Pottery is a long process and has a lot of time for something scary to happen. Whether that’s losing all your time and hard work to a simple bump that results in a shattered piece, or finding out the hard way reaching into your reclaim bucket to mix that you left pointy and sharp tools in your throwing water bowl that you then dumped into the reclaim bucket… something scary is bound to happen! To celebrate Spooky Season, each Sunday in October after dark I’m going to frighten enlighten you on the dangers and heart-stopping moments lurking in the studio.
You’ve been warned.
(No jump scares. I promise!)
Chapter 1: Know Thy Enemy; Arm Yourself
Chapter 2: Throwing & Shaping Scaries
After dark each Sunday in October,I’ll share with you the scariest moments in the pottery process.
It’s not for the faint of heart! Tonight, the clay awakens. Do you dare proceed?
Intro: If you thought a wet lump of clay was harmless, you’d be dead wrong. It will fight back if it is wronged. Respect the clay and pray your night is uneventful.
Scary Slide 1: Some clay bodies are thixotropic, so it needs to be awakened to be tamed. If left undisturbed before summoned to the wheel, you’ll be trying to shape and throw deadweight. Good luck with that… So, give it what it wants first; it likes things rough.
Scary Slide 2: The death-wobble. (Sub-video description: When your lump of clay wobbles in an unsettling way that usually makes working difficult or impossible.) Origin:
Coning down too fast and pushing it off-center. Best Defense: A steady hand and don’t rush to cone down. Often sets up these sequels…
Scary Slide 3: Decapitation. (Sub-video description: When a large portion of clay comes flying off the pot when pulling on the wheel.) Origin: Pulling too tall/thin, pulling with too much pressure, overworking the clay, keeping your fingers in one spot too long, and/or having the wheel too fast. Best Defense: Use a slow-medium wheel speed AND pull slower than the wheel’s rotation; don’t pull too hard; offset your pulling fingers on each side; know when to stop.
Scary Slide 4: The Comet. (Sub-video description: When your clay comes completely detached from the wheeled and flies off either into the splash pan, at you, or elsewhere.) Origin: Not enough adhesion to the wheel, moving it off-center, too much force, too much water, using not coning large masses of clay evenly, using more clay than your wheel’s motor can handle. Best Defense: Throw down on the wheel real well, use enough water to ensure suction; use a strong, steady hand coning down; know your wheel’s limits.
Scary Slide 5: The Hitch. (Sub-video description: When an unintentional move of the hand messes up the symmetry or desired form you’re pulling on the wheel, usually resulting in an unpleasant lip on the rim of the pot.) Origin: Moving your hand away from the form out towards you, moving too quickly, air bubbles or dense spots in the clay catching on your fingers. Best Defense: Move your hand away from the form up and away, work slowly, wedge and cone well.
Scary Slide 6: The Flare and Buckle. (Sub-video description: When a pot unintentionally becomes wider than planned, such as making a large bowl shape when you wanted a cylinder; then the rim of the form buckles under the instability of the shape.) Origin: Pulling too far out from center, pulling too thin, trying to fix a hitch. Best Defense: Pull slightly to the left (if your wheel is spinning counter-clockwise and you’re throwing right-handed) if you don’t want a wide profile, or know when it’s too far out to be stable; don’t overwork the clay; go slower the wheel; know when to accept defeat.
Scary Slide 7: You were warned. Remember where your sharp and pointy tools are before re/starting up your wheel or emptying your bowl into Reclaim. They’re sneaky, chaotic neutral, and have scary dreams of flying!
Final Slide: Chapter Two: Appeased. By going slow, knowing when to freeze rather than fight and when to move, not wandering away from center, and keeping a steady hand, you avoided the clay’s wrath. For now. Next Sunday, hold your breath,
Join the conversation on Instagram and tell me what’s the scariest thing you’ve encountered working with clay! Or what’s your biggest clay nightmare? I continue to be thankful to leave in one piece (most of the time) because as you could probably infer from the slides, I tend to forget where my sharp tools are…! 😓🤕