Craft · 6 pages · 12 min
Why centering is most of the skill
Until the spinning clay runs true, every later pull makes the wobble worse.
When the purchase is complete, return to the original window. It will refresh.
From the opening
Centering forces a lump of clay into a symmetrical mass that spins without a wobble, so every later touch meets the same thickness all the way around. If the clay is off center, the wall is thick on one side and thin on the other, and each pull exaggerates that difference. The opening covers the lump must spin without wobble, coning evens the mass, and an orbit becomes a thin wall.
The rest of the brief — the later sections and the reading notes — opens after Stripe confirms payment.
Inside
- The lump must spin without wobble
- Coning evens the mass
- An orbit becomes a thin wall
- Later pulls cannot fix a bad center
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Centering clay on the potter's wheel
- Wheel throwing and rotational symmetry