Publications

Publications

The Potters Guide to Ceramic Surfaces

Jo_Connell_Guide_The_Potters_Guide_to_Ceramic_Surfaces.jpgThis practical directory details a comprehensive range of decoration techniques, from processes at the raw clay stage (including textures, moulds and painting) to under-glaze decoration, special glaze firings and alternative firing techniques.

Designed for both the novice and the experience potter, this guide will inspire and encourage potters to explore new techniques and combine them in a fresh and creative way.

This book has really stood the test of time and has sold many thousands of copies, becoming a standard in colleges and schools all over the country. It is also translated widely and published in Japanese, Spanish, French, Dutch and German, as well as American!

Reviews: Amazon

"I am just starting pottery. This book is full of beautifully described pages showing lots of different ways to decorate pottery. an absolute must for me. I love it and would recommend to anyone."
"As a novice potter I was so concerned with shape, form and texture and creating a clay body that I liked, that decorating the fired pot was almost an afterthought. So quite often, as indeed I have seen others do, I would produce a lovely pot and then ruin it by using an inappropriate glaze or surface decoration. Now, thanks to Jo Connell's wonderful book, which exhausts every available possibility, my work should improve considerably. Here is a beautifully illustrated must-have manual which can serve as both an inspiration and a guide on how to succeed in the pursuit of excellence."
"This is a book that is not afraid to mix traditional techniques with contemporary ideas. Good layout, with lots of images of up to date potters and ceramic artists. Good to see alternative firing techniques included as well. The first techniques book (and I have brought a lot!) I am totally happy with."

amazon-uk-buy-now.png

Colouring Clay

Jo_Connell_Coluring_clay_handbook.jpgA handbook on how to introduce colour into clay, and various methods of working with coloured clay. It briefly covers natural colour found in clays and how to use this to best advantage.

It thoroughly looks at colouring your own clay through adding stains and oxides, and the various methods of preparing clay and slips, as well as how to blend properly and repeat results consistently. It looks at a range of making techniques using coloured clays (with specific ceramic artists as examples), including coiling and pinching with colours, marbling and agate, using moulds to create neriage or millefiori, textural effects, inlaying, sprigging and slipcasting.

Each technique shows how various artists put it to use, with step by step sequences where needed, and displays finished pieces for further inspiration.

Colouring Clay, A&C Black, October 2007 (Ceramics Handbook series) £16.99
Published in German and Japanese, also in the USA by Pennsylvania Press.

Reviews: Amazon

"This is an inspiring little book - some good ideas on the design front and an array of technical tips for the use of oxides in clay preparation. A great addition to the library of any potter wanting to take the process in a new direction."
"Before reading this book I had a workshop on coloured clay at my university and I instantly thought 'no that is not for me' as it seemed so flat and dull... however after reading this book by Jo Connell I have been turned on my head! I cannot wait to get back into the studio and have a go at some of the techniques which have been so well explained and demonstrated. If only she was my uni lecturer ...."

amazon-uk-buy-now.png

Jo’s work appears in the following publications:

  • Colour in Clay by Jane Waller (Crowood Press) 

  • Salt Glaze Ceramics by Rosemary Cochrane (Crowood Press) 

  • The Encyclopedia of Pottery Techniques by Peter Cosentino (Headline)
  • The Potters Dictionary of Shape & Form by Neal French (A & C Black)

  • The Ceramic Design Course by Anthony Quinn (Barron’s)
Ceramics with Mixed Media by Joy Bosworth (A & C Black)

  • The Potters Bible: pub. Book Sales (Aug 2006)
“Potters” 10, 11, 12th editions published by Ceramic Review

  • The Ceramics Book, 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions published by Ceramic Review 
  • The Potters Encyclopedia of Color, Form & Decoration (Krause)

  • Potter's Question and Answer Book, Gill Bliss, (A & C Black)

  • The Potter’s Guide to Ceramic Surfaces, Apple (UK) 2002 and Krause (USA) 1-84092-360-1
  • Ceramic Review issue 242 (2010) carries an article in the Knowledge section, giving recipes and demonstrating some of her methods.