R.Baum Ceramics

R.Baum Ceramics Potter creating hand built and wheel thrown pottery in NYC and Connecticut.

07/23/2026

Time to get centered!
I had a great week of throwing. I was away for a few days so maybe I had a mental refresh. All the things that ache me, wrist, thumb, shoulder.... all were well rested and a little less sore. Maybe the clay was just right. Likely all of these things combined. Whatever it was I was able to throw a lot of big, beautiful planters and this nice tall slender vase. In fact this was so nicely centered that I played around with some shaping and still had no trouble getting it to the shape I ultimately decided on. I have some ideas on how to finish this. Like and follow to see the finished vase.

07/15/2026

Real Time vs. Instagram Time

One of the hardest parts of learning to throw pots is learning to slow down. The wheel goes fast! Centering the clay with the wheel at high speed is pretty routine but with each step you have to slow things down more and more and your hands need to be in sync with the rotations of the pot or things will go awry.

If you are watching this video you have probably seen pottery videos before and unless you are a potter this realtime speed may be surprising. To get an even clearer picture.... the Instagram speed video has centering and finishing edited out. It is sped up 24x and this bowl took about 25 minutes from when I put the clay on the wheel head until it was done for today. It will need to dry to leather hard stage for several days and the I will trim it and create a foot, decorate it, fire it, glaze it and fire it again and finally polish the foot so it is smooth as glass. This is what real pottery looks like.

07/06/2026

Something old. Something new.

Have you tried doing something new lately? What was it?

I had a nice time throwing porcelain vases today. The first one is a classic form that will soon be trimmed and get some special surface treatment. The second one feels more contemporary and will be refined in the trimming.

It is always nice to do the things that feel comfortable and familiar but I really love to push myself to try new things.

07/06/2026

Every failure is a lesson!
This was going to be a big ikebana bowl. That failed. Center was to wet and wide to close nicely. Then it was going to be a chip and dip. Nope. Proportions and angles were off. Size was ridiculous! Who wants to have such a specific item take up so much space? Keep trying to make it nice but too wet, somehow off center or pulled unevenly.... It was not meant to be. Time spent learning is never wasted. I will be back tomorrow and try again.

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