Pulling a Dome on the Potter's Wheel

Video Transcript

"Alright now that we have got our clay centered we are ready to start opening this up and start building the walls. Now for this birdhouse the top is actually completely open so we are going to push all the way through the center of the clay all the way through to the vat head. Then pull out and it looks like the top is open but we are doing this upside down by the way and I hadn't mentioned that yet. Pull it out until it is about six, seven inches wide. Those little wrens don't need a huge place to live in, they like to feel a little bit closed in. And now once you have got this pulled out like this you are ready to pull the walls up. So you are going to take your right thumb and push it up underneath the clay so that you have got a nice big rim that you can pull up with your left hand. I am pinching together with my index finger and my thumb with my left hand and pulling up and as I do that I am compressing down with my right hand and the sponge and this helps to keep the entire wall stable and the rim nice and smooth and even and it is called annular centering. Now we are going to be making a dome out of this so once you have got yourself a pretty thick cylinder pulled up the next step is to pull this into a dome and then close it."