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Wheel Throwing Lesson:1

Today Amy and I worked for three hours from 2:15-5:15. I learned the very basics of throwing and important techniques. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot. I will be dedicating time each day to practicing because I need to build up my hand strength and learn to balance the clay more.

Steps: We started by wedging the clay, I was told that this isn't necessary for brand new clay but it is necessary for recycled or old clay. We started with a pound of clay and I learned how to center it in the middle of the wheel. I struggled with keeping the clay from wobbling which is what throws it off center. Once I got it centered I made a vertical hole in the middle, for the opening of the bowl. I then pulled the clay towards me from the inside and pulled till I had a wide hole. The final step was to create a ring at the base and then pull the rings up to even out the wall of the bowl. This by far was the hardest part because as I was trying to add height by pulling up, the wheel kept moving my fingers in the opposite direction and would eventually cause me to create a lop sided bowl.

Here I am centering the bowl.

This is a failed attempt. This happened many times because when I tried pulling out the rings by pulling up and adding height to the bowl, my fingers would move with the bowl, creating this lopsided top.

Amy called these pieces of clay rainbows. Once I tired out the clay I was spinning, Amy told me it was to wet to use. She then instructed me to shape it like a rainbow so I could wedge it and reuse it for next time. By shaping them into these rainbow shapes, it allowed the clay to dry out while I continued working. In total I had 7 rainbows, and attempted 7 bowls.

My first bowl! During my second lesson, Amy showed me how to trim the bottom of the bowl so it went in instead of coming out


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