Hand build a clay piece or use a pottery wheel. If you want to use a pottery wheel to create your clay piece, you will need to locate a studio with pottery wheels you can use. You may choose to form clay into a mold, sand down the seam lines from the mold and fire it. Clay that is ready for firing is called greenware. If you are taking a ceramics class, you can often pick a piece of greenware such as a bowl, mug or plate that is ready to be painted and start at that point.
Fire greenware in a kiln for about three hours at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Firing makes the piece hard so it is ready to paint.
Paint your clay piece if you wish. If it has been fired in the kiln, it is now called bisque and it will not break as easily as greenware might. Using a paintbrush, paint the bisque piece with acrylic colored paints of your choice. When you have chosen to paint a bisque piece, you do not fire it in the kiln after the paint dries. Spray the piece with a glossy or matte sealer to preserve the paint coat.
Choose a glaze to cover your bisque piece, rather than painting it, if you like. Glazes are thin coats that fuse onto the surface during firing. Use a paintbrush to paint over the clay with glaze for different decorative effects. Examine examples of different glazes so that you can see what your piece will look like after it has been fired in the kiln. Some glazes create an opaque look and add texture, while other glazes enhance colors. From a functional standpoint, glazes strengthen the clay piece and provide a more hygienic surface.
Fire the bisque piece in the kiln again if you have applied a glaze coating instead of painting it with acrylics. The kiln may take up to three hours to reach 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. It will then shut off, but the piece should remain in the kiln for another 17 hours to cool off gradually inside. If the piece is taken out too soon without completely cooling down, it can crack.