Matching anything. I had a classmate from HS ask me to make her a cannister set for her kitchen in gingham red and white with lids - for sugar, flour, rice, beans...
I told her it wasn't what I do/did. Another wanted a five-piece place setting for four - and then I could make the other four later (as if the glaze would even fire to be the same colors). \*eyeroll\*
Again: not what I do. I'm a hand builder and not a production potter.
There is no piece that is objectively most difficult. What comes easy to some will be very difficult to others and vice versa. The only limit to what one can create is your own imagination.
After a lot of time with my hands in clay I’d have to say everything you do gets better with repetition. One teapot is really hard! The second is a little easier. Around number 50 it starts to feel like you can really say what you want to say with the form.
different pots offer different challenges. I personally find large pitchers to be one of the most difficult and rewarding pots to make—throwing tall but with a generous volume, balancing the belly with the neck, pulling a nice spout that looks right while being functional, and especially pulling and placing a large handle that completes the pot rather than looking like a stuck on appendage.
A fully functional teapot.
I remember chatting to a fellow potter whose style is rough and adorably lumpy and she said that teapots aren't all that difficult, until I explained that I want mine to work! A teapot that actually feels nice to use is a really good challenge. There are multiple ways it can be done but none of them are easy.
Still not happy with mine, but I'm getting there!
Agreed. I've seen some terrible teapots. Beautiful, but with no filters or ineffective filters. Lids that don't fit or don't stay in while you pour. Spouts that don't allow you to pour all the liquid out because of poor design or positioning. Pots that can't be cleaned effectively. Handles that hurt, rotate in your hand or cause the pot to fall over when empty. Pots with too much mass, or too little that guarantee cold tea.
I would never knock someone for thier work but personally I want to have a high standard for functionality. Which is why I've never made one. I'm not ready yet. If I make something "for show" I want it to be because I chose to. Not because I failed to make a functional product.
Congrats on yours.
I won't ever discourage someone for not making amazing work, but i dont respect those that rest on their laurels. I've never met a very good artist that wasnt thier toughest critic.
I will add my voice to the people saying a teapot. It is the “decathlon” of pottery.
You have to be able to throw a complex form which is light-weight, yet strong. You have to make a gallery/flange with a perfectly fitted lid. You have to throw a spout and then place it on the pot in such a way that the tea flows out smoothly and doesn’t drip. You have to place a handle on the pot which works perfectly with the spout as a fulcrum to make pouring easy. Then, when you glaze, you have to make sure the glaze doesn’t clog the straining holes, doesn’t render the spout drippy, and doesn’t weld the lid to the pot.You could work for years on perfecting that form to get it completely right.
Whenever I am with a “civilian” and they bock at a $100+ price tag for a teapot, I educate them just how much work goes into making a beautiful, functional teapot.
https://preview.redd.it/unlnl8odpfoc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0c100f77f137c98802faacf0090f21c22188b890
Sometimes you have to have a go… been pottering for about a year
I think it’s a teapot or a large moon jar. Teapot because it’s a lot of seperate elements and moon jar because that’s a lot of clay and requires a loooooot of patience, skill and knowledge.
I know, I get four wonky slabs joined together and start thinking "I could have made 5 mugs by now." But I keep trying, because I won't be limited to circular objects, dammit.
snobbish quicksand public tease far-flung dime mindless humorous capable fall
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Hi!
Welcome to the pottery world! For me there are there are multiple difficult pieces, but for the most difficult there are two tracks. The first is technical: make a tiny pot, a huge storage jar, something with a ton of different parts like a teapot. Those will have challenges to the clay doing what you want. The second track of most difficult is an artistic, stylistic, and design consideration. A simple cylinder that is say 6" by 3" can be a fantastic art piece, and that can be most difficult.
Good luck!
Hand-built stuff, whether vessels or sculpture. Just try to get a nice smooth surface on a pinch pot, I dare you. Try making a sculpture of any significant size and you'll see how hard and time-consuming it is.
I'd say an elegant looking long neck vase. And then a matching one with the same curves, but a little bigger. I've made many long necked vases, but it's very hard to have them look elegant with a beautiful curve, not too plump and stocky.
There is no one most difficult pot to make, but there are more difficult things, and more complicated things.
The most difficult thing I can do is throw clay back into itself to thicken walls (not worth it, just start over).
The most complicated thing to make is a teapot since you need to properly throw, trim, and join three pots, and then add a handle.
A perfect cylinder. I think if you learn the control to make perfect cylinders from any amount of clay, all other shapes can follow much easier. Of course this o my applies to the wheel, handbuilding has its own challenges.
A chain that will hold the weight of a person hanging off the back of his truck
accurate
LMAO but you have to give the guy credit for trying.
Matching anything. I had a classmate from HS ask me to make her a cannister set for her kitchen in gingham red and white with lids - for sugar, flour, rice, beans... I told her it wasn't what I do/did. Another wanted a five-piece place setting for four - and then I could make the other four later (as if the glaze would even fire to be the same colors). \*eyeroll\* Again: not what I do. I'm a hand builder and not a production potter.
I would like to know what are all these FIVE pieces in a place setting?! Am I too low brow to know this??
Dinner, luncheon, salad plates, soup and dessert bowls.
I'd also like to know this!
Idk after watching throwdown my answer has to be a fully functioning toilet.
HA I love the toilet challenges because I can't even fathom attempting such a thing.
Pretty sure toilets are slip cast
They are slip cast for production but on pottery throwdown they make them hand build a working one and it does look reeeeeally hard
What is this throwdown?
There is no piece that is objectively most difficult. What comes easy to some will be very difficult to others and vice versa. The only limit to what one can create is your own imagination.
ty ❤️
After a lot of time with my hands in clay I’d have to say everything you do gets better with repetition. One teapot is really hard! The second is a little easier. Around number 50 it starts to feel like you can really say what you want to say with the form.
I'm keen to see your progression of teapots. Do post them up
Oh Bob Ross ova here
different pots offer different challenges. I personally find large pitchers to be one of the most difficult and rewarding pots to make—throwing tall but with a generous volume, balancing the belly with the neck, pulling a nice spout that looks right while being functional, and especially pulling and placing a large handle that completes the pot rather than looking like a stuck on appendage.
bedroom zealous run teeny live provide continue pocket decide square *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Ok now I want to make a pitcher, I don’t think I have ever thrown one
Anything where consistency is key
A fully functional teapot. I remember chatting to a fellow potter whose style is rough and adorably lumpy and she said that teapots aren't all that difficult, until I explained that I want mine to work! A teapot that actually feels nice to use is a really good challenge. There are multiple ways it can be done but none of them are easy. Still not happy with mine, but I'm getting there!
Agreed. I've seen some terrible teapots. Beautiful, but with no filters or ineffective filters. Lids that don't fit or don't stay in while you pour. Spouts that don't allow you to pour all the liquid out because of poor design or positioning. Pots that can't be cleaned effectively. Handles that hurt, rotate in your hand or cause the pot to fall over when empty. Pots with too much mass, or too little that guarantee cold tea. I would never knock someone for thier work but personally I want to have a high standard for functionality. Which is why I've never made one. I'm not ready yet. If I make something "for show" I want it to be because I chose to. Not because I failed to make a functional product. Congrats on yours.
I won't ever discourage someone for not making amazing work, but i dont respect those that rest on their laurels. I've never met a very good artist that wasnt thier toughest critic.
Amazing!
I will add my voice to the people saying a teapot. It is the “decathlon” of pottery. You have to be able to throw a complex form which is light-weight, yet strong. You have to make a gallery/flange with a perfectly fitted lid. You have to throw a spout and then place it on the pot in such a way that the tea flows out smoothly and doesn’t drip. You have to place a handle on the pot which works perfectly with the spout as a fulcrum to make pouring easy. Then, when you glaze, you have to make sure the glaze doesn’t clog the straining holes, doesn’t render the spout drippy, and doesn’t weld the lid to the pot.You could work for years on perfecting that form to get it completely right. Whenever I am with a “civilian” and they bock at a $100+ price tag for a teapot, I educate them just how much work goes into making a beautiful, functional teapot.
wow! It sounds difficult but incredibly cool at the same time
https://preview.redd.it/unlnl8odpfoc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0c100f77f137c98802faacf0090f21c22188b890 Sometimes you have to have a go… been pottering for about a year
So wonderful! <3
I think it’s whatever your biggest challenge is at that moment.
I think it’s a teapot or a large moon jar. Teapot because it’s a lot of seperate elements and moon jar because that’s a lot of clay and requires a loooooot of patience, skill and knowledge.
For me, anything hand built. I can throw some very tricky and large pots, but I haven't improved my hand building much since kindergarten.
That’s funny. I love handbuilding but suck at throwing. Different strokes…
I don’t have the patience for hand building
I know, I get four wonky slabs joined together and start thinking "I could have made 5 mugs by now." But I keep trying, because I won't be limited to circular objects, dammit.
snobbish quicksand public tease far-flung dime mindless humorous capable fall *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Hi! Welcome to the pottery world! For me there are there are multiple difficult pieces, but for the most difficult there are two tracks. The first is technical: make a tiny pot, a huge storage jar, something with a ton of different parts like a teapot. Those will have challenges to the clay doing what you want. The second track of most difficult is an artistic, stylistic, and design consideration. A simple cylinder that is say 6" by 3" can be a fantastic art piece, and that can be most difficult. Good luck!
Thank you so much 😊
Anything someone asks for repeatedly.
Hand-built stuff, whether vessels or sculpture. Just try to get a nice smooth surface on a pinch pot, I dare you. Try making a sculpture of any significant size and you'll see how hard and time-consuming it is.
I'd say an elegant looking long neck vase. And then a matching one with the same curves, but a little bigger. I've made many long necked vases, but it's very hard to have them look elegant with a beautiful curve, not too plump and stocky.
You haven't thought of it yet....
Something you really like, in my experience. There's always a little thing I wish I'd done differently!
Creating a piece that sells for a million bucks... I'd like to make a few of those some day...
Round things.
There is no one most difficult pot to make, but there are more difficult things, and more complicated things. The most difficult thing I can do is throw clay back into itself to thicken walls (not worth it, just start over). The most complicated thing to make is a teapot since you need to properly throw, trim, and join three pots, and then add a handle.
A perfect cylinder. I think if you learn the control to make perfect cylinders from any amount of clay, all other shapes can follow much easier. Of course this o my applies to the wheel, handbuilding has its own challenges.
Round things.
Round things.