Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
All right, admittedly you *could* throw a shape like this, you’d just have to dry it enough on the outside with a torch or a heat-gun, then do the trimming during the throwing stage, essentially, instead I just throw the form curved, slice it off the wheel, let it dry, and then spend time at the leather hard stage refining the vessel.
In many ways this is how I think about much of my personal process of creating pots. There are times where I could spend more time at the wheel refining the shapes, but my preference is to do that at the leather hard stage. Does it mean I spend more time turning pots? Yes, but It’s the process I enjoy the most and I feel I’m able to create specific forms that would otherwise be a colossal pain to make otherwise.
Surprisingly, the aforementioned technique of making gets a lot of ‘hate’ within the pottery world. There’s the idea that 90% of the work should be done during the throwing stage, with say, 10% at the trimming stage. For a portion of my work that may be true, but for another segment, the stuff I likely enjoy making most, it’s often about 60% throwing, 40% trimming, or maybe sometimes, in terms of time allocated to each talk, it’s closer to 50/50. I can to some degree understand that sentiment if all your focused on is time and efficiency, but I stopped worrying about those factors a long time ago.
For now, I’ve managed to make a small business work doing precisely what I enjoy most, trimming bowls like this.
#bowl #handmade #satisfying #process #howitsmade
All right, admittedly you *could* throw a shape like this, you’d just have to dry it enough on the outside with a torch or a heat-gun, then do the trimming during the throwing stage, essentially, instead I just throw the form curved, slice it off the wheel, let it dry, and then spend time at the leather hard stage refining the vessel.
In many ways this is how I think about much of my personal process of creating pots. There are times where I could spend more time at the wheel refining the shapes, but my preference is to do that at the leather hard stage. Does it mean I spend more time turning pots? Yes, but It’s the process I enjoy the most and I feel I’m able to create specific forms that would otherwise be a colossal pain to make otherwise.
Surprisingly, the aforementioned technique of making gets a lot of ‘hate’ within the pottery world. There’s the idea that 90% of the work should be done during the throwing stage, with say, 10% at the trimming stage. For a portion of my work that may be true, but for another segment, the stuff I likely enjoy making most, it’s often about 60% throwing, 40% trimming, or maybe sometimes, in terms of time allocated to each talk, it’s closer to 50/50. I can to some degree understand that sentiment if all your focused on is time and efficiency, but I stopped worrying about those factors a long time ago.
For now, I’ve managed to make a small business work doing precisely what I enjoy most, trimming bowls like this.
#bowl #handmade #satisfying #process #howitsmade
