How to Make a Bowl on the Pottery Wheel

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Pottery Wheel
Bat
Your favorite pottery clay appropriate for throwing and for your particular firing process.
Container of Water
Needle Tool
Sponge
Small rubber rib
Metal rib
Wooden Edger

Step 1

Kneading clay into a cylinder shape.

KNEAD POTTERY CLAY.
Decide how big you want your bowl to be. I start out with the amount of clay that I think I will need and add some extra to that. You want to make sure that you will have enough clay to get to your desired height. Unneeded extra clay will be trimmed away in the end.

Knead the clay on a canvas covered surface or other pourous surface using a ram's head method or any method which completely gets any air pockets out. To check for any air pockets, use a trim wire and cut completely through the kneaded clay. Check the inside for any holes. If there are any pockets, continue kneading. If there are no air pockets, I like to round the bottom a bit by rocking the bottom of the mound gently along the canvas table. This will give it a flat surface which to place on the bat.
Step 2

Centering the Clay.

CENTER THE CLAY.
Insert the bat holes into the bat pins of the wheelhead. Take the kneaded clay, flattened side down and slam it into the center of the bat as close as you can.

My own preference at this point is to slowly spin the wheel and see how close to center I am. I gently hit the clay from the side and top to center it as much as possible. This will save you from having to exert pressure on your tendons.

Next continue to center the rest of the way. Dip your hands in the water, then with one palm of the hand exerting pressure from the top and the other exerting pressure from the side at the same time compact te clay until it stops wobbling. As the clay spins and dries out, your hands will begin to stick, so rewet your hands and continue to center.

The clay will be centered when you can spin the wheel and the clay has no wobble.
Step 3

Creating the center of the bowl.

FLATTEN THE CLAY OUT FOR A WIDE BASE AND BELLY OUT THE BOWL.
Once the clay is centered, I flatten the top of the mound with the palm of my hand to widen the bowl's base. This is very important because if you dont have a wide enough base, the bowl will have a greater chance of collapsing when you belly out the bowl later.

Continue to push harder with the palm of your hand making the belly of the bowl. Stop pushing down when you are about 3/4 to an inch from the bat. You can check the depth by sticking a needle tool into the center then gently covering the hole back over.
Step 4

Remember when pulling that you want to keep a wide rim at the bottom.

LIFT THE SIDES.
Take a sponge and run it around the base of the mound exerting minimal pressure to lift some clay from around the bottom. Then either with your sponge, knuckle or palm pull this ring of clay up to toward the top and slightly outward at the same time. Do not try to pull a large amount of clay at once or you will end up with a fat lip which the skinnier walls may not be able to support and the bowl will collapse.

Make two more pulls upward and slightly outward.
Step 5

The small rubber rib will smooth out the inside of the bowl.

SMOOTH THE INTERIOR WITH A RUBBER RIB.
With the small rubber rib, smooth the inside bowl from the center to the outer rim. Also use this rib to belly out the bowl and give it the shape that you want. Remember not to push too hard or the base of the bowl will not be able to support the weight and the bowl will collapse.
Step 6

Hold fingers like position of fingers in photo.

TRIM THE RIM.
To trim the rim use your needle tool. Hold it slightly at an angle where you want the rim to be cut. Spin the wheel and slowly push the needle tool in to trim. Quickly pull off the top. To soften the edges of the rim, create a jig with your fingers like in the photo. Place thumb and index finger on each side of the bowl with the index finger of the other hand on the top of the other two fingers. Spin the wheel and the rim will conform to this shape. To soften even further, take a piece of shammy or even a soft strip of cloth or paper. Hold each side with either hand and form a loop. Fit this loop over the rim and run it around.
Step 7

Trim a foot.

TRIM AWAY EXCESS CLAY AT THE BASE.
Use the beveled edge of the wooden edger tool along the base of the bowl to create a nice base shape and remove any unwanted clay. I also like to clean my bat at this point around the base with this tool.
Step 8

Smooth the outside with a metal rib.

SMOOTH THE OUTSIDE WITH METAL RIB.
Smooth the outside of the bowl with a metal rib held slightly flexed to conform to the bowl's shape and held at an angle to the bowl wall.
Step 9

Freshly thrown bowl.

LET THE CLAY DRY.
At this point let the bowl dry to a leather hard state before trimming. I advise to cover the bowl with plastic for a slow drying time.