Surprising Ways to Teach Wheel-Throwing
Wheel throwing is probably my favorite thing to teach. It is so fun, rewarding, and challenging that I can’t help but get excited! In my beginner ceramics classes, I have students make basic forms, like plates, bowls, and mugs. However, in advanced ceramic classes, the fun really begins. I have students making everything from 9+ inch tall vases in various shapes to teapots to bird baths. It takes a while to get them to the point where they can confidently create unique shapes and large sizes, here are a few surprising yet effective ways of teaching wheel throwing:
Throwing with eyes closed
When you take your eyes out of the equation, wheel-throwing seems totally different. Your senses of touch are very heightened, which means you are more aware of exactly what your fingers and hands are doing. I often have students throw with their eyes closed in order to understand what each step of wheel throwing should feel like.
Throwing to failure
I tell my students that whatever they make in (at least) the first few classes of wheel throwing will not be kept. I tell my students that they should be throwing to failure, meaning that they should be pulling walls and shaping their pots until they flop or break. This helps in the long run, because then they will be highly aware of how far they can push the clay before it will fail. You’ll see more risky designs, thinner walls, and overall better quality work. You should also have students slice open their pots after they fail to see where the problem areas were. For example, by wiring up the middle of a flopped pot, you might see that the walls directly at the bottom were too thin.
Throwing tiny
Throwing less clay is often easier, particularly in basic skills like centering and opening. When throwing very small, it helps students understand the basics of clay while controlling their hand movements (because when you throw tiny, even the slightest finger movement changes the form quite a bit). Students can even throw small enough that they need to open the clay with a small instrument instead of their finger. This attention to detail helps students to succeed in the long run.
