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A clay bowl thrown on a pottery wheel starts as about a pound of soft clay and becomes a simple, curved bowl in a minute or two once you have the hang of it. This tutorial follows potter Florian Gadsby through one stoneware bowl, from weighing the clay to lifting it off the wheel. He explains the parts that trip up beginners: how wide to center, how much clay to leave in the base, and how to get a smooth curve inside instead of a flat floor.
Florian shows two methods. In the first, every pull goes up and outward at once, straight toward the final shape. It is the most direct way, but you have to leave enough clay low in the wall or the sides can slump. In the second, you pull a thick cylinder first and then stretch it out into a bowl bit by bit. That route can give thinner walls, but a rim that is already thin will split as you open it. Neither is better. Pick one before you start.
If you do not have a pottery wheel, a pinch pot is the simplest hand-built bowl, and a coil pot lets you build a bigger one. The hand building basics cover both. Many community studios rent wheel time by the hour, which is a good way to try throwing before you buy anything.
Use plenty of water inside the bowl during the big pulls so your fingers glide, but sponge it out as soon as the shape is there. Water sitting in the bottom soaks into the clay and weakens it, and a wide bowl with overhanging walls collapses fast when the clay gets soft. Work at an even, unhurried pace and release gently at the rim.
Clay shrinks as it dries and again in the kiln, often by 10 to 15 percent. A bowl thrown at 18 centimeters across comes out of the glaze firing closer to 15 or 16. Throw a little bigger than the bowl you want, and note your clay's shrinkage on the bag.
A freshly thrown bowl is far too soft to handle. Leave it until it is leather hard, then flip it upside down and trim a foot ring from the extra clay you left in the base. Florian aims for walls, base and foot of about the same thickness so the bowl dries evenly and does not crack. After trimming, it gets a bisque firing, glaze and a second firing.
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Throw a clay bowl on the pottery wheel from one pound of stoneware. A medium project: about 30 minutes. Materials cost about $1 to $3. You need 9 things, including about 1 lb stoneware clay, pottery wheel and digital scale. The 10 steps start with weigh About One Pound of Clay for the Bowl, cone the Clay Up to Center It on the Pottery Wheel, open the Centered Clay Disc for the Bowl and pull the Clay Bowl Walls Up and Outward.
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Weigh out about one pound of clay, around 454 grams. A scale keeps your bowls the same size from one to the next, which matters once you make a set. Wedge the clay before it goes on the wheel so there are no air bubbles. Then slap it down firmly in the middle of the wheel head so it sticks.
Start with a pound. Bigger lumps are much harder to center.
With the wheel spinning and your hands wet, squeeze the clay up into a tall cone, then push it back down. Repeat this a few times. Coning lines the clay up and helps it run true. For a bowl, finish with a low disc that is wider than it is tall, even a touch wider than you think. That width supports the walls later.
Brace your elbows on your thighs so the clay moves, not your hands.
Wet your thumb and index finger and push them down into the middle of the disc. Stop with about 1.5 centimeters, or two thirds of an inch, of clay left in the base. You need that extra clay to trim a foot ring later. Open in a gentle V shape rather than a flat floor, since a bowl needs a curved inside.
Poke a needle through the base to check the depth while you learn.
Push in at the base with your outside finger and follow with your fingers inside. Draw the clay up through your hands and let the spin carry the wall outward. Move at an even, gradual pace and release gently at the rim. Florian's bowl ends up 18 centimeters wide and 7 tall. Get the rim to size before worrying about the inside shape.
Add plenty of water inside during these pulls so your fingers do not drag.
Once the width and height are right, do one or two gentle pulls from the inside to add more curve to the shape. Press out with your fingertips and keep your outside hand light. You want one continuous sweep from the center of the floor to the rim, with no flat spot or ridge in between.
Slow the wheel a little for shaping. Fast spins push wide walls out too far.
Now mop out all the water and slip pooled in the bottom with a small sponge. Do it as soon as the shape is there. Water left sitting in a bowl soaks into the floor and softens it, and wide bowls with overhanging walls can slump fast. Work quickly and the clay stays strong.
A sponge on a stick reaches the floor of deeper bowls.
Hold a blunt turning tool against the base of the bowl and trim away the wet clay there. This undercut gives you a clean, dry spot to lift from later. Do it before you clean the inside. Cutting the outside can push a small bump up into the floor, and doing it first means you never spoil a surface you already smoothed.
An old, dull trimming tool works well here. It will not dig in.
Run a sharp metal kidney rib over the inside surface to remove most of the slip and true up the curve. You do not need to remove all of it. Then compress the rim with a piece of chamois leather so it is smooth and less likely to chip. These two passes give the bowl its clean, finished look.
Hold the rib at a slight angle and let the wheel do the work.
Florian checks his curve with a roll test. Picture a small ball dropped inside the bowl. It should rock slowly back and forth and come to rest in the middle. If it would bump into a ridge or roll off in an odd line, the curve has a flat spot. Go back with the rib and smooth it.
Not every bowl has to be curved, but a curved one should pass this test.
Drag a twisted wire under the bowl. It leaves a pattern that is less likely to stick than a smooth wire. Then dig four fingers horizontally into the extra clay around the base, evenly spaced, and lift. Spin the wheel a little as you lift to break the seal. Touch nothing but the base, and set the bowl down on a board.
Let it dry to leather hard before you flip it to trim the foot.
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How to Make Polymer Clay Earrings
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How to Make a Clay Bowl on a Pottery Wheel (Beginner's Guide)
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