Day 4 : Baby steps in throwing

It was finally time to sit at the throwing wheels we had all been eyeing since the day we set foot in the studio.

Little did we know that we won't be throwing majestic pieces with them anytime soon.

Wedging and centering clay, according to our teacher, was a very important thing to perfect, no matter how impatient we were. 

Getting to watch beautiful billowing vases and curved bowls spring out of a spinning lump of clay was going to take much more work than we thought.

But with the imagery of working at the wheel like a pro still fresh in our minds we got to work learning the spiral kneading technique.

This technique twisted the clay in a single direction over and over again, resulting in a spiral pattern at the bottom that looked like a nautilus shell to me. This was to efficiently get rid of air pockets and make it easier to form a shape that can be centered on a wheel.

Next came the actual centering, finally at the wheel. But terracotta, being a very thirsty and tough type of clay posed a challenge right away. But I have to say it was a fun experience. 

The water we kept splashing onto the mounds of clay we tried to center, created a slurry of clay that sprayed out in all directions as we tried to control the speed of the wheel and center the clay at the same time.

Ribbons of clay slurry zipped through the air splashing on our feet and our neighbours, and pieces of wet clay flew through the air and onto the floor as our fingers tried to control the spinning towers of clay.

Who knew that soft pliable clay could be so stubborn at times? 

But it wasn't all for nothing, after figuring out how to consistently center the clay on a wheel, I was able to make a teeny tiny pot.