I recently taught at a local pottery convention. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.
I have always loved sharing the fun of pottery with kids but teaching adults stressed me out.
This time around, teaching adults was fun too. I have come to terms with the idea that I can comfortably share what I do know, while acknowledging how much I don’t know.
Being more comfortable meant I could start right at the beginning without feeling silly.
So, for anyone who is beginning pottery— or would like to begin pottery on the wheel—this one’s for you.
My Tips for the basics:-
Learning pottery on the wheel requires a kind of bloody-minded determination. In my experience, there is no exciting payoff at the beginning, other than the challenge itself.
You can sit there determinedly and produce quite a few funky looking “ashtray—meant to be a coffee mug” kind of pots.
It could take a lot of these before you are rewarded with your first—”It’s almost the shape I meant it to be” pot!
If you make it that far, you are well on your way to being a fully-fledged “thrower”.
Don’t be disheartened if you have tried the wheel and it’s not for you. A friend of mine realized her hands just weren’t a shape that enjoyed wheel throwing and pursued hand-building instead.
While I was teaching, someone said “I tend to lock myself away and just pot”. I think that is a fine approach. When I learnt I was thirteen and home-schooled— My dad made me a wheel from a jeep diff and a washing machine motor. I sat there every day and tried again and again.
5 things that count when you are beginning and surprisingly when you are teaching:
Posture
Be kind to your body. We all have different shaped bodies and different kinds of wheels. Spend a bit of time finding the best combination of chair and footrests to get your position where you feel strongest and most comfortable. One potter I admired used to routinely add a block of clay to her chair to get the height she wanted. I find a particular chair that works for me and stick with it. I also use a 2 inch-thick block of wood under each of my feet ( I have short legs!)
When you are throwing, anchor your hands to each other and through the rest of your body wherever you can. I like to anchor my right elbow into my right thigh for stability as much as I can while I am working. The formula for anchoring your hands is individual and you will find what works best for you.
Consistency of your clay
How hard or soft is your clay? This one still trips me up. I have learned to knead my clay before I start to make sure it is the same consistency all the way through. On the wheel you will find it difficult if one side of your clay is harder than the other— the two will respond differently to the same pressure and you will immediately find one section of your pot is thinner. Soft clay will behave differently to firmer clay. I save firm blocks for smaller things like coffee mugs and use soft clay for larger pots that are more difficult to manhandle. Living in Queensland soft clay quickly becomes hard clay so I store all my blocks in an old dead freezer for the airtight seal.
Soft clay is easier to handle but you have less of a window to work in before it becomes too soft and collapses.
Firm clay is rougher on your body and more difficult to centre, but stands up for longer.
How much water you use
I have to say straight up that I use way more water than is recommended and I manage to make nice pots.
When throwing it is important to reduce friction—especially when your pot gets to that precarious almost finished thin stage.
Some people use slip, some people manage with hardly any water and some people use heaps.
The important thing is to be aware of the effect of water on your pot—if you have a lot of water inside your pot for too long it will become much softer. I usually sponge it out once I have it close to a finished shape and then refine it using less water on the inside. Sometimes holding a wet sponge against the pot instead of your hand will create less friction.
Lift off the wheel head directly or use a bat?
If you have a wheel set up with pins and bats that match I would use a bat every time— you can get your pot as far as you can without worrying that it will collapse when you try to lift it off.
If like me, you have a wheel head that is not pinned you can still use a bat by adhering it to the wheel head with a layer of clay thrown flat about 1.5 cm thick. Moisten the clay but don’t make it slippery or your bat will slide off. I use a hammer to tap the bat firmly once it is positioned—making sure it sticks well while you are throwing.
I throw mugs and smaller pots directly onto my wheelhead and lift them off with my hands, but this is only because I find it faster. You will find what works for you—most plates, larger pots and anything with a wider base need to be thrown on a bat to support them. You can lift them off your wheel without distorting them completely.
Be patient- sometimes you learn as much from a pot that isn’t as from a pot that is.
As a beginner (or indeed a teacher), the frustration of constant flops makes you cautious and want to stop where you know at least you will have “a pot”. This is totally understandable but I think you learn from pushing that line further into the zone where the clay is more likely to collapse. On days when you are feeling strong, push that line but pay attention to what works. Notice where the point is that you can’t take it any further.
This sounds a little lecture-y but hilariously it is born out of me shocking myself with new realisations and knowledge while trying to explain to others where the line is and how to approach it differently for success!
There are maybe a thousand other tips to help you when starting out. In my experience, the learning mostly comes from doing it, so I want to offer encouragement as much as advice.
This is a tremendously cool, fun and insane thing to learn and if you share my bloodyminded determination to get the hang of it you will. (Perhaps you were just able to sit down and do this cool thing without the struggle in which case I take my hat off to you 😊)
Have fun 😊
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