# How to Log a Pottery Project in Claybook

Cluster: Using Claybook
URL: https://claybook.studio/blog/how-to-log-a-pottery-project/

# How to Log a Pottery Project in Claybook

A pottery project in Claybook is one piece (or one record you will clone into a set). You capture it while the facts are cheap: wet weight, clay name, a side photo, then glaze and firing as they happen.

This is the field-by-field walkthrough. For the habit behind it, see [How to Document Your Pottery Projects Like a Pro](/blog/document-pottery-projects-like-a-pro/).

## Open a new craft

1. Open the **Crafts** tab
2. Tap **New craft**
3. Give it a name you will still understand in six months

“Mug” is a pile. “Mug, B-mix, 400 g, satin white over tenmoku” is a record.

You can rename later. Start specific anyway. Search works better when the name holds a clue.

## Fill the sections you know today

You do not need a complete record to save. Claybook keeps empty fields empty.

**Name.** Required. Use form + clay + weight or a commission name.

**Photos.** Add a wet profile now if you can. Beauty shots wait until after the fire. Walkthrough: [How to Add Photos to Your Pottery Journal](/blog/how-to-add-photos-to-pottery-records/).

**Steps.** Add **Formed** (or **Idea** if you are only sketching) with the date and starting weight in grams. Full step list: [How to Log Pottery Steps From Wet Clay to Fired](/blog/how-to-log-pottery-steps/).

**Clay.** Pick the body from your library. If it is not there yet, add it from the picker. That is how weights and shrinkage stay attached to a real bag, not a vibe.

**Shape.** Mug, bowl, cylinder, plate, or a custom shape. Shape feeds the weight estimator later and makes filters useful.

**Location.** Wheel, damp box, kiln, glaze cart, home shelf. Location is how you find a whole kiln load later.

**Tags.** Optional labels: `set-of-4`, `commission`, `test`, `market`. Tags are for you. Keep them short and reuse them.

**Surfaces.** Add glazes when you glaze, not when you throw. See [How to Track Glazes and Surfaces in Claybook](/blog/how-to-track-pottery-glazes/).

**Notes.** One or two sentences the fields cannot hold: “rim thinned on last pull,” “handle sat overnight before attach.”

Save when the wet facts are in. Come back at leather hard, bisque, and glaze.

## A minimum useful record

If you are tired, log this much and stop:

* Name
* Clay
* Formed step with weight
* Location

That already beats a camera roll. Photos and glazes can land on the same record later.

## When to open the craft again

| Stage | What to add |
| --- | --- |
| Leather hard | Trimmed step, foot notes, handle notes |
| Bone dry | Optional dry weight if you track shrinkage |
| After bisque | Bisqued step, crack checks, move location to glaze |
| Glaze day | Surface logs with method and thickness |
| After glaze fire | Finished step, result photo, honest notes |
| If it leaves the studio | Sold or Gifted step |

Updating one record over two weeks is the point. Starting a new note every session is how history fragments.

## Sets, tests, and one-offs

**One-off winner.** Log it fully. This is the recipe you will clone.

**Matching set.** Log the hero, then clone. Guide: [How to Clone a Pottery Record for Matching Sets](/blog/how-to-clone-pottery-for-matching-sets/).

**Test tiles.** Name them with the glaze stack. Treat them as crafts so they show up when you filter by surface.

**Duds.** Still log them. A Finished step with “crawled, too thick” is more useful than deleting the evidence.

## Find the project later

From the crafts library, search the name, or filter by clay, step, surface, location, or tag. Details in [How to Search and Filter Your Pottery Library](/blog/how-to-search-your-pottery-library/).

## Common mistakes

* Waiting until the kiln is cold to reconstruct the week
* Naming everything “bowl”
* Skipping weight because it felt like enough
* Writing “blue glaze” instead of the bucket label
* Creating a second craft for the same pot at glaze time

One pot, one record, many steps.

New to Claybook? Use [Getting Started With Claybook](/blog/getting-started-with-claybook/) as the wider map.