A finished ceramic cup is the result of many carefully timed steps. In our beginner pottery classes, a 600-gram ball of clay is wedged, shaped, thrown on the wheel, trimmed at leather-hard stage, dried to bone dry, bisque fired to 1,000°C, glazed and decorated, and finally fired again to 1,080°C. The process takes patience—but it's also where the magic happens.
What Really Happens to a Ball of Clay?
When you look at a finished ceramic cup, it's easy to forget what it started as: a simple ball of clay.
Before you can drink your morning coffee from it, that clay has to go through a surprisingly long journey.
It needs to be measured, prepared, shaped, thrown on the pottery wheel, dried, trimmed, fired, glazed, and fired again.
And that's exactly what makes pottery so satisfying.
In our beginner pottery courses, we don't just teach you how to make a pot. We take you through the entire process so you can see how a lump of clay gradually becomes something functional that you can actually use.
Here's what happens behind the scenes.
Step 1: Measuring the Clay
The first step depends on what you're making.
For a beginner making a simple cup or cylinder, we typically work with 600 grams of clay.
Measuring the clay might not sound particularly exciting, but it matters. Starting with a consistent amount of clay makes it easier to learn the process and compare your results as you practise.
And in a beginner class, repetition is your friend.
Step 2: Wedging — Preparing the Clay
Before the clay touches the wheel, it needs to be prepared.
This is where wedging comes in.
Wedging is a little like kneading dough. You work the clay repeatedly to make it more consistent and workable.
One important purpose is helping remove unwanted air pockets. Air trapped inside clay can expand during firing and contribute to cracking or other problems.
Wedging also helps even out lumps and inconsistencies in the clay.
The goal is simple: you want a smooth, consistent piece of clay that behaves predictably when you put it on the wheel.
Step 3: Shaping the Clay for the Wheel
Once the clay has been wedged, you don't simply throw the ball onto the wheel and hope for the best.
You shape it first.
For wheel throwing, we like to create a form that's flat on one side and rounded on the other, almost like a hemisphere.
This gives you a useful starting shape when attaching the clay to the wheel.
You then place it in the centre of the wheel and firmly attach it by pinching down the edges.
And now the fun starts.
Step 4: Throwing the Clay on the Pottery Wheel
"Throwing" is the term potters use for shaping clay on a spinning pottery wheel.
For beginners, it can look almost effortless when an experienced potter does it.
It isn't.
Throwing a cylinder involves several distinct stages.
1. Centering
First, you need to centre the clay.
As the wheel spins, you use your hands to control the clay and bring it into alignment with the centre of rotation.
This is one of those pottery skills that becomes much easier with practice.
2. Opening
Once the clay is centred, you open a cavity in the middle.
Your hands begin transforming that solid ball of clay into the beginnings of a vessel.
You establish the base and create the opening that will eventually become the inside of your cup.
3. Pulling the Walls
The final major stage is pulling the walls.
Using your hands, you gradually pull the clay upwards and outwards, making the walls thinner and taller.
This is where the cylinder begins to look like an actual cup.
You refine the shape until you're happy with it, then cut the pot from the wheel and set it aside to dry.
But it's definitely not finished yet.
Step 5: Waiting for Leather Hard
One of the biggest lessons in pottery is learning when not to touch your pot.
After throwing, the clay needs to dry until it reaches what's called the leather-hard stage.
At this point, the clay has lost some of its moisture but isn't completely dry. It's firm enough to handle while still being workable.
Depending on the conditions in the studio, this might happen naturally as the pot sits on the shelves.
Sometimes, a heat gun can be used to help speed up the drying process.
Why wait?
Because trimming is much easier when the clay has reached the right consistency.
Step 6: Trimming the Pot
Once the piece is leather hard, it's time to trim.
The pot is placed back on the wheel, this time upside down.
Trimming is about more than making the bottom look pretty.
You remove excess clay from the base and refine the shape of the pot, helping create a more even wall and base thickness.
It's also an opportunity to finesse the piece.
This is where some of the small details that make a pot look clean and intentional come together.
A rough piece of thrown clay starts to feel much more like a finished object.
Step 7: Drying to Bone Dry
After trimming, there's another waiting period.
The pot needs to dry completely until it reaches what's known as bone dry.
That means essentially all of the removable moisture has left the clay.
In the studio, pieces can sit on shelves for several days—sometimes three, four, five or six days, or even around a week—depending on the conditions.
This is another important part of pottery that beginners don't always expect.
A lot of pottery is waiting.
And that waiting is important.
Putting a piece into the kiln before it's completely dry can cause serious problems, because remaining moisture turns into steam during firing.
Step 8: The First Kiln Firing — Bisque Firing
Once the piece is bone dry, it goes into the kiln for its first firing.
For our pottery process, the clay is fired to around 1,000°C.
This first firing transforms the fragile dried clay into a much more durable ceramic form.
It's commonly referred to as a bisque firing.
At this point, the piece has changed dramatically—but it still isn't finished.
Now comes one of the most creative stages.
Step 9: Glazing and Decorating
After the first firing, the pots are ready to be glazed.
This is where you can really start making the piece your own.
Glaze can be applied in different ways depending on the effect you're trying to create.
You might:
- Brush glaze onto the surface
- Pour glaze over the piece
- Dip the piece into glaze
- Create patterns or images
- Use one colour across the entire pot
- Combine different colours and decorative techniques
This is the stage where two cups made from the same amount of clay can suddenly become completely different objects.
The clay gives you the form.
The glaze gives it personality.
Step 10: The Final Glaze Firing
Once the piece has been glazed and decorated, it goes back into the kiln.
This time, we fire it to approximately 1,080°C.
Then comes another important part of the process:
waiting for the kiln to cool down.
You can't simply open a hot kiln immediately after firing. Once the kiln has cooled, the finished pots can finally be removed.
And that's the moment when you get to see what all those hours of work have produced.
From 600 Grams of Clay to a Finished Cup
So, what started as 600 grams of clay has travelled through:
Measuring → Wedging → Shaping → Throwing → Leather-hard drying → Trimming → Bone-dry drying → Bisque firing → Glazing → Final firing
That's a lot of stages for something that might eventually sit quietly on your kitchen shelf.
But that's also the beauty of pottery.
The finished cup doesn't show you all the decisions, mistakes, adjustments, waiting and repetition that went into making it.
It simply looks finished.
Behind the scenes, there's an entire process hiding inside it.
Why We Make Four Pieces Instead of One
There's another important part of our beginner pottery courses that makes this process particularly valuable.
In a typical three-week beginner course, students work on four pieces, rather than making just one.
The first class focuses on throwing.
Students have around two hours to make their four pieces.
The second class is dedicated to trimming those pieces.
Then, in the third class, they paint or glaze them.
Why repeat the same process four times?
Because pottery is a physical skill.
You can explain centering. You can demonstrate pulling a wall. You can describe how much pressure to use.
But your hands need to learn it too.
When you repeat the process, you're building muscle memory.
Your body starts remembering the movements. You begin to understand how the clay responds to your hands. You make small adjustments without having to consciously think about every step.
And, naturally, your pots start getting better.
That's one of my favourite things about teaching beginners: you can often see the improvement happening within the same class.
The first piece might feel awkward.
The second starts to make more sense.
By the third or fourth, something clicks.
Suddenly, the clay isn't quite as mysterious anymore.
The Part You Don't See in a Finished Pot
When you pick up a finished handmade cup, you're holding the end of a process that involved far more than simply putting clay on a spinning wheel.
You're holding the result of preparation, technique, repetition, drying time, two kiln firings, and a little bit of patience.
And that's why making pottery is so rewarding.
You don't just make an object.
You get to watch a material change at every stage.
A soft ball of clay becomes a vessel.
The vessel becomes leather hard.
Then bone dry.
Then ceramic.
Then, after glaze and another firing, it becomes a finished piece that you can actually use.
And finally, after all those hours of work, it can come home with you—ready to eat from, drink from, and become part of your everyday life.
That's the journey hiding behind every handmade cup.
Summary
A ball of clay goes through a carefully controlled transformation before becoming a finished piece of pottery. For a beginner's cup, we start with around 600 grams of clay, wedge it to prepare and homogenise it, shape it for the wheel, and throw it into a cylinder.
After the piece reaches leather-hard dryness, it's trimmed and refined before drying completely to bone dry. It then undergoes its first kiln firing at around 1,000°C.
After bisque firing, the piece is glazed and decorated before returning to the kiln for its final firing at around 1,080°C.
The result is a functional ceramic piece that's ready to use—and a much better understanding of just how much work goes into the pottery sitting on your table.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much clay do beginners need to make a cup?
For our beginner cup or cylinder, we typically use around 600 grams of clay.
What is wedging in pottery?
Wedging is a technique similar to kneading dough. It prepares and homogenises the clay, helping remove unwanted air pockets and lumps before throwing.
What does leather hard mean?
Leather hard is a stage where clay has dried enough to become firm but still retains enough moisture to be worked. It's an ideal stage for trimming a thrown pot.
How long does pottery take to dry?
Drying time varies depending on the piece and studio conditions. A piece may take several days or around a week to become completely bone dry.
What is bisque firing?
Bisque firing is the first kiln firing. It transforms dried clay into a durable ceramic form that can then be glazed.
How many times is a pottery piece fired?
In this process, the piece is fired twice: first to around 1,000°C during the bisque firing, and then to around 1,080°C after glazing.
Is the finished pottery dishwasher and microwave safe?
Our finished functional pottery is intended to be microwave and dishwasher safe, so you can use your handmade cup just as you would other everyday pottery.