Pottery Shape Generator for Designing Better Ceramic Forms
Explore vessel proportions, estimate clay weight, check throwability, and export clean blueprint PDFs before you touch clay.
Built by a potter, for potters. Made for ceramic students, studio makers, teachers, and anyone who wants to design forms with more clarity before working at the wheel.
Best on tablet or desktop. On phone, rotate your screen to landscape mode.
Design the form before you throw it
Sketching pottery forms is useful, but it gets slow when you want to test many variations. The Pottery Shape Generator helps you explore vessel forms live, using dimensions that matter in real studio work.
Adjust the height, top diameter, shoulder, belly, lower body and base. Watch the profile update instantly. Check the clay estimate and throwability signals. Then export a clean blueprint PDF you can print, keep, or take into the studio.
This is not a generic design app. It is a focused ceramic form tool built from actual pottery workflow problems.
How it works
Set the core dimensions
Start with height, rim, shoulder, belly, lower body and base dimensions. Work with practical measurements instead of vague proportions.
Refine the silhouette
Use live controls to explore the form. Test open bowls, cups, vases, jars, amphora-like bodies and other vessel profiles.
Check clay and throwability
The generator gives you a clay estimate and throwability feedback, so you can catch risky proportions before you start making.
Export a blueprint PDF
Save the form as a clean PDF with target dimensions, working dimensions, clay estimate and making notes.
What the generator checks
Get a practical difficulty label, from beginner friendly forms to more advanced or experimental shapes.
See what makes the form easier or harder to throw, such as height, narrow openings, strong belly, small base, clay weight and structural risk.
Estimate how much clay the form may need, based on the selected dimensions and assumptions.
Use shrinkage settings to see working dimensions before firing, so the fired form can land closer to the intended target size.
Catch potential issues around belly, drying, firing, foot ring feasibility and inner opening constraints.
Export a clearer studio reference with fired target dimensions, working dimensions, clay estimate and throwability notes.
Who it is for
Explore more ideas and build confidence before throwing.
Understand proportion, structure and making difficulty more clearly.
Develop shape families and test variations without redrawing everything by hand.
Use it as a visual teaching tool for form, proportion, shrinkage and making decisions.
Push vessel development faster while staying connected to real ceramic constraints.
Why this is different
Most design tools are not made for potters. They can draw a shape, but they do not understand the practical questions behind making a ceramic vessel.
This generator is built around ceramic form thinking:
- What is the target size?
- How much clay might I need?
- Will this be easy or risky to throw?
- Is the opening too narrow?
- Is the belly too strong?
- Is the base stable enough?
- What dimensions should I use before shrinkage?
- Can I take this form into the studio as a clear blueprint?
It is not trying to replace skill. It helps you think better before the first lump of clay hits the wheel.
What’s coming next
The current version focuses on pottery form exploration. Future development will expand the tool into a deeper ceramic design workflow.
Available now
Live vessel profile design
Dimension based controls
Clay weight estimate
Throwability feedback
Shrinkage working dimensions
Blueprint PDF export
Shape archive loading
Tablet and desktop friendly workflow
What is coming next
Save variants locally in the browser
Compare 2 to 4 shape variants side by side
Export variant set PDFs
Improve workflows for students, teachers and studios
Longer-term vision
User accounts
Saved projects
Sharing
Teacher and student workflows
More advanced form parts
3D and glaze related experiments
Shape archive
You can also explore saved example forms in the shape archive and load them into the generator.
Help improve the generator
The Pottery Shape Generator is in public beta. Early feedback matters.
If you find a bug, hit a limitation, or have an idea that would make the tool more useful in real ceramic work, send it in. The best feedback comes from people who actually use clay.
I am especially interested in feedback from:
Ceramic teachers
Studio potters
Ceramic students
Workshop leaders
Design focused makers
People testing the tool on tablet
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Pottery Shape Generator is a digital tool for designing ceramic vessel forms before making them in clay. You can adjust dimensions, explore the profile live, check practical feedback and export a PDF blueprint.
Yes. You can export a blueprint PDF with the form drawing, fired target dimensions, working dimensions, clay estimate and throwability notes.
It gives a throwability difficulty label and practical signals. It does not replace your judgment, but it helps you notice risk earlier.
Both. Beginners can use it to understand proportion and making difficulty more clearly. Experienced potters can use it to test variations faster and prepare better studio references.
Yes. You can use shrinkage settings to show working dimensions before firing. This helps when you want the fired piece to land closer to a target size.
Yes, but it works best on tablet or desktop. On phone, rotate to landscape mode.
Built by Studio Bernhard
The Pottery Shape Generator is developed by Borut Cafuta, ceramic artisan and founder of Studio Bernhard.
It comes from a simple studio need: to design better forms faster, with less guessing and more clarity before touching clay.
Studio Bernhard Pottery Shape Generator
Built by Borut Cafuta
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