Practical Pottery: 40 Pottery Projects for Creating and Selling Mugs, Cups, Plates, Bowls, and More

by Jon Schmidt

An introduction to pottery. It’s never too late to pick up a new hobby, especially when you have a guide this simple to get you started. Potter and entrepreneur Jon Schmidt coaxes us into the world of pottery with a promise that we do not have to know everything about the complicated chemistry behind making pottery to enjoy it! By taking us back to the basics, Schmidt offers an introduction to pottery and a guide to creating functional pieces, along with insights into the business side of creating and selling your art.

Focus on functionality. While pottery pieces can be detailed and intricate, Schmidt finds the beauty in more practical pieces. From mugs to bowls, Schmidt shows us a host of functional pieces that we can create using our very own hands. As a coffee shop owner, Schmidt uses handmade items for everything. And, he uses this pottery book to demonstrate how we too can create beautiful pieces for daily use, and potentially profit from them.

Endless ideas for beginners to experienced throwers. This is the book for those who have never wielded pottery tools, and those who consider themselves experts with the pottery wheel. Whichever category you fall into, you’ll find endless possibilities for making beautiful works of functioning art with your own hands. By offering an array of ideas and techniques, Schmidt’s book captures the interest of a wide audience of creatives like you.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crafts, Art

200 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2020

Reviews

[Erica Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the title, I was hoping more for different projects to try when the ideas aren't flowing, which is not what this is. This is a good intro book, and I liked the inclusion of the selling aspect - something I'm starting to think about.

[Kelly Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pottery Lovers,

This book is for you!

I enjoyed every page of this book and I am so excited to try out new projects presented in it and put the advice into practice.

Jon Schmidt provides clear pottery tutorials through his words accompanied by step-by-step pictures. He demonstrates the process of making mugs, pitchers, bowls, planters, and many other projects. Schmidt also explains the fundamentals of pottery such as wedging, centering clay, and glazing. His instructive book is helpful for beginners because of this foundational teaching, but as an intermediate potter, I also found his book valuable. Schmidt offers business advice on selling your own pottery and finding yourself as an artist. For this reason, this book is a must read for anyone interested in pursuing their pottery hobby a step further. Everything he says in this book is well backed up by his own experience and success as a potter and entrepreneur.

To anyone reading or interested in reading this book, I urge you to check out Jon Schmidt's JonthePotter YouTube channel where he posts a variety of videos relating to pottery and fulfills his goal to instruct, inspire, and entertain.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Jon the Potter. I am a high school art teacher who teaches only pottery. I found Jon during quarantine of last year. His videos are not only full of good information but also well made. Not wordy or lengthy. Just good solid advice. I used some if his videos for my virtual lessons. I would recommend this book for anyone just starting out in pottery. It gives you some sound advice as well as simple projects to start out with. My advanced students would enjoy this book because of some if the more advance projects like the chip and dip bowl or the pitcher. I am going to take this to school and use as a resource.
I highly recommend the YouTube videos even if you are a little more advanced. Some great business tips for those who are interested in pottery production for sales. He is a a great source for business related questions in the field of pottery.

[Angie Seffker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to assign stars for a "how to" book compared to nonfiction or well written fiction. Of course, the writing isn't the focus - it's the ability to arrange information, describe what's important and instruct the reader. I feel the author checks all the boxes with this one. I got the book for free through my library and the Libby electronic book option. Text is good, wonderful color illustrations. Yeah, this is a great basic pottery book. He also steers you toward his youtube channel where you can watch him execute the instructions from the book. His videos get a little silly but the basics of centering, throwing, trimming etc are great. I do like to have the "steps" written down so I can review them so this book is a great tool in learning pottery. Well done.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the best pottery book I've read this year. Focus is as much on how to make a business out of pottery as it is about how to create the pottery itself. As someone starting out with classes at a shared studio space, I can already see the day when I run out of ready homes for the pottery I make, so starting to think about how I could eventually sell that pottery is helpful.

[Snazzyjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is light. If you’re looking for in depth. This isn’t it. However it does go into Jon’s story and passion. I’ll be using his process photos as reference for my HS Pottery lessons. Those are the best part of the book. The photography and his enthusiasm carry the rest of this book.

[debra christmas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Starter Book

This book addresses all you need to start. I've had a few lessons and this book helps where the lessons were confusing or I just plan forgot. Very much recommended!

[Kathleen]

At this stage of my pottery journey I found this book to be a bit too basic, but if you are a new beginner and looking into selling I would suggest this as the author has a good voice in the story and it is a quick easy to understand book.

[Tina Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have watched many of Jon's Youtube videos, you will be familiar with many of these projects. I had expected more, but it is still good with practical advice just like the title implies.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for the beginning potter.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book and an easy read. This book is focused on hand-thrown pottery. Great photos and fun projects to follow along with!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for beginners!

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical, informative, helpful!

[Mary Foxe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed.

[Tiana]

Super quick read. Helpful visuals on some basic throwing projects but very level 1.

[J Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several interesting projects with beautiful photos are featured

[Jessica GerberDolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that felt like a conversation about the basics of Pottery. I loved thr technical information and the reinforcement that Pottery is your own adventure and you choose how to do it.

[Laura Estelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not what I'm looking for -- it's one of many books I've seen that try to teach pottery from scratch. While there were some pictures of beautiful pieces, I didn't get much inspiration from it.

The book was mostly notable for its inclusion of a discussion on the economics of being even a hobbyist potter. I think that this is the first time I've seen a discussion of "I've made it ... now what?" in pottery book. Even if the author's answer isn't for me (the growing-a-business side holds negative interest), he's absolutely right that everybody pursuing pottery will eventually need to find a way to get rid of their pieces.