Studio habits 3 min read
How to Keep a Pottery Journal
A pottery journal is most useful when it helps you answer a practical question: what did I do last time, and what would I change? You do not need beautiful handwriting or a record of every minute. Start with one piece, a few photos and the details you would otherwise forget.
Give every piece an identity
Choose a short reference such as MUG-01 and use it in your notebook, photo captions and studio records. Add a working title, start date, clay manufacturer and body name. “White clay” will be difficult to identify six months later; the name on the bag is much more useful.
Record the forming method and one intention: a comfortable handle, a lighter foot or a more even rim. This gives you something specific to review when the piece comes back from the kiln.
Use this simple pottery journal template
- Piece: reference, name, start date and purpose.
- Clay and making: clay body, starting weight, dimensions, forming method and tools that mattered.
- Drying and trimming: dates, changes to the shape and any cracks or repairs.
- Surface: decoration, glaze name or recipe version, application method and number of coats or dip time.
- Firing: bisque and glaze firing details supplied by your studio, including units and cone where available.
- Result: finished dimensions, photographs, what worked and one next experiment.
Leave unknown details marked “not recorded”. An honest gap is more useful than a temperature guessed afterwards.
Take photos at meaningful stages
Photograph the freshly made form, the trimmed piece, the glaze application and the fired result. Include the foot and any detail you are testing. Use roughly the same angle for before-and-after comparisons, and put a ruler beside the piece when size matters.
Attach each photo to its project immediately. A camera roll full of almost identical bowls becomes difficult to untangle after a busy term of classes.
Turn observations into your next experiment
An illustrative entry might read: “MUG-01: handle comfortable, foot heavier than intended, glaze thinner near rim. Next piece: keep the same clay and glaze, trim the foot further.” This separates the observation from the planned change.
Review a small group of finished pieces together. Look for patterns rather than judging each one as a success or failure. If you change the clay, glaze and firing at once, you will struggle to identify which change helped.
Make the habit small enough to keep
Spend two minutes recording the session before you clean up, then finish the entry after firing. A paper notebook works well if it lives in the studio; a phone journal is convenient when your photos are already on your phone. Choose the format you are likely to open with a busy studio session ahead.
See how the Pottery Log journal works, with examples from the app.