How to Form a Ceramic Bowl

After admiring pottery bowls at art fairs and ceramics shops, many people would like to know how to make their own. After learning to center and form a project's opening, its time to bring up the walls and form a ceramic bowl.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Thin the walls of the ceramic bowl by gently pinching the wall and pulling it upward. Keep the speed at which you pull similar to your wheel speed: the faster your wheel is going, the faster you can pull up the walls.

2. Keep pulling the walls up until you achieve the right size and thickness for the bowl. This is usually about 1/4 of an inch thick.

3. Cut away excess clay at the bottom of the ceramics bowl by using an angled wood tool to scrape it off.

4. Even out the top of the bowl by forming a lid. Insert a pointed needle tool at the desired height and slowly cut off the uneven top until it's flat.

5. Create a narrow mouth on your bowl by pushing gently on the outside of the bowl's walls.

6. Widen out the bowl by forming a lip, slipping your fingers inside and pressing outward.

7. Remove the ceramics bowl from the wheel by cutting it off with a wire tool or fishing wire. Allow it to dry for about a day.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your hands wet to prevent friction between your fingers and the clay.
• Be careful when widening the bowl because the clay can become too thin and break.