I hope all this has proved to be useful.
Out of all of the processes I've shown so far in this series, I think this is
the most difficult part. I know I've said it a lot, but the best thing is just
not to be too precious when you're first learning how to throw tall thin
cylinders. Just spending an afternoon with 10 lumps of clay and throwing each
of them as thinly as you possibly can is absolutely fantastic practice, even if
they break, as you'll still learn so much. Sometimes you need to exert too much
pressure and pull the walls up too thinly to really gain a thorough
understanding of the material. Throwing pots really evenly and thinly is
something that takes time, so you shouldn't let this hinder your progress, and
you should try throwing all kinds of pots, even if they are a little bit heavy
initially. You'll learn more doing that than feverishly trying to throw perfect
even cylinders. There are still some shapes these days that I find much harder
to distribute the clay nice and evenly. But maybe in 10 years' time, with
another decade of practice, I'll be able to throw them as easily as I can
cylinders. We should think of ourselves as lucky as potters, as all the clay
from pots cut in half or ruined can simply be wedged back up into perfectly
usable material and ultimately thrown with again into ever more successful
pots.