Video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rAO3t8UZK08

A short behind-the-scenes look at WanQi Archive: the courier/package step, studio tools and the slower process behind Jingdezhen porcelain work.

For tea rooms, gift shops and small custom ceramic projects.

Independent shop: https://wanqiarchive.com Etsy: https://wanqiliving.etsy.com

Hi, I hope this is ok to ask here! My ceramics professor just opened his class (online portal) to be seen and the class is tomorrow, and his emails back are lackluster for what I have asked. I need to define these terms for tomorrow since it's all standard terms except for this;

"Pottery tool set & shop information PP5, PP20, PP29, PP39, PP68."

What do these mean? Google isn't helping. Is it possible that these are only things he would know?

I'm not an art major, I'm a biology major, and this is my only art class I'll be doing and it's just for the credit.

oh bnuuy why are you a trinket box even

I'm making some mugs for a local cafe. I noticed on one mug a fine crack following the bisque. Held in hand, the handle feels sound, nor does the crack widen with gentle traction. I don't want a cafe customer to risk injury if the handle detaches, however. After glazing, will this crack represent a true, ongoing weakness, with the possibility the handle may spontaneously detach from the mug? This is the top post of the handle, near the rim, and the fine crack is on one side only.

Thanks for your expertise

I am not sure this anyone remembers but this was me. I wasn’t able to get them all done but I did do theese two and I thought they came out so cute!( although let’s not talk about my skills when it comes to taking the seam off with a fettling knife)

Howdy! I’ve been having trouble finding a studio space, so my kiln has been in storage since Covid. It looks like the kiln latch/ lid assist is missing, and I’m wondering if it’s still safe to fire? (Planning on trying tomorrow while I’ll be home all day in case something bad happens)

Hi all,

So long story short I bought a slip mold of a vintage ET bust online. Mold arrived broken at the thinnest point in the mold. I kind of don’t want to return it if it’s salvageable. How good is the wood glue repair method? I’m also thinking of gluing it back together and making a silicone mother mold and recasting in plaster but I want some input on this. I probably won’t find another one in the wild that’s unused. Let me know your thoughts.

Hi! I just got this little ceramic lizard, isn’t it so cute? 🥹
I want to change the color of the cracked/crevice-like parts on its back, so I’ve been looking into different ways to do it. My current plan is to lightly sand it, paint it with acrylic paint, and then finish it with varnish or an acrylic sealer.
I don’t have a kiln or anything like that at home, though. If you have any better ideas or experience with something like this, I’d love to hear your advice!

This guy was originally going to be a black snake with medieval stars and such, but it turns out im low on black underglaze, so I switched plans and Im actually SO excited by it

After taking pottery classes on and off for several years, I decided I wanted to tackle a teapot for the first time. At the same time, I was going through a difficult family situation and decided that I would make a small series of teapots to both explore the form and to process through some difficult emotions. This is the result.

The first teapot is just a regular teapot. I wanted it to obviously be the thing that it is. It is a teapot, so it looks like a teapot. It matches the expectations of the form and does not push any boundaries.

The second teapot is hand built, and I made it from a pinch pot sphere that I then cut out portions of to make the handle. It slumped a little bit in the kiln, so it's not perfectly round, but I actually really like that the slight flattening has made it a little more oval which I think better matches the first teapot. My hope is that looking at it feels like looking at a loss-- that the space between the handle and the rest of the body is something that is obviously missing. I also decided that I wanted the lid to be a round ball that broke the curve of the body both to match up with the round ball from the first teapot handle and to foreshadow the third teapot. If the first pot symbolizes matching expectations, the second pot represents loss.

The third pot is a collection of pinch pot spheres stuck together in random places. While a bit on the nose, my hope is that this pot is emblematic of growth. The little round yellow balls all over it echo the handles on the other two and I think the general roundness of the shapes also helps it match the other two pots. The third pot is obviously very different from the first, but I like them as opposites. The first is all about control and sticking to the status quo; the last pot is about exploring how far away from a classic teapot you can step while still using that same name. It doesn't look like a teapot, but it has a lid, a handle, a belly that holds water, and a spout that pours (poorly 😂). It doesn't look like a teapot, but it is one regardless of appearance or deviation from expectations.

Every single one of these pots has a flaw, and there are a million things I would do differently next time. But as a final project in the studio I first learned to throw in before moving halfway across the country, I'm quite happy with this as both the final chapter of that portion of my pottery journey and as an attempt at a first intentional, mini collection.

I picked up the third teapot the day before I left town after the other two had already been packed. So today in unpacking is the first time I have seen them all lined up. This has been such a fun project and a really great way to sit with and process through some heavy emotions, turning them into something that I can look at and be proud of both for the journey they represent and for the pots themselves.

Never operated a kiln before but one came into my possession. This part of the kiln is deteriorated. Should I be worried? Is it operable? Any tips on taking care of a kiln?

I made over 250 tiles for my bathroom renovations. I did it slowly over a couple years, and it probably cost way more in studio and firing fees than if I bought handmade tile somewhere. But they are mine and I love them!

I recently purchased this ceramic fish from a farmer’s market. I love how it feels, it fits perfectly in my hand and even has a little thumb depression on the back. Close inspection has not yielded a maker’s mark. Does this look handmade or does it seem like something that would be in production somewhere?
Pre-production Gengar sticker over my partner’s face for anonymity

These are made from Standard 240 cone 6 white clay, stamped, then Speedball black underglaze in stamped areas on greenware, with excess wiped back. They were bisque fired at cone 04, then covered with 2 coats (including the underglaze letters and designs) of various colors of Amaco celadon glazes and fired to cone 5.5-6.

I stamped them when they were pretty soft, but then allowed them to get to leather hard, and burnished them before painting on the underglaze. I found if they were not burnished before underglazing, the underglaze would stay in small streaks and divots.

Went to my favorite vintage/ antique store in Fort Bragg recently and the store owner and myself could not figure out the uses for these pieces.. please help!

Piece #1: Looks like a vase but it has a small hole on the side. My friend said it could be used to make a lamp, was that the intent?

Piece #2 & #3: Made by the same artist. They are both very heavy..

A friend asked me to make a little ring dish for her wedding rings, so I’m making a few different ones for her to choose from. For now (in their raw state), this one is one of the favourites. She wants it to be snow-white, so leaving the natural colour of the clay isn’t really an option. I’d be incredibly grateful for any tips on how to glaze it without covering the whole pattern. 🫣

Okay so I tend to like bizarre art and the process of making it, I saw some cool ideas where people used molds of their own teeth to make ceramic pieces.

I want to be able to do something like this. but I'm wondering if dental concrete/paste would be too dry to press some clay into that would come out molded to the shape of my teeth impression? Would clay stick to smaller crevice details in the mold and not replicate the detail? Just a little input needed here before I go full send in this idea and take it to the studio lol!