primalmommy on wed 7 apr 04
I tell my students - if your elbow is moving, your clay will move. See
if this helps:
Picture your forearm as a 2x4. Your elbow is one end, and the base of
your hand -- that flat, bottom-of-the-palm spot where it hinges to your
arm -- is the other end. Keep your fingers and hand fliped back and just
work on the clay with that straight part of the base of your hand. If
your fingers want to ride that's all they do -- don't let them choke the
clay into a little hill, or curve under to make it a mushrom. top hand
too -- just riding along. WET! If it isn't slippery-wet it's just not
right. ;0)
Anchor your elbow. Mel taught me this. Grown man or skinny seven year
old, nobody can muscle a spinning lump of clay onto center, but if I
take hold of somebody's elbow -- the tail end of our 2x4 -- and hold it
still, that clay slides to center like magic. Anchor your mid-forearm
against the splash pan if it's the kind that doesn't come loose -- it
might be uncomfortable but it's just for a moment. or anchor your elbow
on your left hipbone, if you're built in such a way to make that
possible. You can anchor your arm hard against your thigh, but that
really only works if you scoot right up to the wheel like you ought to
be -- think cowboy riding a bull, not lady sitting at the dinner table.
Crotch right up to the wheel, knees wrapped around the sides. If your
leg isn't going anywhere, you can anchor your arm to it.
Picture me (or mel, who showed me) standing behind you and bracing that
elbow... magic.
push toward maybe 2:00 on the wheelhead, and push like you're going to
push the clay a bit PAST center.
Starting with a good cohesive lump of clay helps. I finally gave up
trying to get beginners/children to wedge well and now have them cut off
a cube of out-of-the-bag, pugged/deaired clay -- bang down the corners
and go from there. The results have been remarkable. Kids can wedge a
lot of air into a pound of clay.
The tricky part is keeping all those mental plates in the air at one
time -- "never touch the clay unless it's spinning..." "hands on gently,
hands off gently" -- "don't let that elbow wobble loose"... "just use
the "heel" of your hand"... ""breathe"... how many students hear my
voice repeating, repeating... center with the wheel fast and then SLOW
DOWN to make your pot.
it's a lot to remember but so was driving a car, once.. now you can
probably do it while talking on the cell phone and eating lunch..
(disclaimer: primalmommy does not recommend talking on a cell phone and
eating lunch while throwing. though it's been done i am sure.)
yours,
kelly in Ohio
Kelly Averill Savino
http://www.primalpotter.com
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