Centering Clay and Recentering an Opened Hunk of Clay on the Potter's Wheel- Troubleshooting Tips
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2019
- This video is designed as a tutorial for students learning to center. Sometimes the big struggle of centering is throwing it off. This video explains how to RECENTER the opened piece of clay and realign your wall to continue the throwing process. The posters I have shown in the video cover the hand position of centering and recentering. Here is a link to the posters I made which you can download and print if you would like: I just ask that they are not used as to resell. drive.google.com/file/d/13UWy...
Just remember, you must always have pressure from all sides, top, side, (bottom=bat) and if opened, the interior when you are trying to center. If you remove pressure from any one of those areas, the off centered clay will move to the place of least resistance, and will stay off centered. I show how to create a “channel” through whith the opened wall must pass, and with correct hand pressure, this can recenter the wall which is off.
I happen to be using Standard 153 stoneware for this demo- as that is the clay my students use on the wheel.
For my whole playlist on beginning throwing, check out this link on my channel. • Beginning Wheel Throwing
I also have a NEW throwing playlist here: • NEW Wheel Throwing Pla...
For the great tools I used in the video (including the mudtools ribs and needle tools) check out this link to a live Googledoc I continually update with lots of my favorite tools on Amazon using my associate links! docs.google.com/document/d/1X...
I made this video for my Ceramics II and III students at Mason High School. The wheel class practices a few weeks on just centering and opening. So, this is designed to lessen their struggle.
I am a public high school ceramics teacher at William Mason High School in Mason, Ohio. (Mason is currently the largest high school in Ohio!) As a potter, I have been working in clay for over 30 years, and I have been teaching for over 28 years, the past 20 have been specifically teaching high school ceramics. I love what I do! I have my own studio in my home basement, where I work on my personal pottery for my Etsy site; www.etsy.com/shop/KaransPotsA...
I started my TH-cam channel a few years ago, to make videos to help my students if they are absent and miss a demo, or if they would like to explore more advanced techniques independently. I have been amazed to reach such a wider audience than my own students!
Please subscribe to my channel if you would like to receive channel updates, or would like to learn more about clay and studio processes!
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Thank you for the best video I’ve seen on helping a beginner center, open and pull! I have watched many videos and taken several in-person classes and your video by far was the most helpful. The recentering aspect was a life saver and not a topic others seem to cover. You’re a great teacher! Thank you!
Awwww!!! Thank you!
Thank you for this valuable information! This is by far the most helpful video on clay centering on TH-cam.
Thank you for this great video and Google doc 👍. You're a great teacher 👌 !
Thank you for this, I didn’t realize you could re-center, no one has ever mentioned or taught me this before. Love your videos.
Yay!!! I’m glad it helps!!
You're a great teacher! I have been throwing for only a few months, but I would always end up with a bit of wobble toward the end of the piece. Your instructions and technique explanations will help a lot. Your voice is easy to follow and the demonstrations are perfect. Don't stop here, keep posting more!
I really love how you explain the steps!!! Your tips are so easy to comprehend as a beginner! Awesome video!!!
Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for another great video. I have used your videos, step-by-step, as I've learned hand-building and throwing techniques over the past few years. These are so helpful--I recommend them to all my potter friends. Thanks again.
Thank you for such detailed information and the printable posters!
hello from the future.. great video, thanks.. especially for the recentering after opening advice.. ta :)
I love this class. I always review this video before I throw on the wheel. Thank you.
This series is so amazing. I took my first pottery class last night and it was a LOT of information to absorb. I found your channel tonight and you have given me so much fantastic information and it makes so much more sense. Thank you so much. I enjoy your teaching style.
Hi, Thank you for sharing your tips. I have problems centering/re-centering and can't wait to try your tips. Thanks again all the way from Singapore!
Your diagram alone is gold! I could never understand how to make a straight cylinder--I always wound up getting bowls to spontaneously erupt from my clay! (I've been learning via TH-cam since COVID.) I am really grateful you go into so much detail about body position and hand position, as it more easily helps me replicate what you do. Also appreciated the tips about sparing my shoulders (my left shoulder gets stressed from holding my left hand still during centering.) You are an excellent teacher.
Brilliant! just the advice I needed for my wobbily pots!
Thank you very much! Your videos are the most useful!!! 🎉
Thank you so much. Great video
Hello from Japan. Thank you for offering such clear instruction. The only caveat (but not really) is that most of us here in Japan throw with the wheel going clockwise. This usually means a reconfiguration of hand placement to what you describe, but it really is no big deal after all. The concepts are the same. The major point, of course, is to achieve proper centering---which links body-to-mind. Cheers!
Have been learning pottery for the last 8 months, but had still difficulties centering at times. This explanation is perfectly clear. Just what I needed to solve the problem. Thanks!
Yay!!!! I hope it helps! ❤️
I find your explanations so clear. You are a good artist and teacher. I did my first attempt at wheel this morning, so all of your tips are very useful.
Thanks so much for your extremely helpful poster!
You’re welcome!
This is VERY helpful! Thank-You!
Glad it was helpful!
Just started learning so I’m struggling a lot with centering and making a decent something this helps quite a bit ty
Thanks so much for the PDF that is awesome
I have only been throwing for a week. This was exactly the video I needed. Im able to center the clay but the moment I started opening the clay went off center. Before watching I continued practicing and moving onto pulling the wall, but of course the entire piece would be wonky. This video is going to improve my skills. Thank you.
How wonderful!!! I hope it helps!
Second on this! I am a newbie potter (extremely), centering is still very hard for me, and I often go off center when I open up. I will try this technique for sure.
Wow, thank you for this, i think i know why i have been having so much trouble, even tho i am right handed i have been trying to center left handed. i will be trying to pay more attention to this in the future. for some reason when i sit down at the wheel i seem to forget everything i watch. also the resentering is interesting because when i open up the bottoms i get it wobbly and i am not sure why.
Love "Hockey Puck"! You are the only one that says that. I agree!
Lol!!! I try to make it something my kids can relate to!! 😂
Thanks for such informative and much needed help for newbies. May I ask, when you take portions of clay out from its bag, do you recommend wedging this clay? I can cone up, but pushing the clay back down always leaves me with a mushroom shape with a lip. 🤤Watching you do the claw/duck bill is so incredibly helpful. What kind of sponge are you using? Sorry for so many questions. Thanks so much. You have helped immensely.
I do recommend wedging fresh clay from the bag! It helps to realign particles, and softens it up a bit for throwing. In regard to your mushroom shape... use more pressure with your side (for me that is the left hand) when you are pushing it back down. Side pressure is the key to keeping the clay wall more uniform and not mushrooming out. Also, be sure to keep your right and left hands locked together when you push back down as well, to prevent it from coming out between the two hands.
@@KaransPotsAndGlass thank you, thank you, thank you. ☺
Karan, where can i find The sheets with the explination on how to put your hands please?
There is a link to the document is in the video description. If you are on a DESKTOP- you will find the video description underneath the video and title. If you are on a MOBILE DEVICE, you will see the title below the video, then look to the right for a little ‘arrow’ which becomes a drop-down menu. Open that drop down menu, and the video description will be visible. In both cases, your video cannot be playing full screen while viewing the video description.
I would like yo see you do wine cups.
Great video!! Helped me a lot, all your videos do.. I do have a question... Is there anyway to save yourself of you drop your fingers in and the walls aren't even on all sides??
Well, the first thing I tell my kids is let's figure out why is it off center? Is it really dropped off center, or is the wall itself not centered? Look at the outside bottom of the wall. Does it look totally even where it meets the bat, or is it wiggly?? Did you use your left thumb and drop the middle while steadying your hand? Regardless, if you make the "duck bill" with your left hand, and compress down with the right at the same time, you should be able to force the wall into the center. :)
How do you know if you opened the centre too much ?
The base of your wall is too thin if you open too far. You want to keep enough thickness at the base of the wall to support the tension created when pulling. If it is too thin, it collapses down low. (like it creates a really thin "corner" which can't take the weight.)
I have tried everything for months and I still can’t do it. 😭😭😭 I tried your tips but doesn’t work for me. I push on the left and top with all my might. Is it possible I’m not strong enough?
My guess is that your left elbow isn’t locked. 9 out of 10 times, when my students have issues, I go up behind them and hold their elbow stable, and that does the trick!! Try concentrating on how you can use your body to lock, rather than depend on your arm muscles! Remember that CONING is a giant help, if you’ve not need doing that!!!
Try this new video I just posted! Wheel Throwing Series, Step 2: Centering the Clay! Tips and Tricks for Successful Centering! th-cam.com/video/tt_h1QEfg68/w-d-xo.html