It is not a craft for those in need of immediate gratification!
Dottery Pottery explained how to go about making slab (or hand built) pots, “…working from a sketch or template, roll the clay onto a piece of canvas between two flat pieces of wood to ensure even thickness. Now decorate each element; by rollering a stamped design or making marks with a variety of different tools on the clay surface. The design is then hand cut using a scalpel knife for a nice clean edge and left to go ‘leather hard’ before sticking the pieces together to create the 3d shape with sludgy clay called slip. Once completely dry (takes up to a week) they are biscuit fired. Once this is complete paint with the desired glaze and fire again. Then you have the finished piece!”  Something that all the potters pointed out, that I had not considered, is that to be cost effective you need to fill the kiln with items to fire and it can take a month of work to get a kiln full of pots to fire, which highlights the time and patience needed to become a ceramicist. It is not a craft for those in need of immediate gratification!