How to Throw a Bowl, on the pottery wheel, for beginngers!!!

1. How to Throw a Bowl for Beginners! Intro with Molly Sanyour: Hi Skillshare, I'm Molly January. I'm a ceramic artist and teacher coming to you from Richmond, Virginia. I'm currently a high-school ceramics teacher where I teach beginning level ceramics, both wheel throwing and handling. I also have my own strengths business, Molly Sanger's ceramics, where I make my own wears, some of which had been seen with Lizzo most recently in her death campaign for body positivity, where she's naked with just my butt mud covering her. Boom. She also had them in her Vogue interview where she cheers with the interviewer. My work has also found that the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the cork gallery here in Richmond, Virginia. In business, I've also made partnerships with other pottery companies like LL kiln, diamond core tools, and speed ball bats, where we've just released the black Molly seniors ceramics bat. I've also started a membership called thrown with Molly, where client Uzziah lasts from all skill levels and Oliver the world join weekly to talk all things clay. If you're looking to join a community, looking at further, be sure to visit my website to learn more and sign up. I've been learning about ceramics since I became a ceramics major in college. I can't stop learning, taking workshops from all over the world from the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado. Do you flying all the way to Athens, Greece to learn about naked raccoon firings with Galli, Galli, this art through Skillshare. I'm really excited to bring all of my knowledge and tips and tricks to you to help you have a successful time in your studio practice. In this video, I'm going to show you how to grow the perfect bowl with that continuous interior curve. So let's get into it. 2. Prepping your clay for success while throwing a bowl on the wheel!: All right, Let's get into it. How to throw a ball for beginners. First, you want to start with a ball of clay that fits nicely in your hands. Too small or too big is going to be a challenge. Next, you want to make sure that you watch it up and I'll post the video for that to come. And then you want to make sure that you tap it around. If you put this down right now, you're going to trap some air bubbles. So take an open fifth, make sure you tap it round and smooth. You also want to think about creating like an egg shape where it's a little more fatter and rather on the bottom and a little more points here on the truck tap and I surround into an X-shaped and then place it on my wheel. With dry hands. It's important to start dry, too dry to drive you add any water it could go flying at this point. So with dry hands, you want to use the palms of your hands at 39 o'clock on the wheel. Let it's been really slow and tap downwards. Really slow tapping down. This is making sure it's stuck on the wheel. And then by tapping up, you're also bringing it into the cone, which will be our first step. 3. Some tools you might want to use while throwing a bowl on the wheel!: Now when we throw a ball, there are few tools that I like. I personally love a double flimsy ritual because it allows me to get a curve in one and then bring the curve and to the other to make that perfect continuous curve. I do love a wooden knife because it helps me cut away some of the clay at the base, which then I need my needle tool to cut through and remove. And then I love to have a few sponges with my bucket of water to add water as I need to. All right. So now that we've use dry hands to tap it into a cone, our first step is to come this clay up and down on the wheel. 4. Coning the clay up and down!: Counting up and down is like wedging on the wheel. It's going to squeeze out any inconsistencies and air bubbles and make sure clay spending smooth and consistent and almost centered. At this point I'm going to add water with my right hand. I love using a sponge and my right hand. So as any more water, I can just squeeze on it and there it goes. While we call an up and down while we open and center and all the things that leptin is the boss, the right-hand will have a chance to be the boss later. I am a right hand or my wheel is spinning counterclockwise and my left hand is going to be the boss. That means it has to be stable so I can be anchored against the clay and there'll be no wobbling happening. To allow that to happen. My elbows gonna go my hip socket. So as I leaned my body forward, my whole forearm pushes into the clay. You should have a straight line from your forearm into the clay. You don't want it over here or over there for I'm going straight into the club. My left hand is flexed. I'm using the palm to the thumb to help create that cone just leaning on it from my hip socket. Meanwhile, the right hand is going to assist and squeezing up that claim, working on any inconsistencies, my wet sponge is going to start on the back. I'm using all three fingertips to press down on the back to get all this clay at the base. And I'm going to squeeze into my left hand almost like I'm gonna clap these fingertips into this Pong. You want them working across from each other. Right thumb latches onto I can just squeeze and close in and get that leverage. Plenty of water, plenty of speed starting at the HBAT latch on and allow these right fingertips to grip into that clay left hand is the boss not wobbling around and come all the way up and then hold the top, let it rotate, rotate, rotate and then always slow. A release usually come off the cliff. So you can see on that first coning up and down, I've got some issues to work out down here. It looks a little smooth, but we're gonna count up and down until it feels smooth. And cleaning up the clay from my sponge, loading a backup of water, I can add a little bit. And now that left boss hand has to support the top of the clay. The right hand which is not anchored, it's gonna make a fist around the thumb and that this is going to make contact with the center of the cone, depress the clay downwards to the bath. What sponges in my hands so it doesn't get stuck on the left-hand side. The boss blacks against the top right-hand is gonna hug the thumb. This will push down speed is my friend. Now, as I press to the bat, I've made it flat. If I go to calm that up and I have an issue, make sure I've established my cone. The right-hand can open up and drop down like prayer hands from the top all the way to the bottom of the plate. Looks like this pressing down then relaxed, let this right-hand for us on the client all the way to the back. Left hand makes sure that you haven't slipped back and you're using your fingers, you want to use the palm against the clay the whole time while that right hand is doing the jobs, you should make a circle at the base to know that you've reached the bottom. That's cutting up and down. Let's do it again. Add more water left-hand side boss, leaning firmly from the floor and going through the center of the fingertips, starting at the base of the clay, latching on to give me more leveraged, squeezing those fingertips into my left palm, letting the clay rotate and then moving up with it, going patiently got to let it rotate and then come up. When I get to the top, I hold it, let it rotate, rotate, rotate and slow-release, slipping much more smooth. Now, clean up that sponge. Hug my left thumb. Now here's something that could happen and go wrong as the right-hand is pressing down. If the left-hand takes a break and it doesn't want to be the boss and the right-hand things, it's the boss. You're gonna get this mushroom every time and that can create air bubbles to make sure you don't get the mushroom if you want that left hand applying pressure the whole time. The hands are patient wheel as fast pressing that client towards the back. And as you get to the top, you want to draw pressure from the tops. And they said it could be prayer, or it could be just taking those fingertips and dropping the pressure from the top. Let it rotate, brought down, let it rotate, bring it down, let it rotate. Bringing download rigid, green, all the way to the base, lift, rotate, rotate, rotate, slow release. The whole time you're trying to gradually contain that clay you want too wide or too narrow. That's coning up and down. So cutting up and down is a great step to help make sure that your clay is prepare that it's smooth and it pretty much centers your play for you. Now, as we come down this time, we're gonna press to center. 5. Centering the clay!: Let's talk about centering. When we center the clay, after we've made sure it's prepared, the left hand is still the bosses, so anchored in my hips I can lean on it and not allow the Plato wobble. The right hand is the assistant. It's going to make up this around my left Boston with the West bunch. I can squeeze water as I needed. Speed is my friend. They're connected working together. The fist is catching the center of the glade, pushing down. The difference of counting up and down in centering is I'm not going to drop it to a cone at this point. I'm going to allow my right hand and keep pressing down. Keep pressing down. I'm gonna stop slowly, get warm water. Keep pressing down, keep pressing down on town. My left hand reaches the back. So we're pressing down or pressing out and boom, there it is. See that black circle. One thing you want to make sure that your pinky is not gripping on underneath. You want to make sure you're using that flex left-hand leaning on the clay from your forearm through the center of the Clegg. And that is gonna be what makes this nice centered form nice and smooth. Meanwhile, the right-hand opens up like a karate chop, catching the center of that club. The left-hand of the boss, as it's leaning in, it wants to come back up. So that's on the right hand. Is there the stet study up hands are always connected. The right hands open like a karate chop, letting it stay flat across the top while that left hand is leans on making that nice inform, the centered form should look a little wider and then slow-release a little wider than it is tall. At this point, I got to clean up my bad. Let me tell you one thing about centering. If it gets off centered, again, this is what's happening in your left-hand, the bosses on the bat, it's leaning in, pushing that whole farm in the right hands flat across like a karate chop. They work together. Don't let the right-hand be the Boston Press down too far to get to where you want it. Hold it both hands lean and just hold it and just let it rotate, rotate, rotate and then slow release that centering. Now let's talk about opening and establishing the bottom. 6. Opening and Establishing the bottom of your Bowl!: At this point we have a center form. It can be a cylinder or a bowl or plate. We're going for the bowl. And when we throw a ball, we're looking for two things. We're looking for a continuous curve on the bottom and the top bit of the lip thin enough. Because when you flip it upside down, depending on how you're going to trim it, either with love's or a gift finger up or whatever tool you might use. You want to make sure that your lip is as thin as you want it because you might not be able to turn that part off. So continuous curve, top portion thin enough. One difference from a cylinder for me on a bolt is how I open it. With a cylinder. We try to keep that lip narrow, but for a bowl, I can go ahead and open it. I actually tend to use three fingers letting my middle finger reached the center of the cloud. Even though the right-hand is doing the opening, the left hand is still the boss. Arm is pushing for the forearm. Hands are connected plenty of water, plenty of speed. And these fingertips we'll drill down to the base. Now with this bowl, I wanted to leave about this much thickness so that I have room to trim up but later. So as I'm drilling and I'm kind of holding it and thinking, how thick does that bottom feel? That feels pretty good. And then I could check by bringing up my sponge, get that water out, stop the wheel, take a clean needle tool, stick it through the middle, put my finger where it reaches the client, pull it up and that Southlake, my bottom is, I don't think I want to go much thinner than that. I have opened. Now sometimes I will see my beginner, it'll pull from here. Then their foot is just this narrow to establish a foot wide enough to support your bowl to be a functional goal. You want to now for go from opening to pull back and establish your bottom. It looks like this left hand is still the boss, plenty of water. And the right-hand that just opened up these fingertips are gonna pull back, back, back, back, back while connected to the Boston to allow this play the foot of the clay, the face to open up. If I'm going to put hot soup in this, I need this foot to be wide enough to support the bowl when I'm eating out of it. So now my foot will be this wide. Instead of this way. You want to open up your foot as wide as you want it to be and then hold it and let it rotate, rotate, rotate. It ends are connected, Fosse hand thumbs connected, they're pulling towards you, letting it rotate, rotate, rotate. If you go too fast, you'll put spirals and get it off center. So be patient here, literally table here, let it rotate, blood here, let it rotate, and then slow-release. Now, if you watch the cylinder video, you already know the difference. This one is already opened really wide for a cylinder, we've got to keep that lift narrowed to get our height. But for a bowl again, we want those two things, a continuous curve and the top end of our lip, thin enough. From here I've run out my sponge and I'm gonna hold my sponge with both hands, elbows against my body and I'm gonna reach to center. If I were to slice this and have my bottom is almost curving and then kind of goes up. And I want that continuous curves, this move start creating elbows against my body. I'm going to reach to the centre of the clay and press on pressing there and I'm going to slowly come over, press slowly, come over, press slowly come over. And I'm not pressing as much because I don't want to press out on the wall. Now it looks really flat. So on them inward move, I'm going to come back and press harder and harder. As I get back to the center of pressing harder and harder. And it's going to help start that continuous curve. I come back, BEC, as I come out here, come back, press hard or as I go to center, my pressure is starting to create that continuous curve. It's also a good idea to make sure you're cleaning out your sponge. You want to squeeze it, the water so that that plays out. It's like All right now that's opening and establishing the bottom. So let's talk about pulling. 7. Pulling the Walls of Your Bowl!: When we pull the right hand is now the boss. That means it's stuck in my hip socket, so it's not wobbling around, It's nice and steady against my body. My right hand is going to drop some water at three o'clock, decode the clay so it will spin easily. My right hand is going to start at the base of the clay, getting all this clay and I do like a wet sponge, so it's my fingertip pressing over a wet sponge and the inside hand, even though it's not the boss, it's going to be in charge of that continuous curve for a cylinder, we want to start right there and pull up and in. But for a bowl we're going to allow the boss hand start pressing. You can see the play already moving. This inside hand is going to start in the center, but it's not going to start pressing until it patiently glides over, glides over, glides over them right there. As soon as I feel the clays between the pants and my finger, they can boost, squeeze on that clay and bring it out. And then up. And notice this little finger I'm putting it on the lips to compress all at one time. When I get to the top, I hold it and let it rotate, rotate, rotate. This inside is creating that curve by gliding over and then pressing out, and then they come up together, clean up my sponge. I can establish that curve bottom again with a little pressure from the sponge and then add a little water and do another poll getting all the fatness from the bottom, letting this hand glide over, pressing out with the inside hand into the Boston and then coming up together patiently holding the clay gently as it thins out at the top and compressing that lip at the top, let it rotate, rotate, rotate, slow release. So already I'm getting a nice curve. I'm gonna ramp my sponge checkout my curves. So from the center go over to 304, Back to center, really establishing that beautiful curve. And then I went to check on my lip help then is this feeling that feels pretty thin about this whole way. So that gives me a number and flip it over, put a log of clay to attach it and be able to trim the bottom part. When you throw, you're just looking at the interior form the bottle we trend later. Alright, So from this point I could consider this done, but I'm gonna show you how I liked to shaping tools. 8. Using a Rib to establish a continuous curve!: I'm gonna show you highlight to shaping tools that you want to think about. What kind of bullying this would be a good scrambled egg bull you might want to open up wider. It's totally up to you. You're just looking for a continuous curve. And the top bit and enough I like to do is take two curvy rib tools and take one on the outside and bend it with my thumb on one side and my index fingers on the other side. And put that on the outside. Then I can put the curve of another one into the inside and instead of fingertip to fingertip, it's red to red. Now if I hold this angled slightly away from me at three o'clock, it can glide onto that clay right-hand still the boss. But this I am going to push that curve into the outside wrench tool. You can see I'm pushing on it. Blood break there. I still see that slip. So I'm gonna take some time and just let it rotate. They're pressing from that inside hand, really securing up with the outside hand. There is that continuous curve and then the ribs can come up together and just rotate, rotate, rotate, slow release. Finally, before we do the next step, I'll just make sure that my curve is consistent. Bring this out, reach to the center, elbows are against my body. Make sure I have that continuous curve. Gentle as I press up here, I can just gently drop my sponge for me. Then he slipped. And that's it. There's our continuous curve and there's our bulb. 9. Using a wooden knife to pre-trim the bottom!: The wooden rich remove some extra clay at the base. Right, to use the wooden rib, I say to hold it like a pencil. Everybody holds a pencil differently. But when you wrote it like a pencil, you don't want to hold it down here. You want to hold it at the back-end so that the clay can cut through. The second hand is going to hold it on top, elbows against your body so that you are in control. This is how the clay is going to be sliced through this tools. You don't want to go like this, like that, but this is the blade. Both hands or warning tight elbows are intermediate and you're over here at three o'clock. All I'm gonna do first is just touched the clay and let it make a mark. Where does it it from thin to thick and I'd say about right there. So just touch it, let it rotate and make a circle. Now holding on tight, I'm going to press a little bit, let it rotate, press a little bit, let it rotate, press a little bit, let it rotate. The more patient and steady you hold on, the cleaner, the cut. When you reach the bat and you can stop, get a clean needle tool, cut through that extra clay, let it spin and remove this. So this is some crazy you don't have to trim later. It's kinda like reshaping this wooden rib appreciates and pre cuts. And then I would take a clean wire cutter and hold it tight like dental floss rapid on, nice and tight. Press my thumbs down and drag this wire cutter under my bowl, the whole web that will help release it. So as the lift dries and I'm getting ready to flip it to the bottom, can dry and I could trim the foot. That wire cut will allow me to remove the clay from the bat later. So that's how we throw a ball. 10. Share you Bowls with #TWMbowlchallenge: So that's how we throw a ball. You're looking for the continuous curve and the top portion. Then stay tuned for my training videos to come by. I hope this helped and I look forward to seeing your balls to come.