Welcome to Windblown Studio

Pottery Classes - Throwing on the wheel

Videos

These are actual videos created during a throwing class. They have been edited to reduce the size of the file for those of us who live in rural areas with not-so-high-speed internet connection. They are the steps in creating a pot using the wheel

Note: Tested using Windows Media Player. A new window will open to view the video. Dial-up users at 50 Kbps will have to wait for about 3- 5 minutes for each file to load.

How to center -1 - The first step in centering a hunk of clay is to bring it up into a cone. (463 KBytes)

How to center - 2 - Once it is into a cone, you pushing the cone into a cylinder - keeping it centered. The cylinder is centered when it doesn't dance when spinning or move you hands if you caress it. (620 Kbytes).

Hole in middle - Now you have to open the hole in the exact middle of the clay. (464 Kbytes)

First pull - It is called 'pulling up the walls' but you are not pulling, but rather squeezing the walls up. (1017 Kbytes)

Second pull - In the second pull, Rita moves clay from the bottom of the pot up the walls while keeping the pot steay. Notice her hands touching to improve stability. (559 kbytes)

Third pull - Many experience potters consider this the final pull. Rita takes this pot to the final height, notice how she smooths out the walls into a cylinder.(598 Kbytes)

Shaping the pot 1 - Rita will now shape the cylinder into the form she wants - in this case a vase. Notice how she widens the bottom and narrows the top. (834 Kbytes)

Shapping the pot 2 - Now a softer touch is used to refine the shap of the vase. Notice how Rita streches the bottom of the vase and refines the neck of the vase. (508 Kbytes)

Finishing - Rita now finished the pot. She doesn't like the thick top, so she cuts some off and reshapes it. (772 Kbytes)

 

student pottery