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#20 Pay attention to how you center and Open your clay
41 Plays3 years ago
On this lesson of Shaping Your Pottery we talk about how you center and open your clay can make it easier for you or can make it very difficult for you.
How you center and open your clay matters.
if you are trying to make a vase but center really low to the wheel its going to be very difficult to make a vase same thing if you center like you are going to make a vase but want to make a plate it isn't going to work. Same thing when opening your clay if you make very narrow its going to be hard to fit your hand in there without getting the clay off centered.
That's why it so important to slow down a little bit and think about how you are going to center and open with what you are planning to make
Send me an email with your pottery questions at nictorres1684@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Pottery Styles
00:00:01
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.
Importance of Centering and Opening Techniques
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello there, my pottery shapers, and welcome to Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres.
00:00:23
Speaker
In this episode, I'm going to be explaining to you how you center and how you open your clay can really determine what you're going to make and can determine if it's going to be easy for you or if it's going to be harder for you. So now, most people when they are making pottery, they don't think about how they center and how they open their clay.
00:00:48
Speaker
they just kind of go right into it, especially beginners. They just wanna try to make what they wanna make. But we need to slow down for a second sometimes. We need to think about why we should be centering a certain way.
Common Mistakes in Centering
00:01:03
Speaker
The shape should be a certain way. The reason why the shape is so important is because if you, for example, if you are trying to make a vase,
00:01:16
Speaker
but you centered the clay really low like a plate, your vase isn't gonna turn out how you want. Because normally when you make a vase, you want it to look a certain way, to be a certain height, to have a certain shape. So if you center the clay really, really low, it's not gonna turn out how you want.
Techniques for Vases and Bowls
00:01:33
Speaker
Another example is if you want to make a bowl, but you center the clay really, really high, it's going to make it very difficult for you to make bowl and that's not something we want. So we have to really think about how we are going to center the clay. If you want to make a vase, centering it your normal way or even higher,
00:02:00
Speaker
is going to be very, very positive for you. And same thing with opening your clay.
Opening Clay for Desired Shapes
00:02:07
Speaker
A lot of people, they will open the clay the same way pretty much every single time. But you have to think about it for a second. If you are trying to make a narrow vase and you open the clay really, really wide, your vase isn't gonna be that narrow. It's gonna be a lot harder for you, it's gonna take a lot more time, and you're gonna have less time to really make what you want.
00:02:31
Speaker
You're gonna have to compensate for all your mistakes. Now, when you are thinking about this, always think about the shape and how you are going to open your clay. If you do that, you're gonna have a lot easier time when you begin pooling and shaping your clay.
Tips for Tall Pottery
00:02:50
Speaker
Here is one tip, another tip that will help you when you are ready to start trying to make some taller things.
00:02:57
Speaker
And that is when you center your clay, you're almost making like a cylinder. And then you open really, you almost do a dive bomb straight to the bottom when you open your clay. That will take out a lot of the throwing for you. So really think about how you're gonna center and open your clay. I'll see you next week. And hopefully this provided you with a lot of value.
Episode Wrap-up and Q&A Invitation
00:03:18
Speaker
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.