Pottery wheel explainers
Struggling to cone on the pottery wheel?
Coning looks like a flourish. Like the potter is showing off a little.
It is not. It is the least glamorous thing that happens at a wheel, and skipping it is a big part of why some people cannot get their clay to hold still no matter how hard they lean on it.
If your cone keeps mushrooming out, twisting into a screw, or snapping clean off in your hands, you are in the right place. All three come from a short list of causes, and not one of them is that you are bad at this.
It is the least glamorous thing at the wheel, and skipping it is a big part of why clay will not hold still.
Coning is wedging, done on the wheel
Squeeze inward low so the clay climbs. Lay a hand flat on top and lean your weight down through it. Twice up, twice down.
That is the short version, and it is close enough to true to run with.
Squeezing the clay up through a narrow shape and pressing it back down does two jobs at once. It finds and closes the air pockets your wedging missed, because the clay has to funnel through a smaller cross section to get up there. And it drags the particles into a spiral all running the same direction, which is what lets clay stretch later instead of tearing.
You can skip it. People do.
Their pots come out shorter and they usually cannot say why.
The elevator
Set the wheel a little faster than feels comfortable. Wet hands, and keep them wet the whole way.
Put the heels of your palms low on the clay, one on each side, and squeeze inward . Not upward. Just in. The clay is going to look for somewhere to go and the only direction left open to it is up, so up it goes, and your hands travel along with it rather than dragging it.
Heels of your palms low on the clay, one each side, squeezing inward . Not upward. Just in. The only direction left open to the clay is up, so up it goes, and your hands ride along with it.
Move at the pace the clay is actually rising. Get ahead of it and you thin the neck out. Fall behind and you undo the squeeze.
Volcano, not spire
Wide base, blunt top, stands there happily on its own. If the top has gone narrow and pointed you have squeezed too hard up near the peak, and it is seconds away from twisting off.
This is where centering actually happens
Going up gets the clay ready. Coming down is the part that does the work, which surprises people, because going up is the part that looks impressive.
Lay the side of your non dominant hand flat across the top of the cone. Brace the outside of the clay with the other hand. Both hands are one tool here. If they act independently you get a mushroom, every time.
Lay one hand flat across the top of the cone and brace the outside with the other. Both hands are one tool. Independent hands make a mushroom.
Now lean. Do not press with your arm, bring your shoulder over the wheel and let your body weight travel down through the cone. Go slowly. Somewhere on the way down your hands will stop buzzing, and that is the clay locking into the middle, and it is genuinely one of the better feelings in this whole craft.
Now lean. Bring your shoulder over the wheel and let your body weight travel down through the cone. Somewhere on the way down your hands stop buzzing. That is the clay locking into the middle.
One video, and it is the clearest one out there
Not ours. It is just the demonstration I keep coming back to, because the camera angle actually shows the hands doing the work rather than the pretty result.
Not ours. The camera angle actually shows the hands doing the work.
Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.
One of these is right and three are warnings
You can diagnose most coning trouble by looking at the silhouette. If the shape has gone wrong, the fix is almost always already decided.
- 1 The one you want. Wide at the base, blunt across the top, standing on its own. A volcano, not a spire. Volcano, not spire.
- 2 The needle. Squeezed too hard near the peak. This is about four seconds from twisting off in your hands. You squeezed the peak.
- 3 The mushroom. The top flared out past the base because your bracing hand went soft while the other kept pressing. Bracing hand went soft. Squeeze the side harder.
- 4 The screw. Your hands climbed faster than the wheel could bring clay around. Speed the wheel up, slow the hands down. Wheel too slow. Speed it up, slow your hands.
What is yours doing?
Five failures cover nearly everything I get asked about at the wheels.
Your bracing hand went soft
The top hand kept pressing while the side hand relaxed, so the clay escaped sideways because sideways was available. Squeeze the outside in harder as you push down, and keep both hands in contact the whole descent.
Your hands are outrunning the wheel
You are climbing faster than the wheel can bring fresh clay around, so it shears instead of rising evenly. Speed the wheel up, slow your hands down, and give it a slow count of three from the base to the top.
You squeezed the peak
Pressure has to come off as you near the top. The narrow part cannot take the same squeeze the wide part could. Ease out gradually over the last few inches instead of holding the same grip all the way up.
Not enough inward pressure, or the wheel is too slow
Coning up runs on centrifugal force plus a genuine squeeze. If the wheel is loafing along, there is nothing pushing the clay outward for you to redirect. Speed up first, then squeeze harder, in that order.
Too many trips, too much water
Every pass works more water into the clay. Two trips up and down is where I land almost every time. Once often misses something. Six turns good clay into a lump that will not hold a wall.
Twice up and down. Then stop.
Not once, and not six times. Once usually does not find everything hiding in there. Six has been working water into your clay the whole time, and soft clay will not hold a wall no matter how well centered it is.
Not once, and not six. Once misses things. Six works so much water into the clay that it will not hold a wall.
If it takes three, take three. Nobody is counting but you.
But if you are on your fifth trip up and it still will not settle, stop.
The problem is behind you, back at the wedging table, and no amount of coning is going to fix it now. Cut the lump in half and look at the cut face. A swirl of light and dark, a dry seam, a run of little air pockets. There is your answer, and it was never your hands.
The problem is behind you at the wedging table, not in your hands.
Which version would you like to print?
Videos come out as a labelled box with the title and channel to search for, since paper does not play them.