From the Studio

Guides from people who fire

Real, practical writing on kilns, glazes, wheels, and running a studio or classroom. Specific advice, named techniques, no filler.

A kiln inspection kit with self-supporting cones used to verify firing results

Featured

Kilns · 9 min

How to Buy Your First Kiln Without Regretting It

The kiln is the biggest decision most studios and classrooms make. We walk DFW makers through cone rating, electrical, venting, and size so the kiln that arrives is the one they actually needed.

November 6, 2025

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American Ceramic Supply mural reading Do more of what makes your soul happy

Education · 9 min

Setting Up a School Ceramics Program: A Guide for Texas Art Teachers

Turning an empty room into a working ceramics classroom is a specific skill. We help Texas art teachers spec the kiln, choose durable materials, and build a program that survives thirty students and one kiln.

April 22, 2026

Studio tools, test tiles, and bisque bowls arranged on a wood table

Equipment · 7 min

Buying Clay in Bulk: A Practical Guide for Studios and Programs

Clay is heavy, perishable in its own way, and expensive to ship. For a busy studio or school, how you buy it is a real line item. We help studios and schools do it well in Dallas-Fort Worth.

March 18, 2026

A kintsugi-repaired vessel, gold seams tracing the original cracks

Resources · 8 min

Crazing, Crawling, and Pinholing: Reading What Your Glaze Is Telling You

A glaze defect is information, not a failure. We diagnose the three most common surface problems we get asked about, and we show how to fix each one.

February 25, 2026

A glazed ceramic piece showing the depth and movement a fired glaze can develop

Glazes · 9 min

Mayco and AMACO: A Maker's Guide to the Two Glaze Families We Carry Most

Stroke & Coat, Foundations, Potter's Choice, Teacher's Palette. The glaze lines blur together until you understand what each was designed to do. We help DFW makers cut through it.

February 4, 2026

A kiln inspection set used to monitor firing conditions

Kilns · 8 min

Electric or Gas? Choosing the Right Kiln Atmosphere for Your Studio

Electric kilns fire in oxidation, gas kilns can fire in reduction, and that single difference changes your glazes, your space requirements, and your budget. The right choice follows from the work you want to make.

January 14, 2026

A potter centering clay on a pottery wheel, hands wet with slip

Equipment · 8 min

Shimpo, Brent, or Speedball: Choosing a Pottery Wheel That Fits the Thrower

The right wheel depends far more on who is sitting at it than on the spec sheet. We match Shimpo, Brent, and Speedball wheels to beginners, classrooms, and production throwers.

December 9, 2025

Pyrometric cones bent to different degrees after a firing, recorded for comparison

Resources · 8 min

Cone 04 or Cone 6? Understanding Heatwork So Your Work Fits Together

Cones do not measure temperature. They measure heatwork, and that distinction is why a cone 6 glaze on a cone 04 body cracks. Every potter and art teacher should understand what that means for firing range.

November 20, 2025

American Ceramic kiln inspection set with self-supporting witness cones

Resources · 8 min

Reducing Firing Variations and Kiln Uniformity: How to Avoid Mistakes After Firing

Uneven results after firing? Learn how kiln uniformity, heatwork, and the Orton Three Cone System help you reduce firing variations and achieve consistent ceramic results.

October 15, 2025

A maker returning to the wheel, shaping clay by hand

Ceramic History · 5 min

Why Ceramics Boom in Every Crisis, Like the Pandemic

In times of crisis, when the world feels as though it is crumbling, one art form stands quietly yet unshakably firm: ceramics. A look at why people return to clay when everything else feels uncertain.

September 28, 2025