Pottery Painting vs. Proper Pottery: What’s the Difference?

Pottery painting is applying manufactured underglaze colours onto factory-made pots. It’s like saying you’ve made a pizza when you’ve only added toppings to a store-bought base. In the style of Emma Bridgewater, you’ll no doubt be painting cats and love hearts all over until you make yourself sick with granny-core twee cheese. Some pottery painting studios even say you can’t microwave, dishwasher, or pour boiling water into your tea mugs—which is just not proper pottery. With the limited range of brightly coloured underglazes you’ll be missing out on the most interesting things about pottery: making your own pots with your bare hands, and exploring the many magical, rustic and wonderful glazes that are possible.

Pottery Wheel Throwing: Hands-On and Satisfying

Pottery painting doesn’t come close to the satisfaction of making your own pottery. Throwing on the wheel brings you into the moment and demands your full concentration for success. The soft, wet clay soothes through your fingers and expands into useful, functional vessels. There’s nothing like it. It could flop over, buckle or collapse at any point, which is what makes it such an exciting challenge too. People often leave the pottery studio buzzing at their creations with feelings of satisfaction and calm. You can also come back and glaze them yourself to complete the whole piece.

Durability Matters: Proper Pottery You Can Actually Use

One major issue with pottery painting studios is the poor quality of the pottery itself. If they say you can’t microwave, dishwasher, subject the pots to changes in temperature, or submerge the pots in water, that’s a huge red flag. How are you supposed to put boiling water in your tea mug? Will it crack from thermal shock? How are you supposed to wash stained ceramics if you can’t soak them or put them in the dishwasher? Proper pottery is durable.

At our Manchester pottery studio, the pots you make are functional and strong. You can:

  • Microwave them without damaging them.
  • Put them in the dishwasher for easy cleaning.
  • Pour boiling water into your handmade tea mugs without worry.

That’s what proper pottery is designed to do.

Try Making & Painting Your Own Pottery Mug

The closest thing we offer to pottery painting is to create and paint your own pottery mug in Manchester. You’ll:

  • Handbuild a cylindrical mug from raw clay.
  • Pull and attach a handle.
  • Decorate it using coloured slips (liquid clay)—the way handmade pottery is traditionally decorated.

Once fired and glazed, your mug will be functional, food-safe, and importantly thermal shock resistant—perfect for your morning brew or evening tea.

Pottery Wheel Classes in Manchester: A Hands-On Experience

Pottery painting may be a fun distraction for the kids or a casual drop in activity instead of the pub, but if you’re looking for an experience to remember you’ll want to give the wheel a go. So if you’re ready to trade boring pottery painting in Manchester for the thrill of wheel throwing – Book your wheel throwing taster class at our Manchester studio today. Come and make beautiful durable pottery you’ll be proud to use.