These Pots Need A Lot of Trimming…

Video Description

The trimming of the stepped bowl you may have seen being thrown in my previous reel, made with a horrendously thick base to account for the overhanging walls and tall foot this piece will eventually have. The ledge around the outside should cause the glaze that’s eventually coated over this pot to do numerous things, the first being the glaze clinging to this ledge. It’ll melt and flow and ‘hang’ on this section, forming a thicker band of glaze to appear just above the step. Secondly, the glaze will ‘break’ over it, the sharply trimmed stoneware beneath slicing through the glass, creating a region of colour that’s brighter and more thinly coated—the glazes I use turn metallic here. Lastly, just beneath the ledge, a gradient of glaze is formed as is pulls down the rest of the bowl. All of this is to say that the clay work of a pot often has a huge effect on the end result and I spend a vast amount of time trimming my vessels to exacting levels with this very goal in mind. I want the glaze to react over the forms beneath them rather than just sitting very flatly. #trimming #stoneware #bowl #handcrafted #howto #pottery #ceramics