My 5 Secrets for Throwing Great Mugs - Shhhh SECRETS!!

[Music] hi everybody this is ann over the course of my pottery journey i've thrown quite a few mugs and developed my own throwing style in this video i'll pass along some of my best advice to anybody who's just starting out with throwing i always begin with clay that's been wedged well i slam it down on the bat as close to center as i can until it's stuck tight to begin i wet my hands and i use the palm of my left hand for support along the side of the mound i use the bottom of my right hand over top of the mound to push straight down with now the right hand does most of the work i slowly move the palm of my hand down over the side until it touches the bat i always have a little bit of clay at the bottom that i just can't seem to center so i cheat and remove it with my fingers now i'm about eighty percent centered to get it to that hundred percent i'm going to cone it upward i wet my hands again and use the palms against my fingers to squeeze the mound gently so the clay rises between my hands [Laughter] as i'm doing this i'm checking for air bubbles and checking that the moisture of the clay is consistent if it's too dry i can add more water to the clay at this point to cone down again i wet my hands and then i use the palm of my right hand to push the clay down and over the side until my palm touches the bat be careful not to introduce air into the mound as the clay descends and there's that clay ring again at the bottom again i just remove it and clean up the bat with my sponge [Music] i use my thumbs to hollow out the center i push straight down making sure i leave a quarter of an inch depth along the floor next i push the walls outward always open the walls a little wider than your final width this is so important because i need the extra width at the bottom to be able to pull the walls up and inward this will make more sense as i start to pull up the walls i make sure to compress the floor well to help avoid cracking [Music] one thing i learned from day one was to double check the floor depth before i pull up the walls i still do this to avoid any problems with cracking as it dries if it's too thick i continue to compress the clay down if it's too thin don't try to salvage it just start over there that's about a quarter inch that looks great oh also don't forget to smooth over the hole [Music] now you'll notice that there's a bulk of clay along the walls that are already present you can't start pulling from the bottom until you thin that out if you skip this step your mug will be top heavy and eventually twist and collapse i put my hands on either side of the wall a quarter of the way down and squeeze that mound up and inward making sure the walls don't become too thin either it's important that you keep the walls at the inward angle to maintain control over the form as it gets taller if i tried to pull the wall straight up it would eventually bulge out and collapse here i'm compressing the rim of the mug to keep it from getting too thin now i can begin pulling the walls from the bottom first i create a channel at the bottom with my finger this pushes the excess clay off the bat plus as you can see it begins to narrow the diameter of the mug floor i wet my fingers and place them on either side of the mug touching my thumbs together for support then i squeeze the clay upward and inward i continue until i get all the way to the top but making sure not to squeeze the rim anymore i don't want that area to get too thin i still have more clay at the bottom so i pull up again this time i used my sponge to create the channel and i made sure i got the bulk of the clay off of the bat for this last pull notice that the bottom diameter of the mug is again shrinking but because i pulled the floor wider when i opened it up i have room to pull up and inward now i'll repeat the steps to pull up the walls as this is the last pull i'm also adding a little shape to the mug by pushing the clay outward a bit in the center and then i pushed it back inward at the top okay i used my wooden rib to refine the shape and begin smoothing the clay i use my red rib to smooth the clay even more on the outside and then the inside i also use my fingers to smooth and round the rim of the mug i use a wooden stick to trim the foot from the bat i still have some ridges in my mug so i wet it back down again with a sponge then i use my metal rib to smooth it out i'll probably go over it one more time to get rid of the rest of the rings [Music] later when the body of the mug was more rigid or leather hard i created a handle and let it dry a little so it was close to the same dryness as the body i scored the handle end and placed this well under the rim in that natural recessed area this serves two purposes by placing it in recess the handle plays to the natural design of the mug also by placing it down away from the rim the chance of warping the rim decreases now you don't have to place the handle that far down on your mug but aesthetically i thought it made the most sense on this particular design i've had trouble in the past with the weight of the handle pulling on the rim during the firing thus causing it to warp i also score slip and attach the bottom of the handle i like to make sure the handle is straight and that it does not extend out too far from the mug i really like to make sure the connections are secure by adding a little extra coil of clay along the joints and working them in on the bottom i thumb around the edge for a nice smooth foot finally i use a wet brush around the joints to smooth out the clay and remove fingerprints and what jim calls the schmutz now here it is with the new handle i'll put this on the shelf and cover it with plastic so it'll dry slowly of course all clay is different and your stoneware may not be as finicky as this porcelain when it comes to warping and cracking i'll advise you to pay attention to the problem areas as you throw your clay so you can always be creatively problem solving happy throwing thanks to the newest members of our research facility team and if you'd like to support our work click on the super thanks or the buy me a coffee link in any case we invite you to subscribe to our channel and we'll see you next time in the studio you

Channel: Little Street Pottery

Views: 6,041

Keywords: easy hand building pottery, easy pottery projects, easy pottery projects for beginners, free pottery projects, handmade pottery, how to make pottery, making pottery, oddly satisfying, pottery, pottery design ideas, pottery ideas, pottery lessons, pottery wheel, wheel throwing, pottery lessons for beginners, pottery lessons online, free pottery lessons online, how to throw a mug on the wheel, how to throw a mug pottery, how to throw a mug on the pottery wheel, pottery asmr

Id: 4cXv8ObUeDw

Length: 8min 46sec (526 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 13 2022