls and Shaping

Removing excess clay from the lower half of the form.

After collaring in the top, I like to do a quick step where I remove some excess clay from the base of the walls. You may throw perfectly thin, but I usually need this trimming to get rid of extra clay on the bottom half. I use a large trimming tool to remove clay.

Shaping the shoulder and neck with a rib.

Then, I use a rib to refine the shape of the neck and shoulder. This will also remove slip, making our next step easier.

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Step 4: Removing the Base and Pressing Into an Oval

After throwing and shaping your round bottle, use a needle tool to cut the form from the base. Pick the bottle up and set it aside. Place a rolled-out slab on your work area and return the bottle form. Then, with equal pressure from both sides, press the bottle into an oval form.

Cut the bottle off from the base.

Place a slab in your work area, the press the bottle into an oval shape.

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Step 5: Adding a Slab Base and Cleaning Up

Join the oval form to the slab base.

When you have your bottle top and base shaped just how you want them, score both sides, add slip and join.

It can be helpful to press the slab base up into the wall by running a wooden tool underneath the slab.

Then, cut off excess clay and smooth the base and wall together.

Pressing the base up into the wall with a wooden tool.

Cleaning up the base after removing excess clay.

Smoothing the walls.

Trimming the walls of the bowl.

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All done! After cleaning up, it’s time to let your oval flask dry and get it bisque fired. The wide sides of this form can provide a great canvas for decoration. Good luck!

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View all How To posts

Thanks for reading. Stay in touch!

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Ugetsu, the Greatest Film Starring a Potter Ever Made?

Ugetsu may be the greatest film that also stars a potter, and it’s now available for free (with ads every 10 minutes or so) on YouTube or it can be rented at a variety of sites.

Made in 1953, it’s a ghost story about a 16th-century Japanese potter who leaves his kiln and village during a turbulent period of war. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, this magical story alternates between reality and a dream world and brings up questions of family, attachments, and how to live one’s life.

The film includes wonderful shots of the potter throwing pots with his wife, glazing, loading and firing a wood kiln, and selling his wares. Having a potter in a main role is of interest, although in the story the character could have been any sort of profession, such as a farmer or small-town craftsman.

In a 2012 essay for Studio Potter, Sarah Archer points out that in Western movies and television, potters are often played for laughs (i.e. Ghost) but in Ugestu, “Ceramics occupies a role in this film that another sort of old-fashioned profession like farming could credibly occupy in an American movie. Ceramics is not played for laughs or meant to indicate that the character is artsy or flaky or experiencing a midlife crisis; he’s just a rural, pre-industrial man who makes and sells pots.”

Potter or not, Ugetsu is a beautiful, thoughtful film that’s worth a watch.

Watch Ugetsu (with ads) on Youtube:

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Gift Guide for Potters

Best Pottery and Ceramic T-Shirts

A pottery t-shirt can be a fun way to show your love for ceramics and also makes a great gift for potters and artists. And these days, there’s a lot of custom t-shirts available at print-on-demand websites where the shirt designer also gets a small cut of the sale price. It’s a great way to support a fellow artist or designer, and to get a fun shirt.

If you’ve never ordered from a print-on-demand site, it’s easy. Simply choose your size and style, and sometimes you are able to also choose what color of shirt to print on. Some sites will have the design available on a wide variety of other products too. After placing your order, your item will be printed and shipped within a few days. There a lots of sites like this, including Society6, RedBubble, Threadless, and more.

Here are a few of our favorite shirts.

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DGoode on Threadless

Ceramics Joe t-shirt, inspired by the GI Joe logo, by Dgoode and available on Threadless.

This Reese’s Pieces inspired shirt by DGoode is available on Threadless.

Pottery Wheels T-shirt inspired by Hot Wheels by Dgoode on Threadless

Artist and designed Delvin Goode has more than 20 ceramics, pottery, and art studio-inspired t-shirts listed on Threadless at the D. Goode Artist Shop. Many of the shirts are remixes of other brand logos, such as the three pictured above. All the shirts are super fun.

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Not your typical “kiln it” joke with this one, which has a great design and killer kiln room style. By SandboxShirts and available at etsy.

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Evolution of Pottery T-Shirt

Pottery is the natural end result of pottery, right? This shirt is by the designer Maroon Boy and available on Society6.

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Retro 70s-Style Pottery T-Shirt

This bold design from Maroon Boy on Society6 says it all.

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AmacoBrent has a bunch of designs in their Redbubble shop, including this classic Brent logo, a multicolor 50th Anniversary of Brent design, and more. Check it out at Redbubble.

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Pottery Things T-Shirt

Kilns, throwing, ribs, tools… the Pottery Things T-shirt by Teequeque has it all. It’s available on Redbubble.

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Pottery Cat T-Shirt

The Pottery Cat T-shirt by Carol Epp is one of a few pottery designs listed in their Threadless store.

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Totally Kiln It

Kiln jokes never get old and you know what, you are totally kiln it! Shop this shirt by EstelleStarsShop at Society6.

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Seth Rogen Ghost Pottery Scene

Get the full Seth Rogen pottery experience with this shirt, combining pottery’s newest all star and the classic pottery scene from Ghost, except that Rogen is both Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze! Shop this design by kylemacmac at redbubble.

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Ceramic Shirts

Rocking Pot shirt, a drawing of the classic Peter Voulkos sculpture.

“POTTERY” in a classic college font.

Flaming Potter shirt, just like the Thrasher Magazine logo.

Ceramic Shirts has more than 25 pottery and ceramic-inspired shirts on Threadless including a basic Pottery shirt in a college font, a shirt featuring the Peter Voulkos sculpture Rocking Pot, and even a flaming Potter design like the Thrasher Magazine logo. Lots of fun stuff at Threadless.

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This block letter KILN design has a retro vibe but feels just right. Available at Redbubble.

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This skeleton potter will never stop! Designed by Funny Clay Potterer and available at Amazon Merch on Demand.

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Nidec, the parent company of Shimpo, keeps trying to drop the Shimpo name from its products. Never! A shimpo wheel will always be a Shimpo. But Nidec does have a cool log.

Do you have a favorite pottery t-shirt? We are always looking for more fun designs. Let us know in the comments.

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