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Clay on the wheel is a total waste of time, fight me
I mean, every piece cracks or warps. Hand-building gives you way more control and personality, idk.
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the_william5mo ago
Grace's story about Sam's plate got me. I used to think the wheel was just for making the same boring mugs, but that unplanned glaze ring sounds like the kind of happy accident you can't get from hand-building. It's not about making a perfect copy, it's about the machine helping you find something you wouldn't have planned.
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grace_knight196mo ago
My friend Sam kept at the wheel even after a bunch of her bowls failed. Last year, she threw this wide, shallow plate with a crazy glaze she mixed, and the spinning made the colors run in a perfect ring. It was some chemical reaction she didn't even plan for. That one perfect plate is now on her wall, so it worked out.
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the_jade6mo ago
But I've gotta disagree a bit. Those random glaze reactions are cool, but you can't copy them. Sam got lucky, and most times you just get more messed up pieces lol.
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chen.olivia6mo ago
Have you ever tried throwing with clay that's a bit stiffer? I kept getting cracks until I stopped using slurry water and switched to just misting. For warping, dry your pieces on a ware board instead of the bat, so air gets under evenly. My last plate warped because one edge dried faster, so now I cover everything with loose plastic for two days. Trimming too soon causes stress cracks, wait until it's leather hard. Isn't it wild how tiny changes fix the big problems?
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