5 steps to CENTERING CLAY on the wheel!...for beginners

what's up guys today we are talking about centering clay [Music] Center in Clay is probably the most important part of throwing pottery if your clay is not centered you're not going to end up with a good pot you got to start with Center clay quick snapshot of five steps to Center and clay number one start with a wedged ball of clay to throw it down as close to the center of the wheel as you can number three use your heel of your palm this part of your palm on one hand and use this side on the top number four don't let the clay move your hands make your hands move the clay and number five time on the wheel it just takes a ton of time to be able to feel really comfortable centering clay so we'll be in the studio and we will go through in depth each of those steps to how to set our clay obviously this is not the only way to center and there are lots of different ways but this is a great way to get started and then you can really get comfortable and do it your own way after that see there we are talking about centering clay today one of if not the most important parts of throwing clay is getting it right in the center it's also one of the most frustrating parts for beginners most beginners don't make it longer because they can't get it centered but once you get it centered everything is so much easier from there so we just got to learn how to get it centered we're gonna start with just a little bit of clay and then we'll throw up something a little bit bigger as well my five keys to centering the clay start with a wedged ball of clay so we've wedged this second key throw it down as close to the center as you can so we have our lines right here so we're going to throw it down right there we can already see it's like very close to Center the third key using your palm for the side over here and using this side of your hand for the top so I'm gonna get it wet with my sponge and I'm pushing from the side first to get it in the center and I'm pushing from the top with this part of my hand right there so I can already see it's pretty close to centered right there but say it's sick gets off center Co off center that is the fourth key to get getting it centered is to make the clay move with your hands not letting your hands move with the clay so what I mean by that is a lot of beginners when they're trying to get the clay center their hands are just going like this right and that's because that's what the clay is doing well if we can keep our hands in one position and make the clay move to our hands instead of making our hands move with the clay that's how we get it centered so you'll see I'll come in and I'll just lock this arm in I just lock it and then make that clay move to my hand so I'll lock that in and then I'll come from the top and then we're Center so that's how we go from being on Center to Center very very quickly oftentimes when I'm teaching young children if they have if they have a nun centered piece of clay like this they'll be going like this and then I'll just take my hand and I'll just push and just lock that right there and then all of a sudden they feel it going into Center the fifth step to centering clay is time on the wheel you just got to do it a lot so say you can't get it you try throwing a pot and it's just not good move on try it again you just got to do it a ton of times until it just becomes really comfortable so we got a little bit bigger piece of clay that we're gonna throw now I recommend starting with just like a little bit around one pound because sometimes a bigger piece of clay can be hard for beginners because it takes a little bit more strength but starting with two little clay and you'll just knock it around and it's really hard to get it Center all right starting with a round wedged piece of clay throw it as close to Center as possible so a lot of beginners will if they're in a class or something they'll constantly be like oh is this centered is this centered is this centered so how do you know what it's centered well so when the clay is going back and forth like this and it causes your hands to go like this that was not centered centered not centered centered that is not centered so once you feel like you have a good base and you can Center pretty well the next thing is to be able to cone it up and go to act down because that can be a really good way to wedge on the wheel so this is just basically squeezing from the bottom and then going to the top and so this is a really good way you get air bubbles out you can get the clay really consistent and then you can push down from the top and get it back to centre so just really think about locking that arm in your clay is going like this and you're just and you're just following the clay and your hands are going back and forth like this just think about locking those hands in and making the clay move to your hands instead of moving your hands with the clay hands are the boss you make that clay go where it needs to be alright so we are gonna have my buddy Sam try and Center just to show how hard it actually is and to show what a lot of beginners actually look like Sam's gonna try and Center some clay alright Sam go for it alright Ivan centered clay since mr. Dorrance freshman pottery class the centering play so we're gonna get it a little wet for our Sam so this is probably what it looks like for a lot of Potter's when they first start out he has hands just go back and forth [Music] Watts answer so clearly not centered right well that's pretty good you did it I did it good thing I watched so many John the Potter videos that this is second nature that's pretty fun actually thank you Sam for demonstrating what a beginner pottery student may look like Sam has taken pottery classes in the past even though it's been probably a decade or more so he was able to get his centered but ended up with a pretty terrible pot thank you guys for watching how to Center I hope it helps you we'll talk a little more at home so thank you for watching today's video I hope it helped obviously there are a ton in front ways to Center clay you'll find out about a billion videos on YouTube I just did it this way because I thought mine might be a little different and might be more of a clear-cut way to Center clay this wasn't really even the way that I was taught to Center but over the past 10 years of doing pottery this is the way that I have found that works best for me so hopefully a couple people out there got something out of the video if you have other pottery friends that are struggling with centering share the video subscribe for more tutorials over here like the video and we'll see in the next video happy potting [Music]

Channel: Jonthepotter

Views: 199,092

Rating: 4.9457345 out of 5

Keywords: Clay, Pottery, How to center clay, How to center, wheel throwing, how to get my clay centered, ceramics, potter, center clay, throwing clay, throwing pots, centering for begginers, How, How to, Throwing pottery, how to throw pottery, how to throw clay, make pottery, beginning pottery, first time pottery, vlog

Id: 5rGbj7JEAGI

Length: 9min 0sec (540 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 12 2018

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