The dust in your studio
can hurt your lungs.

Clay and dry glazes contain silica. When that dust gets into the air, you breathe it in — and over time it can damage your lungs for good. The good news: a few simple habits control it. Start with the free checklist below — written by a Regional Safety Manager who throws pots.

Get the free Silica-Safe Studio Starter Checklist →

Free PDF · Print it and walk your studio today · No spam, unsubscribe anytime

Step 1 · Free

Get the free Silica-Safe Studio Starter Checklist.

One printable checklist that walks your whole studio, room by room — starting with silica dust and air quality, then kiln safety, glazes, ventilation, protective gear, ergonomics, fire, and emergencies. Enter your email and download it right away. You’ll also get practical, jargon-free safety tips by email.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Rather read first? See the checklist page.

Step 2 · Membership

The checklist shows you what to fix. Membership shows you how.

Members get the full deep dive:

  • ✓  Trainings library — silica dust, glaze safety, food-safe pottery, and kiln & studio systems
  • ✓  Printable checklists and studio forms you can use every week
  • ✓  The 30-day safety series — one short lesson a day
  • ✓  The Studio Safety Assessment, included with membership
  • ✓  New safety content every month

$19/month or $180/year · Cancel anytime

See the membership →

What potters are saying

Real studios, real changes — from people who put the guidance to work.

"Christina's kiln safety guidance helped us correct three major hazards in one afternoon. Clear, practical, and exactly what small studios need."

Studio Owner · Kiln Safety

"Safety Savvy Co. made silica dust safety easy to understand. I changed my setup the same day and immediately felt more confident in my studio."

Home Potter · Air Quality

"Our classes run smoother and safer thanks to Christina's student safety checklist. It's now a permanent part of our studio wall."

Ceramics Instructor · Student Safety

Hi, I'm Christina.

I'm a maker, a safety advocate, and a potter. I started Safety Savvy Co. to give potters and creative makers the practical safety knowledge they actually need — without the jargon, the corporate speak, or the one-size-fits-all checklists.

My pottery is made by hand in my home studio, and my safety guides are written from real studio experience.

Read more about me →

Christina Phillips, MS, GSP, COHC — workplace safety professional with 7 years of experience, now teaching safety to pottery studios. Author of Clay, Caution, and a Little Bit of Chaos. Member, Worldwide Women's Association. Contact: safetysavvyco@outlook.com

Safety Savvy Co. content is general safety education for pottery studios. It is not a substitute for a site-specific safety program, an industrial-hygiene assessment, or professional consultation for your studio.

Clay, Caution, and a Little Bit of Chaos — book cover

THE BOOK · BY CHRISTINA PHILLIPS

Clay, Caution, and a Little Bit of Chaos

One safety nerd's journey from binge-watching British pottery to running her own studio. It's the story behind Safety Savvy Co. — the near-misses, the silica dust, the kiln that waited a year, and how a career spent keeping people safe collided with a hobby that has its own ideas.

Available on Amazon in three formats:

Kindle — $9.99 Paperback — $16.99 Hardcover — $39.99

Buying through Amazon — the format buttons open the book's Amazon pages, where every edition is listed.

Studio Safety for Potters & Makers

Practical, jargon-free safety guides for home potters, ceramicists, and creative small businesses. No corporate speak — just real guidance for real studios.

Silica dust is invisible, odorless, and one of the most serious hazards in a pottery studio — and most home potters are under-protected without realizing it. The overview above barely scratches the surface.

🔒 Members get the full deep dive:

  • Exactly which respirator to buy for each studio task (specific models, not vague advice)
  • Room-by-room ventilation setups for home studios, garages, and basements
  • The wet-cleaning routine that keeps dust levels down day after day
Unlock with membership — $19/mo or $180/yr →

Cancel anytime. Your lungs, kiln, and wrists will thank you.

A kiln is essentially a 2,000°F box sitting in your home. Placement, wiring, and venting mistakes are the ones that start fires — and most of them are easy to avoid once you know what to look for.

🔒 Members get the full deep dive:

  • Clearance and placement diagrams for common home studio layouts
  • Kiln venting options compared: what works, what doesn’t, what it costs
  • The firing-day safety checklist professionals run before every load
Unlock with membership — $19/mo or $180/yr →

Cancel anytime. Your lungs, kiln, and wrists will thank you.

Many glazes contain lead, cadmium, barium, manganese, and other materials that demand real respect. Safe handling isn’t complicated — but you do need to know which materials are the risky ones and exactly how to handle them.

🔒 Members get the full deep dive:

  • An SDS binder template so every material in your studio is documented
  • Hazard reference for the most common colorants and glaze chemicals
  • The food-safe glaze guide: what “food safe” actually means and how to verify it
Unlock with membership — $19/mo or $180/yr →

Cancel anytime. Your lungs, kiln, and wrists will thank you.

A safe home studio is designed, not improvised. Flooring, plumbing, dust zoning, and insurance all matter — and getting them wrong can mean clogged pipes, dust through the whole house, or an uncovered insurance claim.

🔒 Members get the full deep dive:

  • Room-by-room setup checklist for home, garage, and basement studios
  • Clay trap installation guide that saves your plumbing
  • Homeowner’s insurance walkthrough: what’s covered and the rider you may need
Unlock with membership — $19/mo or $180/yr →

Cancel anytime. Your lungs, kiln, and wrists will thank you.

Running a studio as a business adds clients, students, and liability to the safety equation. The baseline checklist above is just the starting point — the full business safety system goes much deeper.

🔒 Members get the full deep dive:

  • The full 40-point studio inspection checklist, printable and reusable
  • Liability waiver templates for open studios and workshops
  • Employee and student safety onboarding: what to cover on day one
Unlock with membership — $19/mo or $180/yr →

Cancel anytime. Your lungs, kiln, and wrists will thank you.

Pottery is a physical sport. Back, wrist, and hand injuries end throwing careers early — but small adjustments to your setup and habits can add years to your making life.

🔒 Members get the full deep dive:

  • Wheel-height and stool setup guide matched to your body
  • The 5-minute stretching routine for potters, designed for between pieces
  • Hand-care protocol for cracked skin, dryness, and chemical exposure
Unlock with membership — $19/mo or $180/yr →

Cancel anytime. Your lungs, kiln, and wrists will thank you.

Get the free Silica-Safe Studio Starter Checklist

A printable one-page checklist to get your studio safe today — free with your email.

Get it free
🏺

Our pottery has a new home

Safety Savvy Co. is now all about pottery studio safety. To purchase handmade pottery, visit my studio shop:

Shop Pottery at SculptedHarmony.com →

About Christina

A maker, a safety advocate, and a potter.

I'm Christina. I've spent several years working in safety as a Regional Safety Manager — but I'm new to pottery. I started throwing about a year ago, and I decided to bring my safety expertise to my new pottery community.

I quickly realized there was a gap. There's plenty of corporate safety information out there, but almost nothing written specifically for the home potter or the small studio owner who just wants to know: Is my kiln vented correctly? Am I breathing in something harmful? What do I need to tell students before they touch my clay?

That's what this site is for. Practical, honest, jargon-free safety information — written for people who make things.

The Studio

I work in a home studio in Pennsylvania. My work is primarily wheel-thrown stoneware, with occasional hand-building. I gravitate toward functional ware — the things you actually use: mugs, bowls, vases, and the occasional statement piece.

Every piece is made, trimmed, bisque fired, glazed, and glaze fired by me. No production line, no staff — just me, the wheel, and whatever glaze I'm obsessing over that season.

🏺

Handmade, always

Every piece on this site was made by my hands in my studio. No mass production, no third-party fulfillment.

🛡️

Safety without the jargon

The safety guides here are written for makers, not compliance officers. Clear, practical, and actually useful.

🌱

Sustainable practice

I use recycled clay scraps, reclaim my throwing water, and ship in recycled packaging.

Get in touch

Questions about the safety guides, the studio safety assessment, or consulting — reach me at:

safetysavvyco@outlook.com