How to Center Clay - A Beginner's Guide

This beginner course demonstrates how to prepare and center clay on a potter’s wheel. It covers posture, hand positioning, pressure, water and slip use, wheel speed, coning, and correcting common errors.

Syllabus

- Introduction and discussing the importance of preparing clay, wedging
- What shape to make the wedged up balls of clay
- How to sit at the wheel properly
- Positioning of left arm, the 'anchor'
- How to slam the clay down effectively
- How to position left arm and push upper body weight onto the clay
- Water/slip usage
- Using little finger to seal the base of the clay
- Introducing vertical pressure
- The centred shape I'm after
- Scraping the ball of clay if it feels gritty
- Discussing the speed of the wheel
- How to position hands as to not grind your skin
- Pinching fingers and focusing on stability
- Using the leftover 'skim' of clay to help stick down the balls of clay
- Coning the clay
- How to remove your hands from the clay as not to introduce a wobble
- The importance of centring