Trimming a Clay Goblet

Video Transcript

"So our goblet has set up overnight, the connection has reached the leather hard stage and we're ready to trim it. We're going to put it back on the giffin-grip. Make sure that it's nice and centered by tapping it a little bit. And then tighten it a little bit more. A lot of times your stem and your cup will be just slightly off center from each and that's not a big deal. Once you've trimmed it and it's complete no one will ever know. You're going to use a ribbon tool to do the trimming. It's called a ribbon tool because it makes a ribbon of clay whenever you press it against the clay to trim it off. And the first thing you want to do is shape the bowl. You want that cup to have a nice smooth curve. In this case, because I'm trying to make it look a little bit like a wine glass. And then once you've done that, there's kind of an endless number of possibilities of what you can do to the stem. Think of it like a table leg that you're turning on a lathe. You can make a ball, you can make little points. There's so many different things you can do with this. I like to go simple. So I'm just going to make this little ball with an undercut. And there we have a completed goblet ready to dry and go to the firing process."