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This week Tue Oct 13, 7:00 pm ET: Throw-along, “Cylinders that stay standing” See the schedule

Mudroom Clay Club with Nico Ferrante

WF-01 · Celadon tile

Wheel Foundations

Wedging, centering, opening and pulling walls, in the order your hands actually learn them.

  • Beginner
  • 16 lessons
  • 2 h 35 min
  • Pairs with Tuesday throw-along
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Free lesson

Coning up and down

12:30 · captions and transcript

About this course

Most people quit the wheel in the first month because centering feels like luck. It isn't. This course breaks it into small moves you can practice for ten minutes at a time, then builds to a straight six-inch cylinder. You'll cut a lot of pots in half on purpose. That's how you see what your hands are doing.

You'll make

  • A dozen practice cylinders you cut in half to learn from
  • Your first keeper: a straight cylinder about six inches tall
  • A drying routine that stops rims from cracking

What you need

  • A wheel at home, or time at a community studio
  • About 25 lb of stoneware clay to start
  • A basic kit: sponge, needle tool, wooden rib and a cutting wire

Curriculum

5 units · 16 lessons · 2 h 35 min

  1. Unit 1: Before the wheel

    3 lessons
    1. 1.1 Setting up a wheel at home 7:40
    2. 1.2 Wedging: ram's head and spiral 11:05
    3. 1.3 Water, slip and how wet is too wet 6:20

  2. Unit 2: Centering

    3 lessons
    1. 2.1 Coning up and down Free 12:30
    2. 2.2 Centering one pound, then two 14:10
    3. 2.3 When it won't center: five fixes 9:45

  3. Unit 3: Opening and the floor

    3 lessons
    1. 3.1 Opening without drilling a hole 8:15
    2. 3.2 Compressing the floor 6:50
    3. 3.3 Checking floor thickness with a needle tool 5:30

  4. Unit 4: Pulling walls

    4 lessons
    1. 4.1 Your first pull 13:20
    2. 4.2 Three pulls to a six-inch cylinder 16:40
    3. 4.3 Collapse clinic: why walls fold 10:05
    4. 4.4 Cutting a pot in half to learn from it 7:25

  5. Unit 5: Finishing on the wheel

    3 lessons
    1. 5.1 Ribs, rims and compression 9:10
    2. 5.2 Wiring off and lifting 6:35
    3. 5.3 Drying slowly: plastic, shelves and patience 8:00

The rest of the tile wall

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