The Process to Making Pottery

The first step in making anything is to gather the materials that are needed to make that item. For Chinese pottery, the materials needed include clay, kaolin, feldspar, and glass. The clay can be taken from a river, the kaolin and feldspar will be mined from quarries, and the glass cooked to be used in the pottery.
Once gathered, the materials will be ground down, cleaned, and mixed together to make a workable substance. The material is then fired so that it can become hard. The mixture will not melt during the firing, as glass does.
In the kiln, the pottery reaches up to temperatures of 1000 to 1300 degrees Celsius, which liquefies the mixture and allows the components it is made of to bind together.
After the components have bound and cooled to a workable temperature, the material is formed to the desired shape of pottery using a potter's wheel or hand molding. A potter's wheel is used to make a round pot. Hand molding is a technique used when a more intricate design that could not be achieved with a potter's wheel was desired.
After the pottery has been molded, it is fired again to make it hard. This firing reaches to about 1200 degrees Celsius, and the pottery will become very hard. After this final stage of firing, the pottery will be cooled and painted to be sold or used.
For a visual on what the process actually looks like, check out this video of pottery being made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYkBimql2s0

Potters wheel

Pottery kiln