Video of the Week: A Great Lesson Plan for Understanding Clay and the Human Figure. Testing the Limits of Porcelain in Wheel Thrown, Altered and Carved Sculptures. Stop, Drop, and Roll: A Dropped Pot Leads to an Interesting New Form. About fifteen years ago I was bringing a ware board full of bottles back into the shop after setting them in the sun for a while to stiffen up for trimming.
While I was fiddling with the door, a pot on the end of the board fell to the ground. After taking the rest of the pots into the shop, I went back and picked up the one that was flat on its side. To me, the obvious thing to do now was to pick it up and drop it on the other side to see what would happen. It completely collapsed, but I kind of liked the form so I blew into it. Lo and behold, it turned into what I thought was an incredible shape and I’ve been making it ever since, because I love having a pot with two or more surfaces to decorate. Pottery Video of the Week: Layering Soft-Stamped Underglazes and Sgraffito. First day of class Pottery Wheel throwing. YouTube. YouTube. Wheel Throwing Video: Centering, Throwing and Trimming Tips From an Expert Potter. This clip was excerpted from Beginning to Throw on the Potter’s Wheel with Robin Hopper, which is available in the Ceramic Arts Daily Bookstore!
More Throwing Tips! If you have taken the usual precautions after throwing and still have trouble with the bottoms of pots cracking, place the wedged clay on the wheel so the roll or spiral of the wedge is lying on its side, not on end. To ensure this alignment, pat the clay into a cone immediately after wedging. (If you use a pug mill and do not wedge your clay, place the pug on its side rather than on end.) This method can eliminate virtually all bottom cracks and is especially effective when throwing plates and large, flat-bottomed pieces.