Diagrama de temas

  • Introduction

    • After a lump of clay has been centered on the potter's wheel, it must be opened up and the base formed. This tutorial will discuss this opening up procedure as well as showing you what to do when things go wrong. Much like this video, it goes over lots of little details about how and why certain things are done. In this detailed guide, we're going over one thing, and that's how to open up the lump of clay and form the base. A centered lump is our starting point.

◄Step 5: Preventing Cracks and Ensuring Stability
►Step 7: Correcting Off-Center Clay

  • Step 6: Dealing with Lines and Adjusting Thickness

    • 6.1
      One really important thing to discuss is this corner in the pot.

    • 6.2
      If I'm making a straight-sided vessel, I make sure that this corner is pretty much a right angle.

      image

    • 6.3
      This way, you create a very clear divide between the walls of the pot and the base.

    • 6.4
      I'll show you what I aim for by cutting in half this centered lump of clay that's been opened up.

      image

    • 6.5
      You can clearly see the base section and the walls on either side.

    • 6.6
      This thick portion of clay around the diameter is the clay which I'm eventually going to pull up into the walls of the pot to a thickness that's ideally as thin as the base.

    • 6.7
      Another thing I purposefully do is to angle the walls at this point so they're facing inwards slightly.

    • 6.8
      That way, when I begin to pull the walls up, the clay is already in the direction I want it to travel.

    • 6.9
      Next, I'll show you a cross-section of what you want to avoid for mugs and straight-sided vessels, at least.

    • 6.10
      As you can see, the base isn't flat, there isn't a clear divide between the base and the walls, and the walls themselves are splaying outward.

      image

    • 6.11
      The main issue, though, is that by having a slightly curved base, you'll end up with a heavier base, as there'll probably be clay that remains in portions that you won't be able to trim later on.

    • 6.12
      More specifically, it's these corners, and I'm scoring the areas to show what kind of form I should have thrown it to initially.

      image

    • 6.13
      Unless you trim the inside of a pot thrown with curved corner, your pot will end up being bottom-heavy, as there's some material that would just be very difficult to touch, especially if you're throwing in closed forms like bottles or vases.

    • 6.14
      So once again, what I'm aiming for is something with clear defined sections.

◄Step 5: Preventing Cracks and Ensuring Stability
►Step 7: Correcting Off-Center Clay