Hi Tessa- I've been a potter for more than 5 years now and I never really bothered to learn tap centering so it was really rather nice to see an easy way to do it that I'll have to try, so thanks! And although I think you're doing amazingly well for someone who is new to throwing pottery, I can offer a few pieces of advice for your own issues: 1) You really don't have to cone up small quantities of clay so much- in fact, there are many potters who don't bother at all since centering does quite a lot to move the clay particles around, etc. And I see you do get a bit of a concavity at the top of your cones (like a volcano), and that can easily trap air inside when you collapse it pushing back down. Ideally you want the clay to always have a sort of pointed top to avoid this. So I'd recommend very minimal coning unless you're working with several kilograms of clay. 2) Thin walls- since you like to trim your pieces, I suggest you start with much more clay- it's a very common early pottery journey mistake to try to use too little clay. If you start with more than you think you'll need, you avoid thinning your walls too much to get the height you want, and you can always cut off excess while throwing, or trim walls thinner later. It makes things much easier. 3) Use as little water as you can while throwing- leaving a big puddle in the base of your pot can result in the clay absorbing too much and splitting- it also makes getting the height you want harder, etc. Using the slip from your hands is a great way to maintain the lubrication you need without adding much extra water. Instead of scraping your hands on the edge of your water bowl, scrape slip off with your fingers and put it back on the pot and re-use it. 4) compress the top edge of your cylinder each time you pull- lifting forces the water in your clay up, and makes the top edge more fluid and thus weaker; if you compress it at the end of a pull, you stiffen up the clay and strengthen the edge. 5) Everyone says slam the clay down on your wheel head, but this is actually not necessary- place it on the centre, and pat it down a few times, then slap the side as you spin the wheel slowly and it'll stick just fine and will be more centered. This helps avoid accidentally trapping air underneath, and you don't have to worry about aiming or fixing it when your ball of clay ends up off to the side some. Lastly, I strongly recommend you try spiral wedging- I find it far, far superior to ram's head wedging for being sure you get air out, and not trapping more on the sides. It takes a little more practice to get right but it's worth it- especially for larger amounts of clay; ram's head wedging can be tough with several kg of clay, but spiral wedging only works on a small section at a time, so is really easy. I've done 10kg at a time without completely exhausting myself before I even start throwing (ha). I hope some of this helps!
@@mattl3729 that is by far the most detailed and attentive comment I have gotten so far, I really appreciate it a lot!!✨🧚🏻♀️ I could make a whole video dedicated to those tips, I have never thought about those possibilities for improving on my technique, so thank you a lot!! Next time I throw, I will remember them and give an update in my next videos👍🏻🌸
Hi! I have been learning to throw pottery on the wheel for about 2 years. VERY inconsistently and only threw a few pieces at a time when I first started. I got tons of bubbles in my clay when pulling walls even though I cone on the wheel and wedge at least 30 times before throwing. I found that it was my clay hardness! When the clay was a little harder, trying to center and get all the bubbles out felt near impossible, but using softer clay made getting rid of bubbles and coning and pulling walls so much easier! It looks like your clay is pretty soft, but just thought i would put that out there if that helps with bubbles while pulling walls! Also, learning how to spiral wedge instead of rams head wedging helped me a ton with getting rid of bubbles as well. I love watching your videos and I've been thinking about trying to document my journey as well. Thank you for sharing yours!!
Hey Tessa, I subscribed to your channel when you first posted your pottery video coz I myself started learning pottery a few months back, I really like the vibe of your videos and I am soo happy watching your amazing progress. I recently started my UA-cam journey after getting inspired by you because I am a painting student too and I too love pottery😄. Sadly, I am not able to balance my studies, youtube and learning pottery, so I decided that I will focus on youtube and college. I do try to keep up with pottery but, I want to give my all to pottery in future.🤍 I keep rewatching your videos whenever I feel low. Keep up the great work!!
@@fanulhayat omg🥹 comments like this make my heart smile🫶🏻 thank you!!✨ I am so happy that you like my videos and that they can inspire you! But I definitely agree, balancing so many things is hard and it feels like betraying one part of your personality :( But I wish you the best for your UA-cam and school journey and that you will be able to integrate pottery more and more into your life evntually! Keep it up🧚🏻♀️🌸
For balancing painting and throwing pots. I simply just make cups and use underglaze to paint on them. This for me is the best way to balance my eager to paint and to make pottery.
heyy tessa i've been watching your pottery journey for a while now, i myself started my pottery journey 4 months ago and i still struggle with centering my piece i will def try out the method you shared and i hope it works! also i have always wonder where you got your wheel from?. to answer your concern about ur piece having different thickness, always make sure your pulling is even and the pressure is even as well. the air bubbles are usually from wedging the clay it might needed some more wedging. lasly, your clay is breaking becuase you are putting too much pressure on one spot for a while and not moving, i hope this helps you! your an amazing artist
@@ohsnap8580 thank you for your tips! I will definitely keep that in mind👍🏻 and my wheel is from a German brand called Lindemann, it‘s the Lindemann ETS 300-6 😊✨
I'm so glad you were able to prioritize your pottery. I am currently able to balance the two (painting and pottery), luckily, youtube is not in focus. As my wife explained to me, I'm not attractive sooo not likely am I to have a bunch of followers 😂.
@@2BlackQQeyes thank you, I am glad you are capable of doing both✨🌻 but noo I cannot imagine someone‘s wife to say that😂 but good content always overpowers looks so focus on that🍀
hello !! im not an experienced potter.. but i have been learning these past months to throw on the wheel. i wedge like you do, rams head, i used to do it like around 20 to 30 times but i was getting bubbles. i started to do it like around 50 times lol and i have been getting way less bubbles.. im not sure how many times you do it but maybe that could help. i dont cone up and down .. i just center it, maybe that works for me because i've been using little amounts of clay (around 700 to 800 grams). i think the coning may stress the clay a little. when you are throwing a bowl, is better to leave the walls thick because when you start stretching it out they get really thinner ! edit: btw, i really loved the tap center tutorial and that you tested it out and it worked! in my old studio i used to tap center really poorly, im now using a giffin grip so i dont need to anymore, but i feel bad that i dont know how to do it well. i'll definitely try it!
@@naboclare I have never thought about counting how many rounds of wedging I do👀😂 but that is a good tip! I am a bit scared of spiral wedging so I will try that the next time for sure. Also, the coning part is sth another viewer suggested to leave out, I always thought you HAD to do that but apparently, it‘s possible to center clay without coning- I should work on that! Oh and I love that the tap centering part was helpful for you!🧚🏻♀️ thank you for your comment✨🌸
I would suggest learning spiral wedging- I don't have to do anything close to 50, and virtually never have bubbles in my clay. And it's a lot less work than ram's head I've found. You are right though that not enough wedging is often a problem- it's the first and easiest answer to many problems.
For balancing painting and throwing pots. I simply just make cups and use underglaze to paint on them. This for me is the best way to balance my eager to paint and to make pottery.
Hi Tessa- I've been a potter for more than 5 years now and I never really bothered to learn tap centering so it was really rather nice to see an easy way to do it that I'll have to try, so thanks! And although I think you're doing amazingly well for someone who is new to throwing pottery, I can offer a few pieces of advice for your own issues:
1) You really don't have to cone up small quantities of clay so much- in fact, there are many potters who don't bother at all since centering does quite a lot to move the clay particles around, etc. And I see you do get a bit of a concavity at the top of your cones (like a volcano), and that can easily trap air inside when you collapse it pushing back down. Ideally you want the clay to always have a sort of pointed top to avoid this. So I'd recommend very minimal coning unless you're working with several kilograms of clay.
2) Thin walls- since you like to trim your pieces, I suggest you start with much more clay- it's a very common early pottery journey mistake to try to use too little clay. If you start with more than you think you'll need, you avoid thinning your walls too much to get the height you want, and you can always cut off excess while throwing, or trim walls thinner later. It makes things much easier.
3) Use as little water as you can while throwing- leaving a big puddle in the base of your pot can result in the clay absorbing too much and splitting- it also makes getting the height you want harder, etc. Using the slip from your hands is a great way to maintain the lubrication you need without adding much extra water. Instead of scraping your hands on the edge of your water bowl, scrape slip off with your fingers and put it back on the pot and re-use it.
4) compress the top edge of your cylinder each time you pull- lifting forces the water in your clay up, and makes the top edge more fluid and thus weaker; if you compress it at the end of a pull, you stiffen up the clay and strengthen the edge.
5) Everyone says slam the clay down on your wheel head, but this is actually not necessary- place it on the centre, and pat it down a few times, then slap the side as you spin the wheel slowly and it'll stick just fine and will be more centered. This helps avoid accidentally trapping air underneath, and you don't have to worry about aiming or fixing it when your ball of clay ends up off to the side some.
Lastly, I strongly recommend you try spiral wedging- I find it far, far superior to ram's head wedging for being sure you get air out, and not trapping more on the sides. It takes a little more practice to get right but it's worth it- especially for larger amounts of clay; ram's head wedging can be tough with several kg of clay, but spiral wedging only works on a small section at a time, so is really easy. I've done 10kg at a time without completely exhausting myself before I even start throwing (ha).
I hope some of this helps!
@@mattl3729 that is by far the most detailed and attentive comment I have gotten so far, I really appreciate it a lot!!✨🧚🏻♀️
I could make a whole video dedicated to those tips, I have never thought about those possibilities for improving on my technique, so thank you a lot!! Next time I throw, I will remember them and give an update in my next videos👍🏻🌸
Watching the bowl spinning on the wheel is genuinely so soothing
I feel that🫶🏻
Hi! I have been learning to throw pottery on the wheel for about 2 years. VERY inconsistently and only threw a few pieces at a time when I first started. I got tons of bubbles in my clay when pulling walls even though I cone on the wheel and wedge at least 30 times before throwing. I found that it was my clay hardness! When the clay was a little harder, trying to center and get all the bubbles out felt near impossible, but using softer clay made getting rid of bubbles and coning and pulling walls so much easier! It looks like your clay is pretty soft, but just thought i would put that out there if that helps with bubbles while pulling walls! Also, learning how to spiral wedge instead of rams head wedging helped me a ton with getting rid of bubbles as well. I love watching your videos and I've been thinking about trying to document my journey as well. Thank you for sharing yours!!
@@lillianrichbourg5802 Yes I also noticed that softer clay works better👀 but I will have to learn spiral wedging, there‘s no way out😂✨
Hey Tessa, I subscribed to your channel when you first posted your pottery video coz I myself started learning pottery a few months back, I really like the vibe of your videos and I am soo happy watching your amazing progress. I recently started my UA-cam journey after getting inspired by you because I am a painting student too and I too love pottery😄. Sadly, I am not able to balance my studies, youtube and learning pottery, so I decided that I will focus on youtube and college. I do try to keep up with pottery but, I want to give my all to pottery in future.🤍 I keep rewatching your videos whenever I feel low. Keep up the great work!!
@@fanulhayat omg🥹 comments like this make my heart smile🫶🏻 thank you!!✨ I am so happy that you like my videos and that they can inspire you! But I definitely agree, balancing so many things is hard and it feels like betraying one part of your personality :( But I wish you the best for your UA-cam and school journey and that you will be able to integrate pottery more and more into your life evntually! Keep it up🧚🏻♀️🌸
I thought hm I’d like to watch another pottery video and then I go onto my UA-cam and the first video that was in my followed uploads is this ☺️
@@valenaengberg1954 omg really🥹 I love to provide the content you were searching for✨🌸
For balancing painting and throwing pots. I simply just make cups and use underglaze to paint on them. This for me is the best way to balance my eager to paint and to make pottery.
@@lanwang4449 damn that‘s smart. Love that!!✨
Girl you have saved my ass so much time centering oml
@@docsondocs3453 honestly, I am SO happy that helped you!!!✨🫶🏻
heyy tessa i've been watching your pottery journey for a while now, i myself started my pottery journey 4 months ago and i still struggle with centering my piece i will def try out the method you shared and i hope it works! also i have always wonder where you got your wheel from?. to answer your concern about ur piece having different thickness, always make sure your pulling is even and the pressure is even as well. the air bubbles are usually from wedging the clay it might needed some more wedging. lasly, your clay is breaking becuase you are putting too much pressure on one spot for a while and not moving, i hope this helps you!
your an amazing artist
@@ohsnap8580 thank you for your tips! I will definitely keep that in mind👍🏻 and my wheel is from a German brand called Lindemann, it‘s the Lindemann ETS 300-6 😊✨
I'm so glad you were able to prioritize your pottery. I am currently able to balance the two (painting and pottery), luckily, youtube is not in focus. As my wife explained to me, I'm not attractive sooo not likely am I to have a bunch of followers 😂.
@@2BlackQQeyes thank you, I am glad you are capable of doing both✨🌻 but noo I cannot imagine someone‘s wife to say that😂 but good content always overpowers looks so focus on that🍀
hello !! im not an experienced potter.. but i have been learning these past months to throw on the wheel.
i wedge like you do, rams head, i used to do it like around 20 to 30 times but i was getting bubbles. i started to do it like around 50 times lol and i have been getting way less bubbles.. im not sure how many times you do it but maybe that could help.
i dont cone up and down .. i just center it, maybe that works for me because i've been using little amounts of clay (around 700 to 800 grams). i think the coning may stress the clay a little.
when you are throwing a bowl, is better to leave the walls thick because when you start stretching it out they get really thinner !
edit: btw, i really loved the tap center tutorial and that you tested it out and it worked! in my old studio i used to tap center really poorly, im now using a giffin grip so i dont need to anymore, but i feel bad that i dont know how to do it well. i'll definitely try it!
@@naboclare I have never thought about counting how many rounds of wedging I do👀😂 but that is a good tip! I am a bit scared of spiral wedging so I will try that the next time for sure.
Also, the coning part is sth another viewer suggested to leave out, I always thought you HAD to do that but apparently, it‘s possible to center clay without coning- I should work on that!
Oh and I love that the tap centering part was helpful for you!🧚🏻♀️ thank you for your comment✨🌸
I would suggest learning spiral wedging- I don't have to do anything close to 50, and virtually never have bubbles in my clay. And it's a lot less work than ram's head I've found. You are right though that not enough wedging is often a problem- it's the first and easiest answer to many problems.
For balancing painting and throwing pots. I simply just make cups and use underglaze to paint on them. This for me is the best way to balance my eager to paint and to make pottery.