Wheel Throwing

The first step in throwing on the wheel is to get your wedged lump of clay on the wheel. Take a very dry damp sponge and wet the wheel head or bat. I generally take my dry damp sponge and place it in the middle of the throwing surface and get the wheel spinning and draw my hand out towards the edge of the spinning surface til the surface is damp uniformly.

Now we need to get the clay on the wheel, there are likely as many methods in doing this as there are potters but my method is to aim roughly for center of the wheelhead or bat and throw it on with enough force so that the clay will adhere to the wheelhead or bat. With practice the clay will land near center and be in the perfect position to begin centering the clay lump.

Beginners might be more comfortable with placing the lump carefully in the middle of the bat or wheelhead and pressing down with enough pressure to adhere the clay. Be careful not to create an air pocket when doing this.

This is your basic kit that you will need to start throwing. Add to this a soft steel fettling knife and you are ready to start throwing.

Kemper Pottery Tool Kit
Quality tools of finest stainless steel and select, smooth hardwood. Includes a potter's rib, steel scraper, wood modeling tool, needle tool, ribbon tool, loop tool, sponge, and wire clay cutter.



Kemper Fettling Knives
Use these knives to trim, carve, remove mold marks and sculpt ceramics, greenware, styrofoam, and more. The softer steel blade is flexible enough to bend while the harder is a tempered steel blade with the same feel as other conventional blades. Blades are 4" (102 mm) long, total length 8" (203 mm).

As I pointed out centering is so important to a successful pot, I thought some further words of advice might help finding center.

It is very important to be center within yourself before you begin to center. A deep cleansing breath might help. You need to let go of the worries around you and just let your present concern just be you, the wheel and the clay.

Seeking a point of grounding is also important. The task of centering is about you moving the clay not the clay moving you. You must find a position where you and especially your arm does not move so you can exert force on the clay and move it to the center of the wheel head.

Related to grounding is stillness. Once you center yourself and find your ground a stillness envelopes you and you can speak with the clay spinning on your wheel. The stillness allows your hands to feel the subtle movement of the clay. Those movements can tell you if the clay is centered yet and sometimes even why the clay isn't centering(i.e. a trapped air bubble, something foreign in the clay, drier lumps with in your clay etc.).

Some days center doesn't seem to come easy, I refer to those kind of days as 'bad hair days in the pot shop'. Some days it is just harder to shake the stresses of life outside the studio and concentrate on the task at hand. When a day like this becomes too overbearing I just give up and go watch a sunset or listen to the birds, just something to bring you harmony and silence your inner dischord.

The cylinder is a flat bottomed form. It is important to attain this characteristic from first opening. When one opens the cone on the wheel bring your thumb or finger(or what ever you open with) straight across the bottom. A common error is to either ride the wall or dip your hand, one will result in a bowlish form and the other a groove in the interior floor of the pot.

I've always found the bowl to be a mystical form. The continuous curve is a delight to run your hand across. A bowl can hold possibilities, sustenance, or nothing at all.

Throwing a bowl is a bit different than throwing a cylinder as when one opens the cone one lets one hand ride up the wall as one opens the form instead of opening straight across. The point of letting your hand ride up the wall is to start the continuous curve that makes up a bowls belly. If you want a wide bowl you ride up the wall slowly as you open, if you want a tall bowl your hand rides up the wall fast. This first movement defines the shape of your bowl.

A bat is a throwing surface that you attach to the top of your wheel head.There are many different systems on Bats available. I think the most easiest bat system uses bat pins to attach the bat to the wheel head. Bat Pins are likely available at your local hardware store. The pins are inserted into the pre-drilled holes you will find on most major manufactured wheels and then secured on the underside of the wheel head with butterfly nuts. Here are some bats available from Dick Blick that use the pin system for bat attachment.

Amaco Plasti-Bats

I like throwing on a bat for a variety of reasons but the number one reason to use a bat is the ease of ware removal from the wheel head. Just lift your bat that you threw your work on off the wheel head and slap another bat on and you are ready to throw your next pot.

Bats I feel are absolutely essential if you are throwing platters or other wide forms that might easily distort if you try to remove the work from the wheel while the work is freshly thrown.

Another nice use of a bat is to keep the work centered. Say you throw a bowl and want to come back when the bowl is leather hard and incise or carve some lines or spirals in the bowl. Place the bat back on the wheel and no need to recenter the bowl, it is in the place as you threw it ready for your tools to make their mark.

You can't go wrong investing in some bats if you enjoy throwing on the wheel.

Trimming your pot is just as important as throwing it. This step gives the exterior of your pot its finished shape, its pedestal to speak from, its stable place to come to ground.

Not only does the foot of your pot need to be stable but lovely to look at and fit the pot correctly in proportion and feel. It needs to be smooth so as to not scratch a table. It also is the frame to your signiture on the bottom of your pot so make it well. A well made pot with no foot or or a sloppy foot is a disappointment when one flips it over to view it from all sides.

Sometimes you just can't get back to a pot when it is going to be dry. Often I find my pot almost ready to be trimmed but not quite and I am going to be out of the studio for the weekend and I know the pot will be too dry by the time I can return. What to do?

There are different ways to keep your ware wet. One is to invest in a wet cabinet. These will keep the the air in the cabinet humid so the pot won't dry. They are commercially available but rather pricey.

You can make your own wet cabinet out of an old refridgerator or freezer. Place a pan of water in the bottom of the fridge and make sure the door seal is still good and there you have a nice wet cabinet. Make sure you dispose of the chemical refridgerent as laws require and make sure it is locked if children have access to it.

A wet cabinet on a smaller scale can be made from a chest cooler as long as the cooler has a good seal. Place a bowl of water in the cooler with your ware and close the lid. Experiment with this as not all coolers have a vapor lock seal.

This next method is a simple way to keep leather hard work wet for shorter periods. This method will slightly rehydrate your ware so it will go from being leather hard to being slightly soft of leatherhard. What you need is a tile or plastic bat, garbage bag of good quality, a couple sheets of newspaper, and your sponge you throw with(or some other similar sponge). Place sheets of newspaper on bat or tile. Place leather hard pot on newspaper rim down. Wet sponge and squeeze out the water til the sponge is still heavy with water but not drippy. Place sponge on paper a few inches from bowl. Now cover the entire thing with the garbage bag. Tuck the opening of the bag under the bat or tile. The wet sponge will wet the newspaper and the rim will wick the moisture up the pot walls keeping the bowl damp. This is a perfect answer for that weekend I can not get back to my pots because I am away.

Brent Model EX Potter's Wheel
Ideal for classroom use, with a powerful 1½ HP motor and the ability to center over 100 lbs of clay. Thick steel table (5/16") for super rigidity; automatic belt tensioning for maximum performance. Variable, electronic speed control, cast aluminum foot pedal with 0-240 rpm speed range. Splash pan included. 5 year warranty.

The Kiln Goddess finally has her own wheel. Its an old Brent wheel that I just bought used. So What does one look for it a used electric wheel?

What brand?: If it is a major brand buying parts will be easier. Personally I like Brent, Creative Industries, and Soldner wheels.
How does it look?: Are the legs rusty? Are they too rusty? Some rust is ok in an old wheel but too much rust could weaken the wheels stability. Is the wheelhead pitted with oxidation? Too much oxidation will make a rough throw but wheelheads can usually be replaced. What about the cords? Check the power and foot pedal cords for splits and fraying. If they are damaged they will need to be replaced. You do not want to work on a wheel with water with frayed cords.
Is it stable?: Push on the wheel, does it shake. Don't purchase if it does. You will never be able to center on an unstable wheel.
Does it work?: Turn it on. Does it power on? Get it spinning. Does the wheel spin smoothly? Does the motor make any funny sounds? Does it smell hot when running?
Check the belt: Most wheels are turned by a belt that runs from the motor to the wheelhead shaft. If the wheel seems to not run smoothly or is making a strange sound the belt could be slipping. Get down on your hands and knees and look at the underside of the wheel and watch the wheel turn from the underside. If it is a belt slipping it is an easy fix.
Will it fit in your studio/house?Measure all doorways the wheel will need to get thru to get to its spot you want it. Make sure the wheel will fit. I looked at a motorized kickwheel that was 2" too big to fit thru my door.

Not all problems make a wheel undesirable but if you need to fix something to make the wheel usable you need to not pay top dollar. Figure how much it will cost to fix and take that in to consideration when deciding to purchase a used wheel.