Publications

As an educator, I have always been compulsive about disseminating useful and accurate information through lectures, handouts, and demonstrations.  While teaching at North Dakota State University in the early 1990s, the staff in the Division of Fine Arts office became concerned about the quantity of handouts I was copying.  They suggested I gather and organize all my ceramics handouts and have them printed and assembled into a bound volume at the campus copy center.  For a very reasonable price, students were able to purchase the resulting handbook in the campus bookstore.  That saved the Division of Fine Arts some money, and students had all the handouts together in one volume, where none could be misplaced.  I continued to improve the handbook after moving to Tennessee Tech University in 1994, and in the late 1990s began seriously rewriting the whole thing with the intention of having it published.

The first edition of Clay: A Studio Handbook was published by the American Ceramic Society in 2001.  Because of the cost of color printing, the original edition was entirely in black-and white, and the illustrations were limited to ceramic processes, techniques, tools, and equipment.

After a decade, copies of the original edition were running low.  Sherman Hall suggested that I update the book for a full-color printing.  In the intervening years I had become a better writer, and it was an easy decision to rewrite the entire text and add a lot of new information.  The original images had been shot as color slides, so we did high-resolution scans to print them in color.  In addition, I gathered over 150 high-resolution digital images from contemporary potters and ceramic sculptors.

The new edition, pictured above, came out in October of 2016.  Click here to see a list of artists whose work is illustrated. Click here to see a PDF of the table of contents.  Click here to see a PDF of the introduction.  Clay: a Studio Handbook is a comprehensive handbook/textbook covering virtually all aspects of studio ceramics with chapters on Clay and Claybodies, Handbuilding, Throwing, Plaster Work, Surface Decoration, Glazes and Glazing, Kilns and Firing, Mixed-Media Work, and Studio Safety.  The appendices include an extensive glossary of terms, a complete glossary of ceramic raw materials, and guidelines on repairing, fastening, and mounting ceramic forms. This book will prove valuable to all clay artists no matter the level of skill and experience, and is the ideal companion for students and teachers.  It is the only fully up-to-date comprehensive ceramics textbook currently available that ideally serves the needs of university coursework. For further information or to purchase a copy, please go to the Ceramic Arts Daily Bookstore or Amazon.

ERRATUM – for anyone who has purchased the new edition of my book, we found an error on page 135.  In the base slip recipe for black and brown colors, it should read 12 parts G-200 rather than 2 parts.  Please make the correction in your copy.

Other Publications

• “Tool Times,” my column in Clay Times magazine, ran for sixteen years, and back issues are available at the magazine’s website.  The column discusses a broad range of topics related to clay studio tools, fixtures, and equipment.
• Go to Super-Refined Terra Sigillata for a comprehensive article on how to make this ceramic “elixir of the gods,” including information about where to order the needed supplies and equipment.
• For a list of magazine articles and other publications, see the section on publications in my CV.
• If you have questions or comments about any of my publications, please email me.