MY FIRST FIVE POUND POT

 Centering is the primary goal of a potter when working on the wheel.  In all my years of college ceramics I had to wait until becoming a teacher of beginning ceramics to find the best advice on centering.   It came from a video made by renowned potter Robin Hopper in his “Beginning to Throw”.  Contrary to all my previous learning, he advises to “catch” the clay with the LEFT hand, not push it with the right.   While catching the radius and ulna bones in the lower arm must be aimed  directly at the center of the wheel.   That is the key: aim directly at the center as if your arm is a hand on an analog clock.   Then the right hand is placed so that the outside edge of the palm (whole pinky side) is on top of the clay curving and pushing the clay into a hemisphere like an orange or grapefruit.    It is difficult to describe the process of centering in words, so if you’re truly interested I suggest you search for his video or watch videos on Ceramics Arts Daily*

Soooo, below you see the first five pound piece of clay I have ever attempted to center.   It took quite a while and I followed the advice to center the top half first then cone the clay upward and get into the middle and bottom sections.   

 

 I finally got it all centered and pulled up this cylinder.   I had to stop to take a picture of course, with camera in plastic bag to protect it from my clay full hands.

Glad I am that I took this picture because as you can see in the next picture, the next pulls were not so successful.    I must have gotten it too thin in the middle because there certainly is a wobble in it!   Time to bring out the trusty new Mudtool and make it earn it’s price!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I managed to straighten it out and pull up a neck, somewhat, but there are still some little dimples in the surface as you can see in the photo below.  

Undaunted, I carried on and finally made myself stop with this form.  To hide the little dimples I covered those spots with sprigs of leaves:

                                                                            

Finally I bisque fired it then glazed it with Pistachio Shino glaze.   Again you will see how dramatically the feel of the pot changes when it turns dark in the firing.

   I took this pot to a craft show and it was purchased  for $35! 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

* Ceramics Arts Daily is a website that offers free video clips each day many of which are of throwing techniques.

Thanks for visiting!  ttfn