Clay on the wheel is a total waste of time, fight me

I mean, every piece cracks or warps. Hand-building gives you way more control and personality, idk.

4 comments

4 Comments

Grace's story about Sam's plate got me. I used to think the wheel was just for making the same boring mugs, but that unplanned glaze ring sounds like the kind of happy accident you can't get from hand-building. It's not about making a perfect copy, it's about the machine helping you find something you wouldn't have planned.

grace_knight191mo ago

My friend Sam kept at the wheel even after a bunch of her bowls failed. Last year, she threw this wide, shallow plate with a crazy glaze she mixed, and the spinning made the colors run in a perfect ring. It was some chemical reaction she didn't even plan for. That one perfect plate is now on her wall, so it worked out.

the_jade1mo ago

But I've gotta disagree a bit. Those random glaze reactions are cool, but you can't copy them. Sam got lucky, and most times you just get more messed up pieces lol.

chen.olivia1mo ago

Have you ever tried throwing with clay that's a bit stiffer? I kept getting cracks until I stopped using slurry water and switched to just misting. For warping, dry your pieces on a ware board instead of the bat, so air gets under evenly. My last plate warped because one edge dried faster, so now I cover everything with loose plastic for two days. Trimming too soon causes stress cracks, wait until it's leather hard. Isn't it wild how tiny changes fix the big problems?