Tools & Clay Preparation for Making Noodle Bowls

Series Summary

Ceramics, the craft of forming pottery, is over twelve thousand years old, pottery appearing in the tenth millennium before the Birth of Christ. The pottery wheel was invented between the 6th and 2nd millenniums B.C. in Mesopotamia and completely changed pottery production, allowing pottery to be created much faster and more uniform in shape. Today, in the twenty-first century, pottery is produced on a large scale; however, individual potters can mix their own clay or dig it from the ground and focus more on the art and beauty aspects of creating ceramic pottery. A ceramics artist can use the potter's wheel to throw many different types of ceramic vases, pots, and bowls. Learn how to throw clay noodle bowls in this free ceramics video series featuring artist Chris Cook. Chris will demonstrate how to center a hump of clay on the pottery wheel, how to wheel wedge clay on the pottery wheel, how to open clay on the hump, how to shape a noodle bowl on the pottery wheel, how to remove a bowl from the hump, how to throw a noodle bowl on the pottery wheel, how to create pottery handles for noodle bowls, how to create finger holes for a noodle bowl, how to trim noodle bowls, how to make holes for chopsticks in a clay noodle bowl, and how to cut notches for chopsticks in a ceramic noodle bowl.

Video Transcript

"Okay, this demo here is going to be, it's going to be throwing off the hump, and we're going to be making some noodle bowls, but we're going to make them in a very unorthodox way. We're going to take them, we're going to throw them off the hump, we're going to squish, and we're going to squish them until there's little handles, and they're really neat little items. Real easy to make, real fun to make. As long as you pay attention to a few rules, you should be able to pump these things out blindfolded. But, you want to start off with all your ducks in a row. So you have your hump of clay ready to roll, you've got your tools, you've got your potter's knife here, your wire here, needle tool, sponge, and rubber ribbon. With them here, we'll be ready to make some noodle bowls off the hump."