Stages of a mug or cylinder

Take a look at this set of photos of the stages of a mug or cylinder. I've broken the whole process down and made cross-section photos showing where I put my fingers at each stage:

Beginning wheelthrowing

If you haven't done so already, for your 2-hour practice session this week, throw 8 1-pound mugs & keep the best two; we'll cover adding handles in class on November 5 .

-Jay

Mug Handles (Beginning Throwing week 5)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/divemasterking2000/ / CC BY 2.0


SIMON LEACH - handling of the mugs
Video of Simon Leach pulling handles for mugs

demo notes mugs & handles.pdf
Step-by-step instructions for throwing mugs and pulling handles

How to make the most of your practice time

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeks2dream/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

The key to learning to throw is to practice making pots -lots of pots. In addition to our 2-hour class meetings, it's a good idea to spend another two hours each week practicing on your own. During this practice session, I recommend that you throw at least 8 pieces of clay and keep 2. If you practice this way for two hours each week (in addition to class time), you'll be making pots better, faster, more accurately, and you'll find the whole process much more fun.

Here's how practice looks:

First, decide what shape you're going to make. Commit to this shape; if you decide to make a mug and it ends up looking more like a bowl, don't settle for what you get. You can do better!

Next, take about 15 minutes to set up your wheel & tools, & to wedge, weigh, & knead your clay.
You'll need 4 1-lb. balls of clay, wedged & kneaded. Tools should include the following:

• bucket 1/2-full of water
• 4 bats
• towel
• sponge
• throwing stick
• wire
• needle

Then, throw each ball of clay. Spend no more than 10 minutes per piece of clay. This is very important, for 2 reasons: #1, the top layer of the clay will get too wet and sticky to work with after about 10 minutes, and #2, the more time you take, the less you make.

When a piece collapses while you're working on it, don't try to rework the same piece of clay; You'll have better results if you cut it off with your wire and start over with a fresh ball of clay. Also, instead of smooshing up the collapsed piece of clay right away, set it aside as-is, and let the surface water dry off a bit first.

When you're done with all 4 balls of clay, WALK AWAY. Take a 5-minute break; don't touch anything. Seriously, don't touch it! Get a cup of coffee, make a phone call, do some yoga, etc. This is so you can look at the pieces you've made with a fresh eye, and to give yourself some psychological distance from your pots.

Here's the hardest (and most important) part:
After a 5 minute break, come back and take a look at the 4 pots you've made. Set the best one aside to keep- and smoosh up the other 3. I know; at this point, a finished pot can seem like a miracle and smooshing it up is probably the last thing you want to do. It's easy to become so attached to all of the effort and struggle that you've put into the surviving pieces that it almost seems like murder, but you gotta rip that Band-Aid off. Besides, if you know at the outset there's 75% chance you'll end up smooshing up the piece anyway, maybe you can worry a little less about wrecking the piece that you're throwing. This is supposed to be fun & relaxing, right?

Incidentally, before smooshing, it can be helpful to cut each piece in half from top to bottom. This will reveal the cross section, and you'll be able to easily spot unevenness, thick/thin bottoms, and other trouble areas.

So, your 2 hours is about half over at this point. The second half of practice is to throw 4 more balls of clay, then clean up.

Next, wedge the smooshed pieces back up with the rest of your clay. It'll look like the clay's way too wet, but trust me, it's not; that's mostly surface water. After a couple of minutes of wedging, the clay won't seem so sticky anymore.

Weigh out & knead 4 lbs of wedged clay, then cut it into 4 1-lb. pieces.

Then, throw each ball of clay same as before: Spend no more than 10 minutes per piece of clay; cut off collapsed pieces right away; walk away for 5 minutes when you're done with all 4 pieces; keep the best one & smoosh up the other 3.

Finally, take about 10 minutes to finish up: wrap up the pieces you've kept and put them on the class shelf; bag up your clay, clean off tools & wheel &c.

So, to recap, your 2-hour practice time should look something like this:

Set-up & clay prep: about 15 minutes
throw 4 balls of clay: 20-40 minutes
take a break & wedge clay: about 10 minutes
throw 4 balls of clay: 20-40 minutes
take a break & clean-up: about 15 minutes

Any remaining time you can use to glaze, soften or reclaim clay, pull handles, finish leatherhard pots, clean up greenware, etc.

At the end of your 80-120 minutes, you should have 2 pieces to keep and a bag of nice soft clay.

One last thing: it's not going to be frustrating forever; if you don't give up, at some point it really is fun! My take on it is that if it was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing.

Keep practicing!

Mugs: Beginning Throwing week 4

Simon leach throws mugs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7v_s7kL-Jg

For your 2-hour practice this week, throw 8 mug bodies and keep the best 2.

Next week, we'll look at how to make handles for your mugs.

See you next Thursday!

-Jay

Notes on Glazing (Beginning Throwing Week 3)

Hi folks,

No videos this week, but below is a PDF document with some notes on glazing your pots. Remember to wax the bottom!:
Notes on glazing


During 2-hour practice this week:

• Finish leatherhard bowls from last week & put on shelf to dry
• Finish bone-dry bowls & put on "ready to bisque" cart
• Glaze any bisque pots & put in kiln room for glaze firing
• If you have time, practice making bowls on the wheel (throw 8 1-pound pieces of clay, keep 2)

Next class, we'll look at making mugs on the potters wheel.

Cheers,
Jay

Beginning Throwing, week 2: throwing & finishing bowls

One resource & one tip this week:

Resource:
SIMON LEACH - how to quickly finish & fettle mugs (YouTube)
This is how English potter Simon Leach finishes mugs. Pay special attention to how he "thumbs off" the bottoms of his mugs (starting at 3 minutes and 30 seconds); we'll be doing the same thing to the bottom of our bowls.

Tip:
Drying and finishing your pots

• Let piece stiffen on the bat (or use hair dryer)
• As soon as the piece is stiff enough to handle without distortion, flip it over so the bottom can dry
• Dry slowly; wrap in plastic to keep moist (newspaper square top and bottom)
• Remember to label your piece with your name and the date while it's on the shelf
  
• When piece is leatherhard (about the hardness of cheddar cheese):
• Tap the bottom so it bulges inward slightly
• Thumb the bottom edge
• Write your name and the date on the bottom with a stylus
• Put the piece back on the class shelf (unwrapped) until it is bone dry
  
• When piece is bone dry:
• clean up rough spots with a metal rib or fettling knife and a damp sponge
• put the piece on the "to bisque" shelf for bisque firing
  

For your two-hour practice session this week, make at least four bowls. Keep the best bowl, and recycle the others.

Next week we'll talk about:

• glazing and decorating
• softening clay
• reclaiming clay

Cheers,
Jay

Wedging, kneading & centering practice

Hi folks,

Great first class!

For your 2 hours of practice time this week, please attempt to center 8 1-pound balls of clay by next class:

• Wedge all of your clay
• Weight out 4 lbs of wedged clay & knead it;
• Divide kneaded clay into into 4 1-lb balls;
• Center each ball of clay (you may try to shape it into a bowl if you like);
• When you've centered all 4 pieces of clay, wedge them back up with the rest of your clay and repeat this whole process 1 more time

If a piece collapses on the wheel, cut it off and start again with a fresh ball of clay; don't try to rework the collapsed piece.

Please refer to the last blog post for notes and videos on wedging, kneading, & centering.

If you kept a piece you made during class, unwrap it during your practice time so it has a chance to dry a bit. Remember to wrap it back up, label it with your name, and put it back on the shelf before you leave.

Next class, we'll look at the rest of the throwing process, and how to finish a bowl.

Cheers!
Jay