If you've ever wanted to dive into pottery but felt daunted by the idea of a kiln, Making Pottery Without a Kiln is the book for you! Daniela Schmidt-Kohl, the creative mind behind KlickerKram, makes pottery accessible and fun with this cheerful guide.

Packed with easy-to-follow projects, you'll learn to create beautiful pots, trays, jars, and plant holders—all without any fancy equipment. Daniela offers great tips on materials and tools to get you started, making it perfect for beginners. This book is all about enjoying the process of crafting and unleashing your creativity at home. Get ready to roll up your sleeves and have fun pottering around!

I’ve been interested in learning how to create pottery for quite some time, but I’m not in a financial position to pursue that. I looked into classes and they’re rather pricey (fairly so, but I’m just not in that tax bracket). I researched pottery wheels and do not feel confident investing in such an expensive piece when I’m not even sure I’ll be any good at this.

But you know what I really cannot afford? A kiln.

This book appealed to me immediately because of the title, and I wasn’t disappointed with what it offered. I think these projects provide an excellent foundation for someone like me to lean upon. I can get a feel for working with modeling clay, and while I know it’s not the same structurally, it will help me decide if I want to further pursue this late in life dream of mine.

I loved the projects in this book. They aren’t terribly complicated, and they are exactly my style. The author took a lot of time to provide detailed information on getting started, as well as step by step instructions to walk us through each creation.

I am definitely going to order a physical copy for myself!

I am immensely grateful to Landauer and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

A beautiful books full of lovely projects! I can't wait to make some of these as gifts and to add to my home. Daniela makes pottery approachable and gives direction and ideas to make a replica of her projects while giving freedom and permission to personalize and create something unique to the reader.

This is a book of multiple iterations of the same few items - the biggest being flat pieces of clay with cut out into different pieces depending on the season and a hole punched through it so it can be hung in some famous. Otherwise known as ornaments or garland or gift tags. One iteration would have been enough... I wish the intro was more flushed out in the types of clay that is used and why. I'm just getting into pottery and don't know much about the different non kiln clays available on the market and I thought this would have given more info on that.

The one craft I see myself actually making is the tiled wooden tray.

This book gave me some good inspiration for clay projects. The directions were easy to understand and I think this book would be helpful for beginners or those who are not already familiar with this craft. Some of the crafts started to feel repetitive because they were very similar, but the tips sprinkled in were much appreciated.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

This book has project ideas using either air dry clay or modeling clay. A lot of the projects look cute and use a lot of the same tools for different projects (rolling pin, cookie cutters, cutting tool, decorative paper napkins, varnish). After a while, the projects just seem like basically the same thing repeated with slight differences, but I liked the ideas, and they looked easy to do.

There were some really great ideas in here! There was some ideas I had never heard of before and I want to try them out. My only complaint is that multiple ideas were the exact some thing and didn’t need another tutorial, just maybe listed as variations.

I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of information and the careful instructions Schmidt-Kohl was able to include in what is not a large book. As in any book of this type, the range of designs may not be to everyone's liking, but there is more than enough for the beginner to get started and to spark their design ideas. Library readers will be happy with what they find in this book whose title perfectly describes what's inside.

This book does an excellent job walking the reader through doing air dry or modeling clay projects. The instructions and tips are written in engaging and clear language. The photography is well staged and the instructional images are quite useful.

I will be making a few of these projects. Most of them can be done with items that you would already have.

I was honestly impressed with the ingenuity of this book. In short, using modeling clay instead of “regular clay” is a great way to make pottery if you don’t have access to a kiln (and let’s be honest, who does off the top of their head?). You can make these pieces look more finished by covering them in clear varnish afterward to simulate glazing. You can also use air drying clay, which keeps its shape better than modeling clay while drying, but can be affected by contact with water. This book also comes with some great ideas for different projects you can make with the modeling clay and are arranged by season. My favorite project was the flower pot/planter using an old tin can as a base, which I thought was A) A very cool idea and B) A great way to recycle. I also thought that the gift tags were a lovely idea and may use those myself this coming Christmas.
I’m a crafty girly myself, so I have some experience with clay. However, I do think that this is a great way for beginners to get the feeling of working with clay without investing tons of money in clay working tools. I thought that the creativity of this author was off the charts. Very informative and interesting!

This book was really enjoyable. I have often been interested in pottery, but finding a kiln to use can be very challenging so it was nice to find a pottery book that does not require kiln firing.
The introduction section of this book was filled with helpful information to help even novices. I liked that the book was organized by season. It was helpful to have plenty of photos to show how to make each project step-by-step. The projects, themselves, were varied and looked very professional. I think this book would be great for any fan of pottery or crafting.

I was excited to read this book because I was hoping for instructions for using natural clay (which is easy to find in nature) for pottery projects without a kiln, like using a fire pit or campfire the way we fired pottery for most of history. Instead, these are decorative projects using purchased polymer clay and air dry clay. They are mostly for things like ornaments and decorations. You do need to purchase a fair amount of stuff for most of them and they are a bit fiddly, better suited for adults than children. I think the projects would end up costing you a lot more than if you just bought the items, but if you enjoy hand crafting little decorative pieces then you will definitely enjoy this book.

I read a digital copy of this book for review.

This book was really beautiful and put together really well. The designs are perfect for someone with a very neutral, minimalist style that is a beginner into clay crafts.

I wish the designs were a little more intricate and colorful for myself personally but it all depends on your style.