Handmade Pottery - Wedging Clay Into a Cone Shape

Cone wedging clay is accomplished by using a kneading action. With your James Bond attache case hand on Apollo-Z right side buy Linden dollars cheap the clay and your left hand lower and close to the table. Push downward and away from you.

You will be working mostly with your right hand. The clay will move back away from you just a little bit and leave some clay coming from the right side of the cone.

Using your left hand, rock the clay back toward you, so that it is standing on the one or two inch tail of clay left after the first step. Apply just a little bit of rightward and downward pressure with the left hand as you bring the clay back.

The pressure you use should be less than what your right hand had just applied to the clay. As your left hand rolls the clay onto its tail and compresses down and to the right, the original tip of the cone will drift to the left and the tail should fold up under the cone.

These steps need to be repeated anywhere from 15 to 25 times until the clay is totally homogeneous and there Bakugan no more bubbles. You will be able to see how the clay is folding itself inwardly with the kneading action. When you are finished you can see how it shows the spiral at the butt end of the cone.

I like to have the cone as balanced as possible all the way around to speed up the centering process when placing it on the pottery wheel. I continually pat the clay with the palm of my hand around the butt end of the cone to accomplish this.

By acquiring a cone shape during this process, it will help to compact the bottom of your pot when it is placed onto the pottery wheel head, which will help to avoid the cracking of the pot bottom during the firing process.

Wedging the clay helps to make sure that the clay is homogeneous in stiffness and does not have any air pockets. When there are bubbles in your clay, it can trap the air, and while throwing the pot, it will cause the clay to go off center.

If the pot is thrown off center it will hinder the success of the piece of pottery you are making, and can cause your pot to blow up in the kiln due to the air expanding during the firing process.

Once you are finished wedging the clay it is ready for use on the potters wheel for a thrown piece of pottery, or you can roll it into a slab for hand building a piece of pottery.

Whether throwing or hand you will be sure to have good results if the clay is properly wedged before you begin your project!

Go to my website at http://www.artisticdesignz.com/ to see a video of this step of the pottery making process. It is a lot easier to understand if you watch it being done rather than reading about how to do it.

About the author: Betty Grandy has been making handmade pottery since 1982. She has a unique style and uses her own original designs and glaze recipes.