Pottering about with bowls

I mentioned previously that I was going back to the wheel after having spent many weeks hand building in clay. Well, after a few false starts and watching several videos on youTube I spent about an hour at the art center yesterday and managed to create a couple of bowls that I’m quite happy with. Clearly I have a long way to go, but it’s a great experience, even when it goes wrong, and the great thing about clay is that it’s totally reusable up until it’s fired. And, as I found out in my reading, even after the initial bisque firing it can still be ground up, sieved and then used as ‘grog’ in other pottery.

My most important tips so far for using the wheel are that it is essential to wedge the clay well to get the clay particles aligned and secondly, always be gentle when removing hands from the spinning pot. All simple stuff to the experienced potter, but often they forget to tell the obvious things to us learners.

~Richard