Potter's Encyclopedia of Color, Form, and Decoration

by Neal French

Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Krause Publications (2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0-87341-677-9
Dimensions: 10.75" x 7.9" x 0.75"
Shipping Weight: 1.63 lbs.

The complete guide to the enormous variety of forms, colors, and decorative techniques available to the modern ceramicist.

• Details over 600 ceramic shapes and forms, extensively illustrated with inspirational photographs, elevation and section drawings, and comprehensive explanations to combine creativity and practicality
• Illustrates more than 700 individual glazes, with detailed explanation of their properties, scope, and limits, and provides complete instructions for creating them
• Covers the full range of decorative techniques available to the potter, including glaze, underglaze, on-glaze, and clay methods

Ceramic vessels come in an enormous variety of shapes, colors, and decorative finishes—a fact that contributes to the appeal and excitement of pottery as a medium, while presenting the potter with a bewildering number of choices. This book gives the potter an exhaustive reference for the vast range of shapes, colors, and decorative techniques that are available.

The section dedicated to shape will assure you that there is no "ideal" for any specific purpose, but creative decisions can be governed by many things, from the shape as a canvas for decoration, to function, style, and coordination with a group of pieces. All the major types of both functional and decorative ware are illustrated with photographs and elevated drawings to fully demonstrate the range of forms available, while leaving the choice entirely open to you.

In the sections devoted to color and decoration, every major texture, style, and technique can be found. The examples shown prove that much of what we accept as appropriate is merely habit and usage. There is no good reason why some methods of decoration are seen as proper for some kinds of ware and others are not. As the examples show, often a daring combination of unlikely shapes and colors succeeds where "safer" unions fall.

Finally, this book recognizes that although artistic judgment is a personal thing, it is essential to recognize, and be reminded of, the vast range of options available. Through experimentation with color, shape, and decoration, stunning ceramics can be produced.