Wedging Clay on the Potter's Wheel

Video Transcript

"The wedging table contains two to three inches of plaster enclosed in a wooden form, and it is covered with a canvas sheet. The canvas prevents chips of plaster from depositing itself in the clay which can cause cracking and problems in the fired clay. The absorbent surface keeps the moist clay from sticking to the table. And the wedging process accomplishes two things. One, it evenly distributes the moisture content throughout the clay, and secondly, it removes any air bubbles from the clay. What you can do is pat the clay and shape the clay into a slight cone shape with a rounded bottom, keeping it on it's side, both hands pressing down, and then rolling it back. And by repeating this process, you're forming pleats of clay into itself and you're not overlapping the clay trapping air in it. So repeating the process by pressing down and pushing back will thoroughly wedge the clay. At the end of the process, the cone shape, with the slightly rounded bottom, should look pretty much the same. If not, you can pat it into that shape."