Nowhere to Hide - The Difficulties Behind Minimal Pottery

This course demonstrates making a straight, narrow cylindrical vase, from clay preparation and wheel throwing through drying, trimming, glazing, and reduction firing. It focuses on keeping the form consistent and preventing warping or visible flaws.

Syllabus

0:00 - Introduction & notes on ideal interior shapes
2:23 - Clay preparation
3:23 - Centring the clay
4:27 - The importance of the initial, opened base
6:31 - How to fix a 'rippling' base
8:33 - Why I leave the rims thick
8:53 - Using throwing sticks to fix the interior form
11:23 - Why it's important to dry these vases out slowly...
13:44 - How I dry these overnight
14:04 - Trimming the vases
15:04 - Trimming & bevelling the rim
16:16 - Trimming the base of the vase
18:65 - A ramble about how variance in ceramics is a good thing!
21:42 - Packing the electric kiln for a biscuit firing to 1000ºC
22:53 - Waxing the foot of the vase
23:39 - Glazing the vases
26:15 - Cleaning up the glazed surfaces
28:32 - Packing the kiln & reduction firing the pots to cone ten, 1290ºC
29:46 - Unpacking the kiln & the finished pieces