Course: How to Center Clay — A Beginner's Guide, Topic: Step 11: Coning the Clay

Topic outline

Introduction
- Select activity Centering the clay is the cornerstone of throwing ...
  
  Centering the clay is the cornerstone of throwing on the wheel. It's the process that must be done before any pot can be formed, and the aim of this tutorial is to go over that process in exact detail, alongside discussing many of the tips and tricks learned over the years.

Step 11: Coning the Clay
- Select activity 11.1 Coning is when the lump of clay is coned up a...
  
  11.1
  Coning is when the lump of clay is coned up and down between the palms of your hands. This is almost like wedging the clay but on the wheel, and with each cone up and each cone down you'll feel the clay becoming more orderly beneath your hands. This is because the particles which make up the clay, the platelets, gradually become more aligned. The analogy is to think of clay like a bag of rice before it's been wedged. All the grains are facing in all kinds of directions, they're completely mixed and there's no order. But as the clay is coned down, it causes the platelets to collapse onto one another and align facing the same direction. In turn, this makes the lump of clay more plastic and more easily drawable.
- Select activity 11.2 You cone the clay up, and then when it comes ...
  
  11.2
  You cone the clay up, and then when it comes to pushing it back down, you carefully lean it over slightly as you apply downward pressure, so tend to push the cone both forwards and down in the same motion. This causes the clay to bulge towards the base of the lump which keeps it quite manageable and easy to work.
- Select activity Video Step 11.1 - 11.2
- Select activity 11.3 If on the other hand you cone the piece of cl...
  
  11.3
  If on the other hand you cone the piece of clay up and then just push it directly down, a bulge of clay will begin to accumulate directly in your hands which makes this process quite difficult to control. The point of coning is that even sometimes with really thoroughly wedged clay, the lump might spin with some kind of irregularity within it, but after you've coned it up three or four times, the lump of clay will begin to feel wonderfully smooth and you should have an easier time opening up the lump and pulling up the walls of clay.
- Select activity 11.4 Coning is not necessary for every single pot ...
  
  11.4
  Coning is not necessary for every single pot you make, but it's worth learning and it's worth practicing and it can sometimes make all the difference. For instance, when I'm throwing larger masses of clay or pots that are perhaps a bit more complicated than a mug or a bowl, I'll always make sure to cone the clay up and down a number of times.

Topic outline

Introduction

Step 11: Coning the Clay