Throwing a Pottery Bowl

Lots of people ask how things are made so I thought I'd put together a little photo series on how I make a bowl. Everybody makes things a little different, but the general steps are similar. Notice through all the steps my hands are always touching each other, this helps provides added stability to fight the action of the moving clay. I also make every attempt to have my elbows close to my body and often on my legs to provide stability and to use my body as leverage when using large balls of clay.

I start with 1.5 pounds of clay which is kind of thrown onto the center of the wheel. Because the clay ball is oddly shaped and uneven, it must be centered which involves pushing down on the ball with my right hand and pushing in with my left hand on the side to smooth out the bumps and lop-sidedness of the clay ball. When you've centered the clay, it looks like the photo below.

Clay ball is centered when my hands don't wobble as the clay spins

Next I press my fingers down at the center of the clay ball to a point about 1/4" from the bat (wood piece added on the metal wheel head allows me to remove the bowl on the bat while it is still wet without distorting the bowl) I test the thickness by stopping the wheel and poking a needle tool through the bottom of the depression I've made until it touches the bat.

Once I have the appropriate thickness at the bottom, I pull out the sides by pressing my fingers outward and steadying the clay with the outside hand

I make the sides of the bowl taller and thinner by pressing the clay upward between my fingers on the outside and inside of the clay. Starting at the bottom and moving my hands upward while putting pressure on the clay moves clay upward and outward.

A second pull is done just like the first one

And a third pull brings it to the sides as tall as I'd like them and the clay is at the appropriate thickness. Many potters subscribe to the "three pull rule" when throwing. I'm not really a stickler for that, but generally after three pulls I've gotten my clay to the state I'd like. Occasionally more pulls are necessary, but my clay starts to get too wet and unmanageable after that.

Using a wood rib, I shape the bowl to a more pleasing curved shape and smooth out any lines left from pulling the clay.

A small piece of chamois is used to smooth and shape the rim of the bowl. This is an easy area to have rough spots so I like to make sure it is smooth.

After drying for several hours to the leather hard stage (you can touch it, but your fingers don't leave marks) I place the bowl on a tool called a Giffon Grip. What you can't see in this picture because the wheel is spinning is these little pads on the side of the bowl which hold it in place and centered while I trim the excess clay from the bottom and create a pleasing foot ring.

After trimming the foot ring it is important to smooth this area as my clay is a little rough and sharp edges on the bottom of pots could scratch surfaces like table and counters.

Once trimmed the bowl is left to dry, then it will be bisque fired and glazed. I'll cover those stages in a later post.

Check back again. Be well.

More Kiln Shed Progress

Last Sunday the progress on the kiln shed came to a screeching halt. Why??? Because it was done!!! Mid-week the concrete floor was poured (thanks again to Michael Rude and crew). Kevin (the roadie) spent Saturday and Sunday putting the salvaged steel on the gabled ends and putting on the finishing touches. Then it was done. Well, except for the little wren who promptly started a nest in the corner.

Kevin putting up the salvaged steel

The finished shed

Look at that gorgeous concrete. We think it's the prettiest little concrete slab south of Zumbrota MN

Finishing touches - hanging the studio sign

Glazing Flurry

With two one-day sales this weekend and a weekend sale next week, I've been a glazing cyclone the past couple weeks. I unloaded a glaze load last night and here is a vase from that firing. A month ago I mixed up a new blue and have been testing it in combination with some of my existing glazes. This combo speaks to me. I generally don't go for blues, I'm more of an earth-tone kinda gal, but I really like this combo. First I drizzled some sapphire blue around the middle, dipped the entire thing in sky blue and then dipped the top half in glossy white. I love how the white gets mottled or speckled over the sky blue.

We'll see what the reaction to this combination is at the sale this weekend. It may make it's way into my line permanently.

Be well.

Neglect

It really seems like I've been neglecting everything lately. My garden isn't planted yet. I don't have anywhere near a comfortable inventory for my late June show marathon (three shows in 10 days). And my house and studio are huge messes. Prioritizing the things I needed to attend to even seems like a daunting task. Fortunately, it's a rainy, dreary, 50 degree day here in Minnesota so the garden isn't really an option, and cleaning messes is always the last on the list so I was able to work on some inventory.



Here are several oval platters in various stages of completeness. Some have been textured and are drying (slowly, did I mention it's raining?). Others are drying (still slowly) to get to the point where they can be textured.



I also made a series of bottom less baking dishes which will be shaped into oblongs before bottoms are made from slabs and attached. They also need to dry (you guessed it, slowly) to a point where they can be handled and shaped.

All this slow drying though has provided time to write this blog post which I've also been neglecting. Next up, new listings on my Etsy shop.

Stop in again, I'll try not to whine so much. Be well.