Wedging Potter's Clay

Series Summary

Ceramics are art works made out of clay bodies that harden with the application of heat. Originating in Chinese, Cretan, Greek, Roman and Mayan cultures, ceramics have a long history that dates back to the third millennium B.C. Pottery was used to create food and water jars, decorative bowls, sacred urns and religious idols. Potters most traditionally use their hands, but several tools exist to aid the ceramic making process, including the potter's wheel. Ceramics range from functional large vessels to decorative sculptures and remain both a long-loved craft as well as a fine art. Many artists combine the utilitarian and aesthetic aspects of ceramics to create large clay pots on the pottery wheel. Learn how to make a large clay pot on the pottery wheel using techniques in this free ceramics video series featuring ceramic artist Chris Cook. Cook demonstrates how to wedge potter's clay, wheel wedge clay for large pots, center clay for large pots, open clay for large pots, establish the bottom of a large pot on the pottery wheel, stabilize a large pot on the pottery wheel, shape a large clay pot on the pottery wheel, add decorations to a clay pot and how to remove a large clay pot from the pottery wheel.

Video Transcript

"We are going to make a large vessel now and that's going to start off with a big piece of clay about like this. I am going to make sure that you get this nice and centered when you are going to throw because if you have any weird fold or any inconsistencies in a large chunk of clay like this you will not be able to follow through with the pot. Now you see I'm wedging it here, you see the technique. It is all around and around and around and you are going to keep wedging, wedge this clay until you can't wedge it anymore and then stop and you wedge it some more and then when you think it's ready to go, wedge it some more and then by the time you are able to really really do it there shouldn't be any more air bubbles in it. You want to make sure that this is facing up and go ahead and have that at the top and then we're ready to go the wheel with this."