Photo: Arjit Chowdhury (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Job description
A typical day involves centering balls of clay on a wheel, pressing and raising them into consistent forms, then smoothing surfaces with sponges and scrapers once each piece takes shape. Workers also mix and spray-apply glazes and handle packing and shipping finished pieces out to stores or galleries. The role follows set procedures to keep an entire product line consistent, but still leaves room for the potter's own touch in shaping and finishing each individual piece by hand.
Pros
- Standard, predictable hours (30-40/week), lighter than the 40+ common in other production trades
- Faster than average projected job growth (6.2%) with a sizable job pool (5,500 positions)
- Hands-on creative craft work shaping and glazing each piece, with real creative latitude within set procedures
Cons
- Pay ceiling under $61,530 limits long-term earnings
- Requires vocational training or an associate's degree, more upfront training than some comparable trades
- Regular exposure to contaminants like glaze materials and clay dust
A typical day
The studio day starts with wedging clay — kneading out air bubbles that would crack a piece in the kiln — then hours at the wheel throwing the day's production run: twenty matching mugs, each pulled to the same height and weight by hand and eye. Mid-afternoon shifts to trimming yesterday's leather-hard pieces and attaching handles. Kiln work frames the week: loading a bisque firing, unloading glazed ware, and mixing glaze batches from powdered materials by recipe. The day closes with quality checks — warped or cracked pieces culled — and prepping orders for a shop or craft fair.
Tasks at the job
- Mix and apply glazes to pottery pieces, using tools, such as spray guns.
- Raise and shape clay into wares, such as vases and pitchers, on revolving wheels, using hands, fingers, and thumbs.
- Position balls of clay in centers of potters' wheels, and start motors or pump treadles with feet to revolve wheels.
- Press thumbs into centers of revolving clay to form hollows, and press on the inside and outside of emerging clay cylinders with hands and fingers, gradually raising and shaping clay to desired forms and sizes.
- Pack and ship pottery to stores or galleries for retail sale.
- Smooth surfaces of finished pieces, using rubber scrapers and wet sponges.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting. The role involves regular exposure to contaminants.
You're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day. The work is highly structured, following set procedures.
Education necessary or common
Vocational training, apprenticeship, or associate's degree
Related fields
Courses to take
- Ceramics/Art — direct hands-on training; take every level offered
- Chemistry — glazes and firing are chemistry you can hold
- Geometry — form, proportion, and volume at the wheel
- Business or Entrepreneurship — many production potters sell their own work
Clubs, activities & competitions
- School ceramics studio time beyond class — ask for open-studio access
- Art club and juried student art shows
- Scholastic Art & Writing Awards — ceramics is an eligible category
- Sell at a local craft fair or school market
First steps you can take now
- Get on a wheel this month — school studio, community center, or a paint-your-own studio with wheel classes
- Throw the same simple cylinder shape twenty times; repetition is the production skill
- Visit a working potter's studio or a ceramics supply shop and ask about apprenticeships
- Start an Instagram documenting your pieces — production potters live on visual portfolios
