From a Bag of Clay to Your Hands

Updated 06/20/26

From a bag of clay to delivery into a customer’s hands, our pottery usually takes about 21 to 30 days.

Roughly one-third to half of that time is spent physically making, trimming, glazing, firing, and finishing the pottery. The rest is spent planning designs, helping customers, preparing for shows, keeping track of inventory, ordering materials, accounting, maintaining equipment, updating our website, and taking care of all the small details that keep the studio running.

Pottery may look simple from the outside, but each piece goes through many stages before it is ready to be used and enjoyed.

Planning

Our pottery-making process begins with planning.

Before we make even one pot, we spend time designing the pieces themselves. Because we make functional ware, every design begins with how the piece will be used. We consider ergonomics, durability, aesthetics, and how the piece fits into everyday life.

One surprisingly important factor is size.

For example, the size of a rice bowl depends on how much rice people typically eat and whether they usually refill their bowl during a meal. We also consider whether the bowl is meant to be held in the hand while eating.

In Japan, it is proper etiquette to lift a rice bowl and hold it while eating. In Korea and much of the Western world, it is more common to leave the bowl on the table. This cultural difference influences the design of the foot ring, the overall weight, and even the balance of the bowl.

We also consider durability requirements. A bowl intended for restaurant use may need to be thicker and more durable than one designed primarily for home use. Likewise, some customers prefer pottery that can handle regular dishwasher use, while others are comfortable hand-washing special pieces.

Beyond physical function, we think about visual function as well.

We consider cultural traditions, the atmosphere of a meal, and how a piece fits into modern life. We choose colors that complement food and flowers. We add just enough decorative detail to make a piece interesting, but not so much that it competes with the meal or floral arrangement it is meant to support.

After all, functional ware must work both physically and visually. The best pottery quietly supports the food, flowers, tea, and people around it.

After the design stage, we create a production schedule. We decide what forms we need to make, what sizes, how many pieces, what type of clay to use, and which glazes will go on each piece.

We regularly produce about 50 stock shapes, and we have about 200 additional forms in our larger body of work. From those forms, there are many variations in size, proportion, clay, and glaze.

We use three clay bodies and six main glazes for our stock items. Each month, we mainly work with one clay body, and each clay has certain glazes that work especially well with it. It takes about six months for our regular production cycle to cover the main stock-item combinations of our forms, clay bodies, and glazes.

We also have to think about the kiln.

A kiln is not just an oven where we put pots and wait. It is more like a three-dimensional puzzle. The pots need to fill the space evenly, without leaving large empty areas. Empty space can create channels where the flame travels too quickly. The way the kiln is loaded affects the temperature, atmosphere, and even the final color of the glaze.

So before we even touch the clay, we are already thinking about how all the pots will eventually fit together in the kiln.

Some pieces have deadlines, so we need to make sure those pieces are finished on time. At the same time, we also need to make other pieces that complement them in size and shape, so the kiln can be loaded properly. Refining this planning process has taken us years.

We also design vessels, make special templates and tools, and order supplies for production. Kathy has an especially important job forecasting clay and glaze usage months ahead. We go through about a quarter ton of clay — around 500 pounds — in a production cycle, so clay and glaze need to be ordered and delivered several weeks before we use them.

Making, Drying, and Bisque Firing

Both Kathy and I make our own work, and we also make pottery together.

I make pots on the potter’s wheel. In English, we say we “throw” pottery, which is a strange word, but that is what it is called.

My normal day starts around 7:00 a.m. I begin by preparing clay for the afternoon and taking care of the pots I made the day before. The morning is usually spent on finishing tasks.

Pots that were thrown the previous day have been drying overnight. Some are covered, and some are left to air dry. Each form dries differently depending on the weather, airflow, size, thickness, and where it is placed in the studio.

When the pots reach the right condition, I trim them and give them their finishing touch. This process usually takes about two hours. After that, I wedge clay and prepare it for throwing, which takes about another hour. In the afternoon, I sit at the wheel and make new pots.

Kathy’s day has a similar rhythm, but her process is different. She is a hand builder. In the morning, she makes final touches to the previous day’s pieces, cleans edges and corners, and adds decorative cuts or details. Then she begins making new pieces before lunch. At the end of the day, she prepares clay slabs for the next day’s work.

Drying greenware — pottery before it has been fired — is very important. If pottery dries too quickly, it can crack or break. If it dries too slowly, we cannot move on to the next stage.

We do not try to force the drying process. Instead, we find a working rhythm with the clay. We collaborate with the clay’s habits. This rhythm changes with the seasons, and it takes years to understand how the studio, the weather, and the clay all work together.

Our normal production period is about 5 to 6 days. During that time, we fill about 40 cubic feet of kiln space. To imagine that size, it is roughly enough space for 250 to 300 udon bowls, or about 50 large vases.

After each day of production, the pots are placed on drying racks. Drying can take 1 to 2 days in summer, and 3 to 4 days in winter. When the pots are completely dry, they are called “bone dry.” At this stage, they are very fragile.

Once the pots are bone dry, we load them into an electric kiln for the first firing, called a bisque firing.

The bisque firing takes about 12 hours and reaches around 1,800°F, or about 1,000°C. After that, the kiln needs another 12 hours or more to cool down. When the firing is complete, the pots become bisqueware.

This whole stage can take 5 to 10 days, depending on the weather and drying conditions.

However, these stages do not happen one after another in a perfectly separate line. While one group of pots is drying or being bisque fired, we are often already forming the next group of pots. Because these steps overlap, our studio rhythm is more like a continuous cycle than a simple start-to-finish schedule.

Glazing and Loading the Kiln

Kathy and I do the glazing process as a team.

We start by sorting the bisqueware by glaze color, based on the plan we made at the beginning. Then we apply glaze to each piece, color by color.

There are many different glaze application techniques, and each one creates a different result. The thickness of the glaze affects the color and texture. The type of clay also changes how the glaze looks after firing. There are so many variables.

One of the difficult parts of glazing is that we do not see the final result until after the firing is complete.

How we load the kiln also makes a big difference.

We bisque fire in an electric kiln. For our final glaze firing, we use a gas kiln, where flame, oxygen, and kiln atmosphere all affect the final color.

The top, middle, bottom, right, left, front, and back of the kiln all have slightly different atmospheres during the 13 to 14 hours of firing. The flame moves through the kiln almost like a river of water, traveling between the glazed pots. Wider channels and narrower channels change how the flame travels, and this affects heat, atmosphere, and glaze color.

Before loading the kiln, Kathy and I sort the pottery by size, shape, and glaze color. Then we make a loading plan so each piece can be placed in the best possible area of the kiln.

The glazing and loading process usually takes 2 to 3 days.

Why We Choose Gas Firing

We use a gas kiln for our final glaze firing because of the colors it produces.

During a gas firing, we can carefully control the kiln atmosphere by adjusting the amount of oxygen available during different stages of the firing. This process, known as reduction firing, creates subtle chemical changes in the clay and glaze.

Many of our glaze ingredients are naturally occurring minerals and metal oxides. During reduction, some of these materials react differently than they would in an electric kiln. As a result, colors become richer, deeper, and more varied.

This is one reason traditional handmade pottery often has a unique character. Even when the same glaze recipe is used, slight variations in kiln atmosphere, flame movement, and placement within the kiln create small differences from piece to piece.

These variations are not flaws. They are part of what makes each piece unique and give gas-fired pottery its warmth, depth, and individuality.

High Firing

High firing is the final stage of the clay’s three-week journey.

We usually start firing around 7:00 a.m. and finish around 8:00 p.m. During the firing, the pottery goes from room temperature to about 2,350°F, or nearly 1,300°C.

At different stages, we adjust the oxygen levels in the kiln. This creates chemical changes in the clay and glaze, and those changes help create the final color, texture, and character of each piece.

The firing takes a little over 13 hours, and then the kiln needs 36 to 48 hours to cool down.

During these three days of firing and cooling, we begin the first stage of the next production cycle. We also coordinate deliveries, prepare for customers, and get ready to photograph new work for the online store.

The Physical Work

Pottery making is a good workout.

The two of us go through about 500 pounds of clay in one production cycle. During the whole process, the clay and pots are lifted and moved about 20 to 25 times.

Cumulatively, Kathy and I lift and move around 10,000 pounds — about 5 tons — every month.

It is hard work, but it is also very rewarding.

Healthy body, healthy mind, healthy work, good pottery.

Because pottery making requires physical strength and long periods of focus, we try to take care of ourselves. We eat healthy, keep a good sleeping rhythm, and watch our caffeine intake. Waking up early and walking Toujiro, our dog, also helps us stay healthy and focused for the long studio days.

Unloading Day

Unloading the kiln feels like Christmas every month.

Just 30 days earlier, everything was only a lump of clay. After planning, making, drying, firing, glazing, loading, firing again, and cooling, the clay transforms into objects with purpose — pieces that will become part of someone’s home, table, flowers, tea time, or daily life.

Unloading the kiln is one of the most exciting days for us.

If you happen to be near our studio on unloading day, we highly recommend coming by. It is a special moment to see new work come out of the kiln and begin its next journey — from our hands to yours.

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Visit Our Studio

We invite you to visit our studio and gallery to see the finished work in person, learn more about our process, and experience the pottery before it finds its new home.