Simon Leach's Pottery Handbook

April 15, 2013
After eschewing the family craft for an engineering apprenticeship, events led Leach back to his kin’s near-century-old relationship with the kiln. In 2007, he began posting videos of conversations about pottery on YouTube. Over 800 postings later, he has produced a definitive guide for every step of pottery making, from styling small tools to building one’s own kiln. The beginner would likely be overwhelmed at the directions for use of kick vs. electric vs. treadle wheels, or the act of digging one’s own clay from random rural samples. Those novices can consider this an inclusive dive into a not-so-exclusive club, where some members make their aunt a birthday bowl, and others ponder the ins and outs of decorating and glazing, cylinder variations, and pyrometric cone charts. A four-hour-long DVD completes the package.

May 15, 2013
Third-generation potter Leach, with technical and photographic assistance from Bruce Dehnert and Jared Flood, capitalizes on his celebrity with an amazingly detailed, step-by-step text for all major processes in ceramics. The in-depth perspective starts with his directions for making simple tools (a wire tool and a sponge stick) and is bolstered by charts and information-packed sidebars (e.g., for removing air bubbles and troubleshooting your first pull). Every topic that novices must master is covered, such as working basic shapes (cylinder and variations dishes) trimming, decorating and glazing, and firing. Color photographs illustrating the techniques are small but suffice.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)