The pottery wheel · Throwing blindfolded

An exercise, not a party trick.

Your eyes lie to you about centering. They say the clay is true while your hands can still feel the knock. Covering them for one small pot is the fastest way to find out what your hands already knew, and most people center better for weeks afterwards.

This page is the setup, the safety list, the four things to feel for, and the tick lists you will be working from memory, because once the blindfold is on you cannot read anything. Six fixes and four videos of other people’s hands.

This is the short version: the setup, the pulse, the three pulls and the cross section, each with a tick list. The reasoning and the questions are in the comprehensive version.

1 lbOf clay. Enough to feel, small enough to keep on the wheel
x3Pulls, counted out loud. The fourth is where it fails
x4Videos, from potters who have nothing to do with us
x4Steps, each with a tick list you can work off
Jump to a section
Why this page has words and video The whole idea in three lines The exercise in six moves What you need at the wheel 1. Setup and safety 2. Centering by the pulse 3. Opening and pulling 4. The look Four videos, four blindfolds The one video to watch When it goes wrong How it works at The Clay Hole Questions people actually ask Related lessons
A potter in overalls with a green cloth over their eyes, shaping a grey bowl on a spinning wheel in a pottery studio

The setup, the four feelings, the reasoning and four videos.

Read it, then watch it

Why this is written down and filmed, both.

This is the one page in the University where video is the point and the page is the setup. You cannot read your way to feeling a wobble. But you can read the safety list, the amount of clay, the wheel speed and the four things to feel for, and have them in your head before the blindfold goes on, because once it is on you cannot look anything up. The videos are for watching other people’s hands do what yours are about to do.

Use both, in this order

Read the setup and the four feelings. Watch one video for the hands. Do it once, cut the pot in half, look. The tick list is short because you will be doing it from memory.

The whole idea

Your eyes lie about centering. Cover them once and find out what your hands knew.

One pound of clay, a slow wheel, elbows braced, someone next to you who knows. Center until the pulse in your hands stops. Open where the clay pushes back evenly. Three counted pulls. Blindfold off, cut it in half, look.

The five-minute version

The whole exercise in six moves.

If you already center reliably and you just want the shape of it, this is the shape of it. Everything below is these six moves, slowed down and with the places they fail marked.

1Set up so you cannot get hurtOne pound of clay. Splash pan on. Hair back, sleeves up, tools out of reach. Slow wheel. Someone next to you told.
2Brace, then center by the pulseElbows on thighs. Press until the knock in your hands fades to nothing, then hold three more turns.
3Open by where it pushes backThumb down the middle. If it pushes harder on one side, you are off center. Stop, feel, go again.
4Three counted pullsCount out loud. Feel the wall between finger and thumb at the top after every pull.
5Hands off slowlyEverything on slowly, everything off slowly. Wheel stopped with the foot before the blindfold comes off.
6Cut it in half and lookThe cross section is the report card. Wedge it up. Do it again next week.

Before the blindfold

What you need at the wheel.

Six things, and one of them is a person. The one to take seriously is the last: sharp tools off the tray, because you will reach for them.

One pound of clayWeighed, wedged, no more. Small enough to keep on the wheel when a hand does something strange.
A blindfold that actually blindsA folded towel and a hair tie, or a sleep mask. Tie it so no ends hang loose, and skip the scarf, because anything that dangles near a wheel can catch. Closed eyes open themselves the moment the pot wobbles.
A splash pan and less waterThe pan on, and a sponge rather than a pour. Blindfolded potters flood wheels.
A spotterThe person at the next wheel, told what you are doing, willing to say stop. On a class night, the instructor.
A wireFor cutting the finished pot in half. The cross section is what you came for.
Nothing sharp within reachNeedle tools, knives and ribs off the wheel tray before the blindfold goes on. You will reach for them without thinking.

One pound of clay, a real blindfold, a splash pan, a spotter, a wire, and no sharp tools in reach.

1

Step one

Set up so that nothing can go wrong that matters.

It is a spinning wheel and you cannot see it. So: one pound of clay, wedged. Hair tied back, sleeves rolled, necklaces and apron strings off. Splash pan on. Every sharp tool off the tray. The wheel slower than you normally throw. Your foot on the pedal so you can stop it without looking. The person at the next wheel told.

Then center it with your eyes open, once, so you know what today’s clay and today’s wheel feel like when it is right. Feel it while you look at it: put both hands on the centered lump and notice that there is nothing to notice, no pulse, no knock, just clay turning under still hands. That is the feeling you are about to try to find blind. Then take it off center on purpose with a nudge, stop the wheel, and put the blindfold on.

On a class night, ask the instructor first. Open studio has no instructor on the floor, so whoever is at the next wheel is your spotter: show them where the pedal is before you start.

Tick list, setup0 of 5
2

Step two

Center by the pulse, and hold longer than you want to.

An off-center lump knocks against your hands once every turn. That knock is the whole signal. Elbows on your thighs, hands locked together, a steady wheel speed, and press in and slightly down until the knock fades. Keep pressing three more turns. Ease off slowly.

Two things go wrong. The first is easing off the moment the knock seems to fade, which is exactly when your hands are still steadying a lump that will wobble again without them. Hold. The second is pressing gently because you cannot see what you are doing; blindfolded potters are timid, and timid never centers. Press as hard as you would with your eyes open, with your elbows doing the work.

If it will not settle, cone it: hands squeezing in and up to a tall cone, then a hand on top pushing it back down, once. The cone is easier to feel than a low lump, and coming back down from it usually lands centered. Our coning lesson is the sighted version.

Tick list, centering0 of 5
3

Step three

Open where it pushes back evenly, then three counted pulls.

The thumb finds the middle by pressure. Press a thumb down slowly on top of the lump. If the clay pushes back harder on one side, you are off center; move toward the softer side. When it pushes back evenly, go down, stop a thumb’s width short of the wheel head, and pull the thumb toward you.

Then pull, and count out loud. Fingers inside, knuckle or fingertip outside, pressed toward each other at the base, then lifted together slowly up the wall. After each pull, feel the wall between finger and thumb at the rim: is it the same thickness as the last time? Three pulls and stop. Sighted, three pulls is the norm and maybe four, and you check the rim by eye each time; blind, the fourth pull is where it thins to nothing without warning. Stop short, thick and honest.

Everything on slowly, everything off slowly. A hand snatched away from a spinning pot is what sends it across the room. Stop the wheel with the foot before the blindfold comes off, every time, so that the first thing you see is a still pot and not a moving one.

Tick list, opening and pulling0 of 5
4

Step four

Look, cut it in half, and write down what your hands knew.

The cross section is the report card. Blindfold off. Look before you touch. Then wire it in half top to bottom: where the wall is thick, where it is thin, how thick the floor is, whether the base is centered.

Then the useful part, which is comparing what you saw to what you felt. If you felt a knock and told yourself it was centered, that is the lie your eyes have been telling you at every wheel session, and now you know its shape. If the wall is thick at the bottom, that is where your hands stop trusting each other on a pull. Most potters find one specific thing, and it is the thing they fix over the next month with their eyes open.

Then wedge it up. Keeping a blindfolded pot is allowed, but the pot was never the point, and the second time you do this, in a week or two, it will be better than the first by more than any other exercise on the wheel.

Tick list, the look0 of 4

Watch it done

Now watch four videos of people doing this with their eyes covered.

Watch this one, then go weigh out a pound.

None of these potters work here or know we exist. Between them they cover a potter throwing blind, a short project video, the hardest version of a TV challenge, and one potter at one wheel. Nothing but the still frame loads until you press play.

Eight minutes of a potter throwing with their eyes covered. The other four videos are in the comprehensive version.

Start here: a potter, blindfolded Throwing Blindfolded - 4K video! Matthew Kelly Pottery
Eight minutes of a potter throwing with their eyes covered. Watch on YouTube
Blindfolded throwing, from 0:37 I threw this BLINDFOLDED! Jonthepotter
Six minutes, and the blindfolded throwing is one chapter of it, from 0:37 to 1:23. The rest is carving, glazing and the maker’s reflection. Watch on YouTube
The same challenge, harder Great Pottery Throw Down | The Hardest Blindfold Challenge Ever Channel 4 Entertainment
Four minutes from the same TV show, billed as the hardest blindfold challenge. Watch on YouTube
One potter, one wheel Throwing Blind Folded | Pottery Wheel | Beginner Wheel Throwing | Pottery Basics | Stoneware Deepa Godiawala
Almost eight minutes of one potter at one wheel, which is closer to what this exercise feels like in a studio. Watch on YouTube

When it goes wrong

Six ways it goes wrong, and what to do about each.

The three failures that happen on the first try.

Pick the one that looks like your wheel. All six are things your hands would have told you about if you had been listening, which is the point.

How it works here

At The Clay Hole, tell your neighbor first.

This page is written for potters everywhere. A few things are specific to our building.

Three things to know here

Any electric wheel, first come, first served; the kick wheel opens at Purple Level. Tell the person next to you, and on a class night ask the instructor first. Wipe the wheel and the floor down wet afterwards; a blindfolded potter floods the wheel, and dry clay dust is silica.

The wheels

Every Level can use the electric wheels, first come, first served. The kick wheel opens at Purple Level. Pick one at the end of a row if you can, with a wall on one side, so a pot that gets away has fewer places to go. Open studio needs two instructed classes first, one if you came in experienced.

The neighbor and the instructor

Tell whoever is next to you before the blindfold goes on. On a class night, ask the instructor; it is the kind of thing they will want to watch, and they are the best spotter in the building. Nobody minds. Everybody wants to try it afterwards.

Cleanup

A blindfolded potter uses more water and spreads it further. Wipe the wheel, the splash pan and the floor down wet when you finish. Never sweep dry clay; it is silica and everybody breathes it.

Clay

One pound from your own bag. Keep the scraps to wedge up and use again; reclaiming happens at home, not here. Our eight clay bodies all work; a smoother body gives a clearer pulse in the hands than a groggy one, which is a small argument for B-Mix on the day you try this.

Questions people actually ask

The ones that come up every week.

Why would anyone do this?

Because your eyes lie about centering. They tell you the clay is centered when your hands can still feel a wobble, and they tell you a wall is even when it is not. Covering them for one pot makes you listen to your hands, and most people find their centering improves for weeks afterwards. It is an exercise, not a party trick, and it is on the syllabus at good pottery schools for that reason.

Should I be able to center already?

Yes. This is an intermediate exercise for someone who centers reliably with their eyes open and wants to know what their hands actually know. If centering is still a struggle sighted, our centering lesson comes first, and this page waits for you.

Is it safe?

It is a spinning wheel and you cannot see it, so treat it that way. Small clay, one pound. Hair tied back, sleeves up, nothing loose. Splash pan on. Wheel slower than usual. Tools out of reach so you cannot knock a needle into your lap. Someone next to you who knows what you are doing. Foot on the pedal so you can stop it without looking. Do all of that and the main thing you are likely to hurt is the pot.

How much clay?

One pound, no more. Enough to feel, small enough that a mistake stays on the wheel. A four pound lump that gets away from a blindfolded potter is a four pound lump on the floor and possibly on a neighbor.

What am I actually feeling for?

Centering: a pulse or knock in your hands once a revolution that fades to nothing. Opening: the thumb finding the middle by where the clay pushes back evenly. Pulling: the wall between finger and thumb getting thinner, and the same thickness the whole way up. Rim: a fingertip resting on it feeling no rise and fall. All four are things you have been feeling all along and letting your eyes overrule.

What do I do with the pot?

Cut it in half with a wire and look at the cross section. That is the exercise's report card: where the wall is thick, where it is thin, where the base is. Then wedge it up. Keeping a blindfolded pot is allowed but missing the point.

Can I do this at The Clay Hole?

Yes, on any electric wheel, with the safety rules above and a word to whoever is next to you. On a class night, ask the instructor first; it is the kind of thing they will want to watch. Open studio has no instructor on the floor, so show whoever is at the next wheel where the pedal is before you start.

Related lessons

Six lessons that sit next to this one.

Three to read next.

Blind throwing is every basic wheel skill with the lights off. These are the lights.

The pottery wheelHow to Center ClayThe sighted version, and the page to master before this one. The pottery wheelConing Up and DownThe rescue move when centering will not settle. The pottery wheelPulling WallsThe hand offset, which is what blind pulls teach by force. The pottery wheelOpening the Clay and Setting the FloorThe thumb finding the middle, with the lights on. The pottery wheelProportions, Ratios and Wall ThicknessWhat a good cross section looks like. The pottery wheelHow to Throw on the Pottery WheelThe whole sighted method, start to finish.

That is the whole exercise

Small clay. Slow wheel. Feel the pulse. Count the pulls. Cut it in half.

Your first blindfolded pot will be lopsided, thick at the bottom and honest. That is the report card, and it will tell you one specific thing your eyes have been hiding. Fix that thing with the lights on and come back in two weeks.

If you want the reasoning, the four feelings in full and the answers to the questions everybody asks, switch to the comprehensive version at the top. Otherwise, go weigh out a pound.

Back to Clay Hole University Centering, with the lights on

Written for potters everywhere. Where our studio does things differently, the page says so.