The first is a four part series about Isaac Button, at Soil Hill Pottery near Halifax, England. The video was shot in 1965, and has no sound, but is absolutely fascinating, looking at every aspect of pottery-making, from digging and processing clay to firing a giant coal powered kiln:

• Isaac Button; Country Potter Part 1
• Isaac Button; Country Potter Part 2
• Isaac Button; Country Potter Part 3
• Isaac Button; Country Potter Part 4

Next we have some lovely videos of Shoji Hamada, a japanese potter at the origin of the studio pottery movement in the UK. His videos give you a sense that evenness, “centeredness” and straightness are not absolute requirements in pottery:

• Shoji Hamada 1
• Shoji Hamada 2

Third, a video of Michael Cardew, a potter in the same generation as Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. According to the documentary below, he was Bernard Leach’s first student.

• Michael Cardew, throwing off the hump
• 1984 CBC documentary

Next, some Bernard Leach videos:

• Bernard Leach
• BBC Documentary, The Rock of St-Ives Bernard Leach part 1
• BBC Documentary, The Rock of St-Ives Bernard Leach part 2
• BBC Documentary, The Rock of St-Ives Bernard Leach part 3

And finally, for a bit of colour, a BBC documentary series with potter Michael Casson:

• BBC The Craft of the Potter, decoration part 1
• BBC The Craft of the Potter, decoration part 2
• BBC The Craft of the Potter, glaze and fire part 1
• BBC The Craft of the Potter, glaze and fire part 2
• BBC The Craft of the Potter, throwing (extract)

Let me know if you know of other such videos, I would love to add them to the list.

• Top 10 YouTube potters

1. Simon Leach (sleachpots): Simon is a third generation potter (his grandfather, Bernard Leach, worked along side and studied with Shoji Hamada in the 1920’s). His videos are expressly designed to teach, so the camera angle is perfectly adjusted, and each step well commented, usually with some humour. Simon is also great when it comes to answering viewer comments and questions, and occasionally takes requests. With over 500 clips, Simon Leach’s channel is sure to inspire.
2. Dan Unsworth (youdanxxx): From Ingleton pottery, established 1971. There are less videos here than in some of the other channels, but this is high quality work, usually bigger pieces. Unfortunately, they are not commented, but they are still worth a look for inspiration.
3. Guy Wolff (guywolff): Again, not that many videos (unless you also count his bluegrass videos!), but worth a watch for his technique on large pieces. Whereas Simon excels in teaching, Guy has tremendous knowledge of the history and traditions of American pottery.
4. Tim See (timseepots): Despite Tim being a younger potter, his videos are quite educational. Seeing someone destroy a pot accidentally is also a good confidence builder. If you watch only one video in this channel, look for his amazing steam-punk collection. Also, there are some good videos about his home-made wood kiln.
5. Josh Pehrson (jjpp23): There are only a few videos, but they are extremely well made, tall pieces. I particularly like his tall pitcher. You should also check out some finished crystalline pieces on his website.
6. Gabriel Brubacher (gbrubach): Another young student; his videos are definitely on the artistic side, but he creates some beautiful altered wheel-thrown shapes, some quite large.
7. Joshua Shremshock (jshremshock): Many interesting shapes including teapots and double-walled pieces, Joshua also has nice raku pieces.
8. Mike Baker, aka “The off-centered potter” (offcenteredpotter): This person experiments with new techniques, and has many video-slideshows of finished pieces, which can give good inspiration for glazing. He is also experimenting with embedding glass in pottery pieces, an interesting thought.

As you can see, I am missing number 9 and 10. Please help me complete the list! Enjoy.

• Historical pottery videos