The walls of the bowl in the middle is higher than the walls on the rim of the platter. After throwing them I stood there trying to determine the best way to trim the bottom. Any suggestions?
Over the past couple of months I have been working with larger amounts of clay on the wheel. As I increase the amount of clay I have found that centering can be quite challenging. As part of this process I have spent considerable time thinking about my technique and paying very close attention to every movement I make (in preparing the clay as well as centering it). This has helped me learn a valuable lesson - DON'T HURRY, TAKE YOUR TIME. I used to try and get the clay centered quickly and had a lot of trouble. It works on two pounds of clay but not on ten. Once I slowed everything down I found that clay is much easier to center on a wheel. Another lesson I learned - PREPARE THE CLAY PROPERLY BEFORE PUTTING IT ON THE WHEEL. After kneading the clay I spend some extra time shaping it into a nice cone. A nice cone shape does so much to simplify centering.
Tonight I felt like I reached a milestone. I was able to center twenty pounds of clay - by far the largest amount I have ever attempted to center. Now when I look at ten pounds, which used to be very intimidating, I have the confidence to know I can handle it without a problem.
1 comment:
just happened upon your blog, and it is probably to late, but for future reference, for trimming your chip and dip platter throwing a large "chuck" (just a large clay ring on your wheel, preferably leather hard) is probably your best bet for trimming. Really though for a flat item like that I would do the best you can to avoid trimming. Saves time, unless you think the form would be well served with a trimmed foot to visually raise it off the table. Hope that's helpful and I'm not telling you stuff you already know.
Joe
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