How I Trim Pottery with More Control (Turning a Bottle using a Chuck) @floriangadsby

Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

In this weekend's video, I'm trimming the narrow-necked, angular bottles you may have seen me throw in last week's upload. Forms like this provide a challenge, as how do you safely turn the underside of the pot? You could, I suppose, balance the bottle on it's rim and stuff a heap of clay around it, I've done it, but it's inconsistent and you risk damaging the form as it'll never be secured particularly well. The better, safer option, is to use a specially made chuck. This is a homemade tool, fashion from clay, which the bottle slops neatly into, clasping it firmly so that you can trim the underside without worrying about it catastrophically tipping to one side.

So, that's what I'm running you through this week. The pros and cons of using a chuck like this, how I trim and remove chattering marks, which parts of the trimming tool's blades I use and how best to avoid turning away too much as accidentally destroying the pots...

Thanks so much for watching!

How I threw these bottles: youtu.be/rGWdMp06Ffk
How to make chucks: youtu.be/_ishJr-UGfU

📚 • You'll find many more guides on how to centre and pull up the walls of clay here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2WJhtTF0eGhQwf8g2LHcom_KrvJpH_JT

📖 • ORDER MY BOOK: geni.us/bymyhands

📢 • Find out much more about my work here: https://linktr.ee/floriangadsby

⏱ • Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction & the tools I use
2:04 - How I store my chucks
2:15 - Attempting to trim a lopsided bottle...
6:55 - My second attempt
9:32 - Using a chuck to trim the base
13:25 - How I store the chuck
13:53 - Clean up

*I throw using both a Rohde HMT 500 & 600 potter's wheel and fire using Rohde kilns too, the electric is a TE-200 and the gas kiln is a KG-340.
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How I Trim Pottery with More Control (Turning a Bottle using a Chuck)

$Throwing 1000’s of Mugs When I’m making mugs, I like to make lots at once. Generally, this means spending a week or two producing 100-200 pieces, whilst juggling a number of other tasks, mainly, as I feel as if by working on so many at once, they end up being more consistent and I become faster as I’m repeating the creation process so many times in a row. It sort of feels like practice and I can always sense a difference in my ability at the beginning of a mug making session, versus how naturally they are formed and handled towards the end, after I’ve warmed up, essentially. I throw mine from 300 grams of clay, (plus or minus 10 for speedier weighing out), to 11 cm tall by 8.5 cm wide, give or take a few millimetres. I don’t mind if one is a smidge below my throwing gauge’s pointer as I pull up the walls, or if one is fractionally too wide, as these minute discrepancies will barely be noticeable once the pot has been trimmed, handled, glazed and fired. What I do care about though are the proportions and the slightly tapering shape. It can hard to see, but these pots are marginally wider at the base and then they slope inwards ever so slightly as they reach upwards. It’s subtle but it makes a big difference and so, if I notice that a mug is too straight, or that it flared out towards the top, it’ll be instantly destroyed if I can’t fix that during the throwing process itself. It’s good to be brutal, you can never be too precious, essentially with vessels as simple as these are. Lifting off these thinly walled pots in the perhaps the trickiest part. There’s a bit of a knack to it, (that’s better explained in my YouTube video that specifically covers this step), but it means I can heap more onto each ware board, which means I don’t have to use batts and for a pot like this that means I end up saving a bit more space in the studio. Space, as you quickly realise, is perhaps one of the most importance things about a potter’s studio. It’s a bottleneck you’ll often run into and you need more space during the production stage, as pots need room to dry and components eat up shelves before they’re assembled. 100 more to go… #mugs #handmade #craft #wheelthrownpottery #pottery$

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