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  • Introduction

    Σύμπτυξη όλων Ανάπτυξη όλων
    • Now that the walls of the pot have been pulled up and roughly shaped, it's time to go through a series of finishing procedures in order for the thrown vessel to be lifted neatly away from the wheel. There isn’t only one way to do this, and in this tutorial, I’ll show you various techniques together with when to utilize certain ones, what works best for me, and all manner of other tips and tricks.

  • Step 1: Preparing the Rim and Removing the Skirt

    • 1.1
      The finishing procedures I go through typically address four things, beginning with the rim of the pot, which is one of the most significant parts of any piece you throw on the wheel.

    • 1.2
      As this is a drinking vessel, I don’t want it to have a blocky rim or a rim that’s too thick and clunky because, ultimately, this portion of the pot is going to be placed into your mouth as you take a sip from the cup.

    • 1.3
      Instead of that blocky square top, I bevel the rim outward so that it comes to a fine point at the apex of the outer wall of the pot, creating a finer edge that will fit snugly into the corners of your mouth.

      image


    • 1.4
      I then take a shammy leather and just soften the lip. If you don’t have a shammy leather, you can throw the rim to this fine point, wet this part of your hand, and then carefully let the clay run through that gap.

      image

    • 1.5
      Next, I use a blunt old trimming tool to remove the skirt of clay from around the base of the pot.

      image

    • 1.6
      The tip is rounded so it doesn’t scratch the wheel, and in its place, you can use practically anything as long as it’s got a moderately sharp point.

    • 1.7
      In terms of the clay that I scraped away, I simply follow the profile of the wall through the flare of clay to the metal of the wheel head.

  • Step 2: Sponging Out Water and Scraping the Outer Wall

    • 2.1
      Next, I remove all of the water that’s accumulated inside during the throwing process.

      image

    • 2.2
      If you only leave a small bit of slip or a tiny layer of water inside, you’ll be able to get away with it, but if you leave thrown pots overnight with a pool of water inside, then that water will likely disintegrate the base of the pot.

    • 2.3
      So it’s always good practice to remove as much water and slip as you possibly can.

    • 2.4
      The next step is to clean off the outer walls of the pot. For the way I lift pots off the wheel, this is arguably the most important step, as it’s imperative to remove as much of that sticky slip that covers the outer walls as possible.

    • 2.5
      When I scrape the slip off, I don’t push the metal firmly into the clay; instead, I rest the metal kidney directly next to the wall, and then I push out against that metal edge from bottom to top, from the inside out.

      image

    • 2.6
      Sometimes I can do this in one pass, and other times it takes a few passes, but as long as most of that slip is removed, it should make the process of lifting the pot away from the wheel all that easier.

    • 2.7
      With a shape like this, it’s really easy, as I can just hold the metal in place like a template and a guide, and push the clay out against it, which ensures that the walls of the pot are straight as the tool itself is straight.

    • 2.8
      Not only does removing the slip make the pot itself easier to remove from the wheel, but it also helps your pots dry out more quickly after they’ve been removed and set aside.

  • Step 3: Cleaning Hands and Using the Ideal Type of Wire

    • 3.1
      Now, the way I remove most of my pots is just with my bare hands, although it’s worth mentioning at this point that this is helped by the fact that the clay I use isn’t perfectly smooth and, in fact, contains some grog.

    • 3.2
      This means it contains some coarse particles.

      image

    • 3.3
      If your clay doesn’t have this whatsoever and it is perfectly smooth, you’re going to have a harder time with this technique.

    • 3.4
      Luckily for you, I will go over some methods that work for those types of clay bodies later on in this tutorial.

    • 3.5
      The next step is to remove any slip that’s covering your hands, as if you try and pick the pot off the wheel with sticky hands, they’ll just stick to the dry surface of the pot, and you’ll have a much harder time releasing the vessel onto the wear board without it warping.

      image

    • 3.6
      So, before I lift anything off the wheel, I scrape the slip off my hands against the sharp plastic edge of a bucket that I keep to the left of me.

      image

    • 3.7
      That’s really all it takes, as this removes most of the slip off the areas of my hands that are going to come into contact when they lift the pot away.

    • 3.8
      After I’ve cleaned my hands, I then take my metal wire, which I then make very taut, and I drag it underneath the pot.

      image

    • 3.9
      The type of wire you use for this process is important. I use a quite a sharp twisted metal wire, but quite commonly, you’ll see other wires used, which are far more smooth.

      image

    • 3.10
      When used to slice underneath the pot, sometimes the clay is left on the wheel, and the pot itself can stick back together again, and it’ll stick even worse if you use a nylon wire.

    • 3.11
      The twisted wire makes quite a rough, deep cut, and all the grooves it creates mean that the clay is less likely to stick.

    • 3.12
      In some cases, say if you spin the pot as you’re wiring it through, some really quite intricate patterns can be created that sit on the underside of your pots.

  • Step 4: Lifting the Pot Off the Wheel

    • 4.1
      Now that the pot has been wired through, the sides of the pot have had the slip scraped off, and with dry hands, it’s now time to lift the pot away.

    • 4.2
      To do this, I’m using mostly the lower sections of my hands; those are the areas that are supplying most of the lift.

    • 4.3
      Try as I might, I want to interfere with the upper sections of the walls as little as possible, instead focusing the pressure around the base and the waist of the pot.

    • 4.4
      I clasp my hands around so contact is made. I don’t squeeze in too much; I just wait until I can feel that the pots and my hands are touching, and then I lift.

    • 4.5
      You’ll also notice that in that same moment, I spin the wheel. This breaks any tacky seal there might be between the two parts and helps the vessel lift off cleanly.


    • 4.6
      As I lift the pot away, my two hands stay perfectly level so that the pot doesn’t tip to one side too much.

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    • 4.7
      The key here is a dry pot and dry hands—relatively dry, of course, as the pots at this stage are quite soft, and if you clasp them too tightly, they will just deform.

    • 4.8
      Here’s what happens if you try and lift a pot away with wet hands and a wet pot: as both components are wet and slippery, there’s absolutely no way this pot can be removed from the wheel without the walls being heavily distorted and the rim section of the pot warped.


  • Step 5: Understanding Pressure Allocation and Lifting Techniques

    • 5.1
      To give you a better idea of how the pressure with my hands is allocated around the pot, a cross-section would be useful.

    • 5.2
      The reason I lift the pot away from the wheel with the pressure focused around the base is because, at the bottom, there’s the base portion of the pot, which prevents the walls from deforming inward as it spans the gap between both sides.

    • 5.3
      Whereas if I were to try and lift from the top, you can see just how much it moves when I apply the same pressure to each part.

    • 5.4
      I clasp my hands around the base using the sides of my palms and my little fingers to apply most of the lift.

    • 5.5
      The rest of my fingers are clasped around the form gently, just to support the form as I lift it away, yet they still do just about make contact.

    • 5.6
      My thumbs, on the other hand, are kept well out of this process, and the last place you really want to touch are those upper sections of the walls.

    • 5.7
      As you move the pot around from the wheel to the wear board, it’s vital that you keep both hands level.

    • 5.8
      If one hand lifts higher than the other, there’s a good chance the walls will begin to tip inward, leading to the pot warping in your hands.


  • Step 6: Repeating the Procedure and Avoiding Deformation

    • 6.1
      Let’s go over that procedure a second time.

    • 6.2
      I remove the skirt of clay from around the base.

    • 6.3
      Next, I use a sponge on a stick to remove all of the excess water from inside the vessel.

    • 6.4
      I use a kidney of some description, ideally with a sharp edge, to remove the slip from the outside of the pot.

    • 6.5
      I make sure the digits I’m pushing out with from the inside are wet, that way they don’t stick to the inner walls of the pot as they glide up against the sharp edge on the outside as I do this.

    • 6.6
      I’m very careful not to let the bottom of the kidney skid on the spinning metal wheel head; otherwise, it’ll jitter, and those irregularities will be transferred onto the walls of your pot.

    • 6.7
      I typically use a metal edge, which may be a bit more difficult to control in some circumstances as it really bites into the clay, but at the same time, it leaves a very crisp surface.

    • 6.8
      Finally, the rim is shamied, and then I can move on to wiring the pot off the wheel.

  • Step 7: Using Paper to Brace the Rim and Exploring Other Lifting Methods

    • 7.1
        I hold the handles of this wire with my little fingers and thumbs, and then I use my index fingers to push onto the wire to create a very taut section that can easily be dragged beneath the pot without the worry of the wire bowing upwards as I do so, which we definitely don’t want to happen as that can lead to large chunks of the base of the pot being removed.

    • 7.2
      Next, with dry hands and a dry surface of the pot, I lift the vessel away, focusing the majority of the pressure around the base.

    • 7.3
      As I do so, I spin the wheel in the same instance, which breaks the tacky seal between the two parts, and then the mug can be lifted over to the wear board.

    • 7.4
      It’s critical when you lift the pot up that the pressure you’re applying with each hand is the same.

    • 7.5
      You can see by doing this how little the pot deforms when I lift it from the base.

    • 7.6
      Whereas if I try to lift it from about halfway up, the rim section instantly begins to deform far more because, at this level, internally, there’s no base of clay that’s supporting the walls of the mug.

    • 7.7
      There’s nothing to brace them or hold them together, so instead, the walls will just bow inward.

    • 7.8
      The more you try and lift it off, the more the pot will lose its strength; the walls gradually begin to flop more easily, and the rim will warp.

    • 7.9
      So if possible, if you’re going to lift it off the wheel, it’s best to do it on the first attempt.


  • Step 8: Discussing the Strength of the Clay

    • 8.1
      This brings up another topic: the longer you throw one individual pot, the less strength it has.

    • 8.2
      So if it takes you 10 to 15 minutes to throw one individual pot, then this might not be the technique for you.

    • 8.3
      Of course, it does depend on the complexity of the pot at hand, but with something as simple as a mug, you should really be aiming to throw them in about two to three minutes.

    • 8.4
      What I mean by all of this is that if you are spending a longer time throwing your pots, they’re going to be more saturated with water, and therefore inherently, they’ll be weaker, and they’ll have less strength, which means they’ll be harder to lift off.

    • 8.5
      There is one thing you can do, which is to place a piece of paper onto the top and then lightly press down around the rim.

    • 8.6
      I then wire the pot off like normal, lift it away as I previously showed, and the paper holds the top of the pot in place, and in most cases, it prevents the rim from distorting—there are, of course, exceptions.


    • 8.7
      I then place the pot down and very carefully peel away the paper, which can then be set aside and used for the next pot.

    • 8.8
      I occasionally still do this, but it tends to be with very delicately thrown complex objects, though it shouldn’t be a skill you rely on for something like mugs.

  • Step 9: Exploring Other Methods of Lifting Pots

    • 9.1
      For the next part of the tutorial, I’ll show you some other ways of lifting the pots away from the wheel.

    • 9.2
      This is one I see commonly practiced, which is good for beginners, but it adds an awful lot of time to the creation of each pot.

    • 9.3
      For this method, I make sure the wheel head is clean of any debris, and then I slice underneath the vessel.

    • 9.4
      I then take a handful of water and place it onto the wheel and drag that beneath the pot.

    • 9.5
      I might do this two or three times to get it really dislodged.

    • 9.6
      I can then hydroplane the mug onto a waiting hand or a throwing bat, and then it can be set aside.

    • 9.7
      The trouble with this method is that with some models of wheels, you have to remove the plastic wheel tray each time you do this, which adds a lot of time for each pot.

    • 9.8
      Equally, the process of setting the pot down can be very precarious, so I much prefer gripping pots from the sides as opposed to the base.

    • 9.9
      If you’re throwing in production, I don’t really recommend this method as it interrupts your workflow quite a lot.


  • Step 10: Using a Heat Gun to Remove a Pot from the Wheel

    • 10.1
      Another method is using a heat gun paint stripper to dry the outer surface of your thrown pot.

    • 10.2
      I spin the pot and blast the vessel for about a minute or so, and then I wire it through and lift it away.

    • 10.3
      By doing this, there’s literally no distortion when the pot is lifted up.

    • 10.4
      Yet once again, it probably adds about a minute or two to the creation of each pot, and it isn’t something you should learn to rely on.


  • Step 11: Throwing on Batts

    • 11.1
      The next method is throwing on batts. This is when instead of throwing on the metal of the wheel head, you instead throw on these platforms.

    • 11.2
      After the pots have been thrown, instead of lifting the pot away itself, you can lift away the pot on the batt, and that way, you don’t actually touch the freshly thrown and very soft vessel when you lift it away.

      image

    • 11.3
      I have a variety of different sizes of batts for different shapes, and typically, I only use them if the pot is wider than it is tall or if it’s a shape that’s particularly complex, like the body of one of my angular teapots.

    • 11.4
      First, in order for the batt to be attached to the wheel, I need to throw a pad of clay onto which the MDF boards can be attached.

    • 11.5
      To make these, I make sure I’m using well-wedged clay and center it thoroughly, as I don’t want this pad of clay to be uneven; otherwise, the throwing batt I attach on top of it will also be uneven.

    • 11.6
      I center the lump of clay and squash it down with the aim of creating a disc that’s about a centimeter thick.

    • 11.7
      How wide this disc is depends, of course, on the size of the batt you’re using.

    • 11.8
      I then scrape clean the slip on top, pressing it down and keeping it nice and flat.

    • 11.9
      I also bevel the edge just for neatness’ sake and give the top one last pass over with my metal kidney to scrape away all the slip.


  • Step 12: Preparing and Using the Batt

    • 12.1
      If I were to use a batt like this in this soft state, each time I place a new throwing batt onto this lump, the pad of clay would get slightly lower and lower, which means repetition throwing becomes an issue, especially if I’m using a throwing gauge.

    • 12.2
      So instead, I dry this pad of clay out with a heat gun until it’s almost leather-hard.

    • 12.3
      Finally, I use the corner of a kidney just to score in a series of concentric grooves. These help the throwing batts to stick firmly against the pad of clay.

    • 12.4
      I then wet the back of a batt slightly—just a tiny bit—so it sticks down to this leather-hard clay.

    • 12.5
      Then, I just continue to throw a pot on top of this platform as per usual.

    • 12.6
      Sometimes, you might notice that your throwing batt goes a little bit off-center, but as long as it’s held firmly in place, this really doesn’t matter.

    • 12.7
      The only thing you might feel that’s a bit different is the positioning of your hands, arms, and elbows, as you’re now working at a slightly elevated level.

    • 12.8
      If you aren’t used to it, this can feel a bit strange initially, but it doesn’t take long to adjust.


  • Step 13: Using Batts for Wider and Low Pots

    • 13.1
      Batts aren’t typically something I use for mugs unless the shape is exceedingly delicate and finely thrown, or it’s angular in such a way that it’s difficult to grasp and lift away like I normally would.

    • 13.2
      By showing you all of these different techniques, I hope to convey that really, which method you use to remove your pot from the wheel is quite situational, and even in my practice, I flitter between all of these.

    • 13.3
      Yet, being able to lift a pot away from the wheel with just your hands without the need for a throwing batt, a heat gun, or a piece of paper is a skill that’s worth learning.

    • 13.4
      I also use batts mainly for pots that are wider than they are tall.

    • 13.5
      For pots such as bowls that have very overhanging walls, it would be almost impossible to lift them away with just your fingers without deforming the entire pot.

    • 13.6
      Equally, for pots that are quite low and wide, such as bowls like this or plates, I tend to use very soft clay as it just makes the centering and pushing down of the lump of clay all the easier.

    • 13.7
      This is perhaps another reason why you might be having trouble lifting your pots away from the wheel, such as those mugs I threw earlier.

    • 13.8
      If you are using particularly soft clay to throw them, then inherently, those pots are going to be more difficult to lift away as compared to if you’re using slightly firmer stuff.

  • Step 14: Analyzing the Shape and Lifting from the Batt

    • 14.1
      In some ways, the condition of your clay can be just as important as what you do with it.

    • 14.2
      Here you can see with this shape, once the batt’s been scraped clean—which is something I always do just to keep things a bit tidier—there isn’t much room for me to get my hands in underneath and to lift it away nicely.

    • 14.3
      That’s why I make pots like this on batts, so I can just pry the MDF away and lift the pot off on this removable platform.

    • 14.4
      In some cases, if I feel like a pot will be distorted by sliding a wire underneath it, it isn’t something I’ll do until the pot is leather-hard, usually the following day.


  • Conclusion

    • The main thing to remember when lifting pots away from the wheel with just your hands is that, like anything else when learning to make pots, it’s a new skill, such as pulling handles, making lidded forms, or assembling teapots. You can’t expect it to happen perfectly on the first few tries, and you shouldn’t be discouraged if you do ruin a few pots when you attempt to lift them off, as it happens to everyone. If you are looking for a more dedicated way of practicing how to lift cylinders off the wheel, just spend a few hours throwing very basic cylinders and then try removing them with just your hands. The aim isn’t to end up with a board of successfully thrown pots; rather, it’s the knowledge you gain from lifting the pots away—some successfully and others destroyed. During the early stages of learning to make pots, it is totally fine and normal if not everything leads to finished, fired pots. Think of practicing like this in the same way a musician practices their scales—focus on improving your technique rather than achieving perfection.

  • Source

    • The lesson is based on material from the YouTube video by Gadsby, F. For more information and analysis, the book by Gadsby, F. (2023), By My Hands, Penguin Books, is recommended.