Studio potter. National educator. Published author.
Julia Claire Weber has spent her career at the intersection of making, teaching, and sharing — on the wheel, in craft centers across the country, and on the page.
From Erie to the Wheel
Julia Claire Weber grew up drawn to making things with her hands — and ceramics, once she found it at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, became the medium that stuck. She graduated from Edinboro's ceramics program with both the technical foundation and the restless curiosity that would define her practice: a belief that good pots come from understanding your tools, your clay, and yourself.
After graduation, Julia became studio manager at Clayspace in Erie, PA — running the operational and creative life of a ceramics studio while continuing to make her own work. It was the kind of position that accelerates a young artist: part administrator, part mentor, always with clay on your hands.
"While nothing can replace hands-on instruction, this book comes close."
The Odyssey Residency
A transformative period in Julia's development came with her residency at Odyssey Clayworks in Asheville, NC — one of the most respected clay residency programs in the country. There, surrounded by serious makers and rigorous studio culture, Julia refined both her voice as an artist and her commitment to teaching. It's no coincidence that Gabriel Kline, Odyssey's director, would later write some of the most enthusiastic endorsements of her book.
The residency instilled in Julia the value of generosity in craft — the idea that sharing technique, process, and hard-won knowledge makes everyone's work better. That ethos runs through everything she's done since.
Teaching Across the Country
Julia has maintained a full teaching schedule at craft centers, art centers, and workshops across the United States for years. Not the occasional weekend seminar — a genuine, sustained practice of instruction that has put her in front of hundreds of students at every skill level.
That experience is what makes The Beginner's Guide to Wheel Throwing feel different from other ceramics books. Julia knows exactly where beginners get stuck, exactly what phrase unlocks centering for a frustrated student, and exactly when humor is more useful than instruction. The book reads like being in the studio with her because, in a sense, it is.
The Book
Published by Quarry Books as Volume 1 of the Essential Ceramics Skills series, The Beginner's Guide to Wheel Throwing quickly earned a Library Journal Starred Review — one of publishing's most meaningful marks of quality for instructional nonfiction. Endorsements came from Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Northwest, and respected voices across the ceramics community.
The book covers the full arc of learning the wheel: a tour through the ceramics studio, clay selection and centering methods, starter projects like cups, bowls, and plates, trimming, handles, surface decoration, glazing and firing — and a dedicated decal workshop chapter that has introduced thousands of readers to image transfer on ceramics for the first time.
That chapter is where this decal service was born.
Why Decals
Julia began experimenting with ceramic decals in her own studio as a surface decoration tool — a way to bring photographic imagery, complex patterns, and full-color illustration onto thrown forms that glaze alone couldn't achieve. She quickly discovered what many ceramic artists discover: the available options weren't built for working studio potters.
Minimum orders in the hundreds. Screen setup fees that assumed large production runs. Confusing palette choices with inadequate explanations. Slow turnaround. The process designed for commercial tableware manufacturers, not artists making one-of-a-kind work.
The decal service at Julia Claire Clay is the answer she built for herself — and opened to other artists. Letter sheets, Magenta Palette CMYK for maximum color fidelity, food-safe flux finish, no minimum orders, no setup fees, and the institutional knowledge of someone who has actually used these tools in practice.
The Work
Julia's own ceramic work has been exhibited at NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts), Pottery Northwest, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Objective Clay, and the Touchstone Center for Crafts. Her work and writing have appeared in print in Ceramics Monthly, Ceramic Arts Daily, Amazing Glaze, and Creative Pottery.
She currently works as a full-time studio artist and part-time gallery manager — making pots, teaching, and building the tools that help other ceramic artists do more ambitious work.
Work with Julia
Order custom ceramic decals or explore her book on wheel throwing.
Order Custom Decals → About the Book →Where Julia's Work Has Been
- —NCECA — National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
- —Pottery Northwest, Seattle WA
- —Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
- —Objective Clay
- —Touchstone Center for Crafts
- —Ceramics Monthly — Featured artist
- —Ceramic Arts Daily — Featured artist
- —Amazing Glaze — Published work
- —Creative Pottery — Featured work
- —Library Journal — Starred Review
- —Edinboro University of Pennsylvania — BFA Ceramics
- —Odyssey Clayworks Residency — Asheville, NC
- —Studio Manager, Clayspace Erie PA
- —Ongoing national teaching schedule
- —Craft and art center instructor
- —Gabriel Kline — Director, Odyssey Clayworks
- —Jessica Knapp — Editor, Ceramics Monthly
- —Lee Rexrode — Professor Emeritus, Edinboro University
- —Midwest Book Review
- —Shelf Awareness
From the ceramic community
Clear, concise, and beautifully illustrated, The Beginner's Guide to Wheel Throwing is a terrific primer. The sections on trimming, handles, and decoration are top notch and will help you create pots that truly sing.
Julia Claire Weber's book is a fun, one-on-one course on the fundamentals of wheel throwing. Her concise, engaging approach includes encouragement and humor at just the right times to remind those new to clay that both successes and failures are essential.
An excellent guide for those aspiring to take up pottery making. Weber has successfully created a how-to book for pottery making that will leave readers with the general knowledge needed to work with clay. Libraries, teaching studios, and aspiring potters should all have this book on hand.
Bring your artwork to fired clay.
Custom Letter-size digital ceramic decals — upload your design, we print and ship. Built by a ceramic artist, for ceramic artists.