Student Resources
and studio rules
You made it to the Student Resource Page! Nice job. Here you'll find useful info like class logistics and studio rules as well as resources for your artwork.
If you want insider tips on our clays, glazes and loading practices, this is the spot. Did you know that how you place some pots on the ware carts affects how they're loaded into the kiln? Pretty cool.​
Semester Class Info
Clay Usage
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​The winter, spring and fall semesters are 12 weeks and students are given a 65lb clay allotment. The summer semester is 10 weeks and the allotment is 55lbs.
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The Ledger System
Indigo Fire uses a unique system where students record their clay use by weight in a ledger. We feel this system has some great benefits. Students can bounce between our six clay bodies freely, experimenting with porcelain one day and dark stoneware the next. Bagged clay dries out over time, but this isn't a factor because fresh bags of clay are used daily at both studios. There aren't bags of clay on every shelf which reduces dust, and we don't have to deal with a pile of half-used clay bags at the end of the semester.
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Deets on the Ledger System
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Clay must be weighed and recorded at the time it's taken for use.
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Flopped pots and scrap clay that goes in the reclaim bins counts towards your allotment. The allotment puts some limitations on extra productive potters, but allows the majority of students to work freely without being bothered by their clay use. Only a fraction of students use their whole allotment.
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​Students may use up to double the allotment. This additional clay costs $2/lb and is paid for at the end of the semester. $2 covers the clay, materials, and firing costs.
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Clay used for handles and securing pots for trimming (under 1lb) does not need to be recorded.
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We have two specialty clays, porcelain and charcoal brown, which are recorded as 1.5lbs (or marks on the ledger) for each pound used.
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All clay bodies are combined for our recycle clay. The recycle clay is recorded normally.
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Students may not store clay (whether trimmings, slip, or ball clay) on their shelf for recycling or later use. Students are welcome to re-wedge clay in the same sitting to reuse it.
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Students with the means to work with clay at home may take up to 10lbs home. Teachers must be notified first. This may not be used to "save" clay.
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End of semester clay use
Wet clay use ends on at the start of the 2nd to last class of the semester. Students with nothing to work on this class may do hand building projects. Settle up your extra clay in your last week of class with a staff member. Clay doesn't roll over to the next semester.
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The Clays
Laguna B-Mix 5 - Shrinkage: 12%
Acts like a stoneware-porcelain hybrid. Very plastic. Good for throwing, OK for hand building. Slightly prone to cracking.
Laguna B-Mix 5 w Grog - Shrinkage: 11%
Same as Bmix 5, but with grog. Increased workability and better shrinking behavior. Decreased hand feel on the wheel.
Standard 112 Brown - Shrinkage: 11%
Nicknamed 'speckled clay'. Good all around clay body. Has grog. Contains manganese.
Standard 211 Hazel Brown - Shrinkage: 12.5%
Dark brown stoneware. Great for throwing and hand building. Has grog. Color is sensitive to small temperature differences.
Standard 551 V.P. Porcelain - Shrinkage: 13%
Extra creamy porcelain. Nice hand feel. Good for the wheel and hand building. Very bright color. *Specialty clay, mark 1.5x on the ledger
Standard 266G Umbria - Shrinkage: 11%
Nicknamed 'charcoal clay'. Amazing dark color. Plays beautifully w glazes. Extremely messy, plan on double the clean up time. Risk of bloating.
This Semester's Schedule​
Useful Info for Class Students and Members
Makeup Policy
Class students are welcome to join other classes throughout the week to make up for classes they have missed. There are some guidelines:​
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Most importantly students joining another class as a guest should be prepared to absorb the planned lesson. Teachers are there to help all students in their class, including guests, but they're not expected to allocate extra time to guests to catch them up to the rest of the class.
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Students may join a class of a different experience level than their own. If a student is joining a more advanced class, they should be mindful of the previous guideline.
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Students in a wheel class should not join a hand building class and vice versa.
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If you've missed multiple classes, you're welcome to make up the same number.
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It's rarely the case, but if a the whole class is in attendance, guests should give the assigned students priority and take a wheel or table space nearby.
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As a courtesy, students can send their teacher an email to let them know they won't be in class. Please email them directly rather than Indigo Fire.
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Students don't need to email anyone before joining a class as a guest.
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Inbetween Semesters
Belmont
Mid-way through the semester and at the end of a semester, the greenware shelves are cleared of forgotten pottery. Bone dry, moldy, clearly forgotten pots are recycled to make way for new pots.
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Remember that as long as you get your pottery bisqued, you have two months to come back and finish glazing even if you aren't continuing the next semester. Work in progress pottery must be cleared out however to make space for the new semester.
Watertown
The Watertown class shelves are cleared of in-progress pottery on the Friday before a new semester. Because teachers have control over the different shelving units in Watertown though, they may use their own judgement to allow students to keep work on the shelves between semesters as long as the boards are clearly labelled. Please put tape directly on the boards for labeling, rather than the plastic.
Ware Cart & Firing Info
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​​​​​​Firing Times and holding policy
In general, it takes one to two weeks to get pots fired from the time you place them on the rolling carts. Pots going in for the first (bisque) firing usually take a bit longer. Every pot that comes out of the kiln, whether it's bisqued or glazed, gets stickered with a date. Indigo Fire holds onto all pottery for two months from the date of that sticker. If a pot stays around beyond that two month window, it will be cleared out.
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Glaze Limbo Shelf
Our staff does their best to vet every glazed pot before it goes in the kiln.​ They don't know the glazes used and so can't anticipate everything. They are trained though, to identify clear problems. The most common reasons pots get rejected are:
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​Glaze too close to the bottom of the pot, particularly if it appears to be thick
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The glazed inside of a foot ring is, or will, touch the kiln shelf
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The bottom of the pot is not thoroughly wiped clean of glaze
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The glaze flaked after application and will 'crawl' off the pot during firing
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The pot or object doesn't stand up safely based on the bare clay it's meant to stand on.
Please remember that our kiln loaders are a last line of defense. We rely on students to keep our kilns and their pots safe by glazing responsibly. It can be disappointing to find your pot on the Glaze Limbo shelf, but it shouldn't be! Your pot was likely saved from being ruined in the kiln, and most of the time, fixing it is a matter of some additional sponging.
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Tips on loading pots onto the ware carts
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Our staff are trained to load pots into the kiln based on how they're loaded onto the carts. This is really important! Lidded jars and multi-part pots often can be loaded different ways. If the lid is loaded onto the cart separately, it will be fired separately and vice versa.
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Pots must be stable enough to survive the trip to and from the kiln on the ware carts. This trip can be slightly rumbly, particularly in Watertown.
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We invite students to include notes with their pot to help our kiln loaders when warranted​. Notes, and cookies, should not be used as a way to bypass good pottery practices.
Example Good Notes:​​
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This pot has cobalt oxide wash on the outside.
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The glaze on this pot is close to the bottom, but it's a single coat of clear.
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This pot looks like one piece, but is actually two! Please hold from the bottom.
Example Bad Notes:​
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Warning! This pot is extremely fragile
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Drippy glazes, please cookie
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Cookies
Kiln loaders use clay cookies as an insurance mechanism if they're unsure whether a pot will fire safely. If students are taking a small risk with their glazing, they should make their own cookie with their name on it and load it underneath their pot.​​
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Beads, Tiles, Plate Sets, and all manner of unique clay objects that are difficult to fire.
There are a lot of clay projects that are particularly demanding in terms of kiln space and/or loading effort. These projects are all allowed, and don't have many limitations associated with them. They all have the potential to bog down our firing operation though, and so staff may reach out to students individually and ask them to rein in their production. Here are the rules we do have in place:
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- Beads, ornaments and all tiny pots
If you're making more than 5 or so small clay objects, they should be loaded onto the cart in some sort of tray or container. Beads must be glazed in a way that they can be loaded and fired directly on the kiln shelf. Store bought bead racks are not permitted.​​
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- Tile sets, plate sets, and large flat trays
Flat objects use a lot of kiln shelf space, and the kiln shelves themselves use a lot of kiln space. Small flat tiles (say smaller than a playing card) can often fit in the nooks and crannies between other pots. Larger tiles, plates, and trays are generally de-prioritized in kiln loading so that they don't back up the firing queue. Students should expect a significantly longer firing time for these pots.
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Combustibles
Students shouldn't be including anything on or in their pots that isn't a ceramic decorating material. Organic materials that students may use during the making process like newspaper, pasta for stamping, cording for texture etc. should all be removed before firing. Trace bits that remain on the pots and are hard to remove are generally ok.​​
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Oxide Decorations
Oxide stains are available at both studios for decorating. These are usually applied on top of the glaze and therefore require careful handling so that they don't smudge or get on a kiln loaders fingers and contaminate other pots. For this reason, students should include a note with their pot warning the loader that there is oxide decoration on the outside.
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Broken/Damaged Pottery
Mistakes happen when handling pots and each studio has a Wounded Pottery shelf for these damaged pots. Please see the When We Make Mistakes section of our Policy page for more info.
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​Difficulty finding your pots
Sometimes it can be difficult to find your pots in a large community studio. Staff are available to help students locate missing pots, but they should exhaust all possibilities before coming to us. Here are some things to keep in mind:​
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If it hasn't been three weeks, chances are it's waiting to be fired. If the piece is extra large, or uniquely shaped it's worth waiting even longer.
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If you don't see your pot in the bisque or glaze pick up area, the first places to check are the Glaze Limbo and Wounded Pot shelves.
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The vast majority of the time our staff is asked to help locate pots, they're hiding where they're meant to be. So keep looking! And keep in mind that your pot might not look the same way you remember it after it's been through the kiln.
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Every year there is a small number of mysteries where identifiable pots go missing without explanation. These cases are disappointing to us as well. Intentionally taking someone else's pot is an unusually odd thing to do, and although it may have happened, it isn't something we've ever seen.
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Belmont Specific
Class Shelves
Class students should store their pottery in any of the class shelves which are in the middle of the studio. The shelves are divided up into a front, middle and back section. Each section has it's own white board tracker associated with it. Students should use the trackers to record and remember where their pottery is stored. Writing your name in a spot on the tracker does not reserve that shelf for you, it's just a way to help keep track of your pottery. If a shelf spot is available, but someone's name is associated with it on the tracker, you should feel free to use that spot, erase that name and write your own name there.
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Class Stamps
Each class has a corresponding 'class stamp'. Students that choose to stamp their pottery with the class stamp will have the benefit of their pottery getting placed on the appropriate class bisque shelf and class glaze shelf. Stamping your pottery can be particularly helpful for beginners because many of the pots can look similar and it makes it a lot easier to find your pottery.
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Plaster
Unfortunately, we only have enough plaster in the Belmont studio to manage the clay recycle process which means that students should not be laying out their own clay on the plaster.
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Hand Towels
The Belmont studio does provide hand towels for students to use. Please keep in mind that sponges should be used to clean up clay bits and slip spillage, while towels should be used only to dry your hands when needed. Caked clay in a towel is tough to get out. When you're done with a hand towel, please clean it thoroughly and hang it up on the towel rack.
Watertown Specific
Class Shelves
Each class in Watertown has a shelving unit for their class to share. Teachers are given the freedom to manage their shelves as they want. For example, if space gets tight, a teacher may ask students not to store bisqueware on those shelves. In other instances, if there's plenty of space, teachers may allow students to even store their tools on these shelves.
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Rolling Carts
The Watertown studio has a series of rolling carts that store bisqued pottery, and a group of carts that are for pottery waiting to be fired. The carts will be labelled accordingly. Some carts will be specifically for greenware waiting for bisque firing and some carts will be for glazed pots.
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Wedging tables
There are 12 plaster slabs available to students for wedging and drying out clay. Please remember that clay should only be dried out to reuse during the same visit. Plaster is a beautiful surface to wedge on and has many benefits compared to canvas. It's important to remember though, that the plaster may dry your clay out during wedging, so if this is undesirable we recommend spraying the plaster down heavily with water.
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Tools
Indigo Fire Watertown does not supply tools for students. While larger tools like a heat gun, extruder, buckets and sponges are available, we ask that students purchase their own smaller throwing tools. We have a basic throwing set and individual tools available for sale in the studio. If you would prefer to purchase tools ahead of time, we suggest searching "basic throwing tools" on Amazon, Dick Blick, or any search engine to get a set appropriate for a beginner. As you grow in your throwing practice you might choose to purchase some higher quality or alternative tools - that's all up to you!
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Ned's Recommended Tools - if you're looking to slowly purchase a set of quality tools over time, here's Ned's top recommendations in order:
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Yellow Mudtools Rib - The single most useful throwing tool in the bag. All the sizes and colors are great (a red rib is nice too), but the small yellow rib is king.
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Kemper PT460 Loop Tool - A single, high quality trimming tool is essential. I prefer a hardened steel loop over stainless steel because it lasts longer and stays sharp. There are a lot of shapes and options here that are good. An Xiem trimming tool will also do really well.
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Orange Mudsponge - This thing is great. It's finer and softer than a traditional sponge, so it won't break down the surface of your clay on the wheel as quickly.
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Wire Tool - The Mudwire is fine. We also sell a wire tool. The important thing is that it's your wire tool. You'll find that with proper use and storage, you can keep a wire tool in good condition for years.
Honorable Mentions
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Throwing Stick - Make your own! Use a rubber band to attach a throwing sponge to small stick or paint stirrer.
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Mudshredder - If you like hand building you've got to have one.
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Kemper Cut Out Knife - Very handy for precise cuts.
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Asian Brush - Forget about decorating, keep one of these nearby you at all times in the studio! There perfect for wetting your clay, cleaning up joints, and filling in missed spots when glazing.
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Wheel Pods
There are three pods of wheels at the Watertown studio. They are labelled 1-3. Pod 3, which is located closest to the entrance door is reserved 100% of the time for independent study students and class students practicing. There will be a schedule posted each semester that shows where each class will meet. Early evening classes that meet between 5-7pm must have their wheels cleaned up for the late evening classes at 7:30pm. If you're in the early evening class and you want to keep throwing after the class ends, you just have to relocate to a wheel in pod 3.
Decorating Materials
Waxes
Pink wax - Unaltered Forbes wax. This should be your go-to wax when glazing to keep glaze off your foot ring or any other part of your pot you want bare. It's silky smooth and applies very well on bisque ware.
Blue wax - Forbes wax + alumina hydrate. Alumina hydrate is the most refractory material we have and prevents melting. This wax prevents clay-to-clay connections from sticking during a glaze fire. This is particularly useful on lids. It will also prevent plucking if applied to the foot of a large, heavy pot.
Green wax - A 70/30 combination of Forbes wax and Aftosa wax. Forbes wax is superior for application and cleanup. A downside however, is that it tends to peel up when applied on top of a glazed surface. Aftosa wax corrects for this, so the green wax is recommended for use when applying a wax resist design on glaze.
Black wax - Forbes wax + black stain. This wax is purely decorative. Can be applied on glaze, or clay. The black stain will permanently fuse to bare clay during the glaze fire. Depending on how it was applied though, some may not be bonded and will need to be brushed off.​
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Waxing tips:
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Wax doesn't come off! Yup, it's honestly a bummer. Everyone has dripped wax where they didn't want to. We've tried all the internet remedies; scraping it, lightly torching it, even microwaving it. None of them work. If it's an important pot, it's best to pay for a waxident refiring.
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Often with wax, less is more. You'll find that a heavy wax application doesn't dry as hard and won't resist glaze as well.
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The longer you let wax dry, the better it will resist glaze. If you have the time, try waxing one day and glazing the next. You'll like the results.
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Wax cleans up well from brushes with hot water and soap. The green wax can be a bit tougher, so give your brush a little extra TLC.
Underglazes
​We carry a large lineup of Speed Ball underglazes. They do very well overall on our clays and with our studio clear glaze. That said, some perform better than others, and students should rely on the studio test tiles to make their underglaze decisions. Our clear glaze does not use zinc. I'm not sure how much zinc actually matters, but we get asked this a lot.
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Underglaze application tips:
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The key with underglaze is to apply the right amount. It's easier said than done. Too little and the color looks washed out. Too much and you risk crawling or pinholing. In general, the right amount is two full coats.
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Underglaze can be applied on bisqueware or greenware. The advantage of applying onto bisqueware is that you can build up thickness quickly, and often get away with a single coat. Oppositely it can be tough to get full coats on greenware. The advantage of underglazing on greenware is that it wipes away easily and you can carve through it!
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For the most part, underglaze colors will blend as you'd expect paints to. In some instances, they may tend towards brown though.
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When applying underglaze, think of it as a paste. It won't flow like regular paint, so work with it and resist the temptation to add water.
Oxides Washes
Both studios have a selection of five oxide washes for student use:
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Iron wash - Looks super strong before the firing, and looks soft afterwards. Don't be fooled by the color when applying iron wash. You want to keep your brush heavily saturated for this one.
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Copper wash - Copper melts at a very low temperature, and therefore blushes in the glaze fire. This makes copper wash good for gestural and atmospheric brushwork. Don't go painting animals and flowers with it though.
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Cobalt wash - Comes out a beautiful cobalt blue :) makes sense. With the right application cobalt wash is stunning, but often less is more. Oppositely from the iron wash, cobalt wash can look barely visible before the firing and come out looking b-r-i-g-h-t.
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Iron + Cobalt wash - My personal favorite wash. If there's a critique to made of cobalt wash, it's that the blue is too strong. The soft iron pairs well with the intense cobalt and the result is an attractive blend. Our wash recipe is strongly waited towards iron to account for their potency difference.
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Rutile wash - Can result in a crisp yellow, orange brush mark on the right glaze, but like copper, is very melty. It's mostly used for atmospheric effects and to create action on a glaze. Rutile is sometimes called pixie dust because it can result in a bunch of fun colors. It particularly loves copper and cobalt.
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Oxide wash tips
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Oxides are incredibly versatile and can technically be applied on wet clay, greenware, bisqueware, or glazed pots. Most often it's applied over a glaze.
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Copper and cobalt are heavy metals, so avoid getting them on your hands or contaminating other items in the studio.
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The number one, there isn't even a close second, reason that oxides are difficult to work with is because they're sensitive to application thickness and knowing how much pigment is basically a guessing game. You can count on a wash that was recently filled to be a certain concentration. After some studio use though, even that goes away because metal oxides are heavy and you can't count on every student who used the wash before you to have shaken it well beforehand. So what the solution? No easy way out. Through trial and error you can develop an eye for knowing how concentrated the wash you're using is and how much is on your brush.
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Unless you're applying oxides onto a matte glaze, they're likely to bleed. Even on a matte glaze, copper and rutile washes may not hold their line.
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Your pot will remember every brush stroke. Don't bother trying to wipe a mark away, it will show.
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Glazing Guide
We put the onus on students to glaze responsibly. If you're a class student, and aren't confident in your glazing, you should lean on your teacher for guidance. If you're an independent study member and aren't confident, use as many of our glazing resources as you can, including this guide. The best strategy is to start out conservatively and build towards calculated risks. Control over glazing requires an understanding of all the variables involved. Glaze doesn't build up on all pots equally, or behave the same way on all pots. Your clay choice, pot shape, wall thickness, dipping technique, and drying times all play a role.
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Glaze defects like crazing, pin-holing and crawling can happen and are often only partially in your control. How much a glaze runs, and how prepared the pot is for that glaze run, is your control.
Analyzing test tiles and choosing a glaze
Look at the test tile and specifically the section of the test tile that matches the glaze you’re using. Do you see crazing, pin-holing or excessive running? If you have a textured pot, you should be looking for glazes that highlight edges. This glaze action is called “breaking”. If you have underglaze decoration on your pot you should be looking at transparent or semi-transparent glazes. If it’s a functional pot then the interior should be a food-safe glaze. Drippy glaze combinations should only be used on pots that have a sufficient ledge and foot to catch the glaze. If this is not the case, there are some techniques to safely use a drippy glaze like only dipping the second layer halfway up the pot or brushing it on. Even then, one must be careful.
Basic Glazing Strategy
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Wax the bottom of your pot. Forbes wax (pink) is best for this.
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Wait at least 10 minutes after waxing. Thoroughly stir your glaze of choice. Using tongs, dunk the pot in glaze for the first dip. Hold the pot in the bucket for 2 seconds. Pull the pot out of the glaze and hold over the bucket long enough for the glaze to run off and mostly stop dripping. Rest pot back on the table.
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Wait at least 10 minutes again for the first glaze layer to dry completely. Repeat step 2 which will apply your second layer of glaze if desired.
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After your second layer of glaze has dried, you can pick your pot up and use a sponge to clean off the glaze residue on the waxed bottom of the pot.
Tips related to basic glazing strategy
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The bottom of your pot should be completely waxed. The wax should go up the size of the pot at least ¼ an inch as well. This can change depending on the glaze combination used and your experience level. Be aware that glaze will never stick anywhere the wax goes and there is no way to remove the wax. Brush it on carefully. We have Forbes wax with alumina mixed in. This is good for pots prone to “plucking”. Plucking mostly happens to large pots and porcelain. This wax + alumina is also useful for waxing lids. The longer you wait after waxing, the better the wax is able to resist the glaze.
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A very small amount of settled glaze at the bottom of a bucket is acceptable, but any significant amount means you must stir more. The amount of time you hold your pot in the glaze determines the thickness of the dip. Keep in mind that larger, thicker pots can absorb much more glaze.
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If the second layer of the glaze is applied before the first totally dries, it will likely crack and flake off the pot. If you would like to apply a thinner second layer of glaze, try spraying the pot with a bit of water before dipping. If you are choosing a drippy combination, you might try only dipping the top half, or two thirds of your pot in the second glaze.
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Experienced students may add a third, “accent” layer of glaze on the rim or top of a pot if they determine it to be safe. Wet or dry glaze on the bottom of a pot can easily be removed with a damp sponge. You can wipe glaze beyond your wax line if desired.
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Sponge the waxed portion of the pot well so that it’s completely free of glaze. You may include a sticky note with your pot if it has exposed oxide wash or a safe, stable glaze close to the bottom. Remember that our kiln loaders are trained not to fire pots with glaze too close to the bottom.