Preparing Clay for the Potter's Wheel

Video Transcript

"Now that we have our clay wedged we are ready to cut it in pieces and ball it up to use on the wheel. This is where your wire tool comes in, this is a very good tool for cutting clay. It is just like cutting cheese. You slice right through it and it comes right apart. Now if you are looking to get a certain size piece of clay it is great to have a kitchen scale. Something like about a mug, you are going to want a pound so I have got a little but too much and that is about right for a mug and that is what I am going to show you first. So then once you have got the size clay you want you are going to want to ball this up by hitting it back and forth in your hand and get as close to a spear as you can, this is going to make the next step which is centering a lot easier. So you are just going to get a couple of those ready. You don't want to have to go back and forth between the wheel and the table every time. And now we are ready to throw."