How to Center Clay — A Beginner's Guide

10.1
If you happen to be using clay which contains quite a lot of grog, one that's quite coarse, if you feel like the surface is starting to feel like sandpaper, it's best to scrape away the outermost layer and then proceed with centering as normal.

10.2
If you are feeling this, you're probably taking too much time to center your clay. It isn't a process that's worth rushing at the beginning, but you also don't want to spend 10 minutes doing this every time you make a pot. Ideally, this is a process that you should be able to complete in about 10 to 40 seconds, but this does depend of course on the size of clay and larger lumps can take much longer.

10.3
Another thing we should discuss is the speed at which the wheel is spun. You don't want to do this process really slowly because once again it'll just mean it takes longer, and say when you are throwing dozens of bowls and mugs you really want to minimize the amount of time you spend centering the clay. So spin the wheel very quickly, although don't max it out. There's virtually no need to ever put your foot down all the way, but do spin the wheel quickly, fast enough that however you push your fingers and hands into the lump of clay, it affects the entire piece practically instantly, which means you want it to be rotating many times every second. If you spin the wheel too slowly, it means you need to linger with each movement you place on the lump of clay to ensure that it remains the same on the entire piece of clay. So don't go slowly and don't go at a medium pace, instead push it just that bit further.

10.4
Another thing I often see beginners do is they push this part of their hand too firmly against the metal of the wheel to a degree that the metal can almost wear away the skin and it can become quite
painful to center. You never want to push these fingers directly down onto the metal wheel head, and you'll know if you're pushing too hard against the metal if you can see this metal residue coming off on your hand. Instead, you want to just glide above the metal ideally with a thin skim of slip between the two, which will naturally accumulate as you center the clay.

10.5
Another thing I do to ensure that the clay is centered is I watch my fingertips instead of the clay itself. If the clay is off center, my fingertips will wobble along with the clay, and if I notice that, I squeeze my fingertips inward against the clay and I really focus on them not wobbling whatsoever. They're firmly tensed and if they're unwavering, then the clay underneath them should be quite centered. I lean the palm and the ball of my thumb of my left hand into the block of clay, pushing forwards and then I tense those wobbling digits so they're completely still, and then I take my right hand and bring it down on top and compress.

10.6
Sometimes in between pots you'll have the skin of dry clay left. I often see people remove it in between throwing new pots, which is something you shouldn't do. As long as it's dry, it'll help the clay stick down much more firmly than it would otherwise, like velcro. Once firmly attached, you can begin to center as normal.