Barbara Gardner on mon 8 jul 02
I am a beginning potter and use an electric wheel. I have been having
problems with centering and bringing up the walls... keep getting clay
chattering on my finger and develop spirals in the walls... even when the
ball was originally well-centered. I'm beginning to wonder if I have the
wheel going too fast. I've read different opinions. Can someone tell me how
fast the wheel should be going for each step, centering, opening, and
bringing up the cylinder? Or, even better, can anyone tell me what I might
be doing wrong.
Thanks.
Barbara Gardner
Bruce Girrell on mon 8 jul 02
Barbara Gardner wrote:
> I am a beginning potter and use an electric wheel. I have been having
> problems with centering and bringing up the walls...
> I'm beginning to wonder if I have the wheel going too fast.
Well, it's possible that you have the wheel going too fast, but I suggest
that you look at your body position first. When centering I sit very close
to the wheel and place the elbow of my left arm about a third of the way
from my knee to my hip (in other words closer to the knee). My weight is
down through my feet in such a way that I could directly stand up if I
wanted to. Having my weight over my feet gives me a good anchor to the
ground. Having my leg do the centering work means that I don't require my
left arm to do the strength work. My arm simply communicates the power of my
leg to the clay. The clay has no choice but to go on center (unless you're
pushing _too_ hard, which I doubt). The right hand, of course, constrains
the clay from the top. You can lock your right and left hands if you wish.
Nils Lou shows a nice way to do this in his "On the Wheel" tapes.
Next on my list of things to check would be the consistency of your clay.
Too hard and you will have to work too hard to get the clay on center. It
will do all sorts of ugly things. Too soft and you will push it back off
center too easily. If anything, err on the too soft side though. If the clay
is too hard you will struggle endlessly.
OK, now wheel speed. You may want to slow down your wheel at first or if you
get into difficulty. I have heard of teachers who insist that centering be
done at high speed. Once you learn what you're doing you probably will want
to center at a fairly high speed, but for now feel free to try any speed to
see what works for you. The wetter you have your hands and the clay the
faster you can go. The name of the game in clay is Experiment. Do whatever
it takes to make it work for you. When you do get the clay centered it
should be able to run through your hands smoothly at high speed. Trust your
hands, not your eyes.
Try a few things, let us know what happened, and ask some more questions. As
always, there is also the Clayart archives. I still prefer the "clayart
discussions by subject" format which you will find at
http://www.potters.org/categories.htm
Under the category of "techniques", second from the top, you'll see
"centering".
Good luck.
Bruce "persistent eccentric" Girrell
Julie Milazzo on mon 8 jul 02
Hey Barbara,
I'm not entirely sure what the chattering is
about, but that may be lack of water. If you feel any
friction at all, drip more water onto the dry spots
immediately. Also, the speed thing is important, but
not as important as rhythm. If your wheel is going
fast, your hands need to move up the pot quickly, too.
If your wheel speed is slow, your hands need to slow
down. If you're getting spirals, I would guess that
your hands are going faster than your wheel, which can
cause a corkscrewing motion. Try taking double the
amount of time to get from the bottom of the pot to
the top, without changing the wheel speed, OR try
speeding up the wheel, but take the same amount of
time to get from the bottom to the top as you are now.
The goal of a good pull is to squeeze in every
molecule of clay between your fingers, but if you're
corkscrewing, a lot of the clay doesn't get moved. I
learned that with every step, you should slow down the
wheel a bit, but there are no set rules on exactly how
quickly it should go. If you keep practicing, though,
you'll begin to feel it intuitively. I promise. Jules
--- Barbara Gardner wrote:
> I am a beginning potter and use an electric wheel. I
> have been having
> problems with centering and bringing up the walls...
> keep getting clay
> chattering on my finger and develop spirals in the
> walls... even when the
> ball was originally well-centered. I'm beginning to
> wonder if I have the
> wheel going too fast. I've read different opinions.
> Can someone tell me how
> fast the wheel should be going for each step,
> centering, opening, and
> bringing up the cylinder? Or, even better, can
> anyone tell me what I might
> be doing wrong.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Barbara Gardner
>
>
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Cindi Anderson on mon 8 jul 02
The speed of the wheel has to coincide with the speed that you raise your
hands. If you spin the wheel faster, you have to pull up faster. If you
turn the wheel slow, you pull up slow.
Clay chattering would mean the clay is too dry, or you are going to fast.
People can throw very dry, but they usually throw very slow.
Cindi
----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Gardner"
> I am a beginning potter and use an electric wheel. I have been having
> problems with centering and bringing up the walls... keep getting clay
> chattering on my finger and develop spirals in the walls...
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