Transcript
Speaker: If you love pottery and want to take your skills to the next level, you're in the right place. Find your own pottery style right here on Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Let's get started. What is up my pottery shapers and welcome to Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Once you have gotten your cylinder down and you are feeling pretty confident with pulling a wall and your pulling is coming a lot smoother, it is now time to start learning how to shape your pottery.
Speaker: When you shape your pottery, you want to be able to have a certain shape in your mind. You want to be able to have it kind of come out how you want. So that's what these next five to six episodes I will be teaching you about. And these will be little lessons to help you with your shaping so it's a little bit easier for yourself. Now, the first step to really shaping is to just do the opposite of when you're pulling. When you're pulling a wall,
Speaker: You have more pressure on the outside hand so that you are able to lift the wall to your desired height. But when you're shaping really pretty much anything, you are doing the opposite. You're putting more pressure on the inside hand so you get that nice shape that you want, whether it's a round shape or a narrow shape. That's how you are going to be able to shape.
Speaker: Step two for shaping your pottery is that once you start shaping, you don't want to shape all the way to the top because then it turns out like a bowl every single time. It's good for when you are making a bowl, but not when you're not making a bowl.
Speaker: When you are shaping, stop about a quarter of an inch to half an inch from the top. And then you just kind of want to make sure that rim doesn't flare out too much. Because once it's flared out too much, it's going to be a lot harder to bring it back in because the clay is going to get really thin at this point. Step three to shaping really anything
Speaker: is use a rib. A rib is so helpful when you are shaping because it just helps with so much. It'll help you with getting your shape how you want it. It helps with shaping just in general. And it also helps getting rid of the slip on the clay. Now, the fourth step to shaping really anything
Speaker: is to, like I said, in step three is you want to use a rib, but this time you're just going to use the rib to get rid of the slip. And getting rid of the slip makes it easier to dry and makes it easier to trim when you are ready. Now, before you get to these steps, it's important to know that you should probably have a shape already in your mind. Go do some research so that you can
Speaker: So you have a shape in your mind and it will make it easier for yourself. I hope this episode provided with lots of value and I'll see you next time. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Do you have questions about pottery that you'd like Nick to answer? Send them to us on Instagram at Nick Torres underscore pottery. We'll see you next time.
