Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Out of all of the shapes I make, it’s the bowls that have undergone that greatest change over the past few years. Fundamentally, when they were simply fully curved forms, they were the objects that felt the least cohesive when compared to everything else I create. Yet, since introducing tall feet and angular sides, they’ve started to feel far more welcome within my body of work and they certainly are more unique and individual, I feel like I can have fun when throwing and trimming them, as the angularity opens up a vase realm of shapes that can be created verses those that are just simply rounded.
I never liked bowl forms that had an angular interior that matched an angular exterior, which is what happens you try and throw the angular shape straight off-the-bat. I prefer a rounded, sleek inside shape, as the glazes conform to it in a far better way, thus the solution, and the revelation I’ve sort of had since, is to throw a relatively thick curved shape that’s then trimmed back to be sharp and angular, a vessel made up from numerous straight planes.
Revelation is the right word too, as since beginning to make vessels like this my enjoyment of the process has rocketed, as have the quality of the pots themselves, not to mention that I’m far more content with how individual, in terms of character, they feel.
That’s a lot of words for a small change in my craft, but it’s had a considerable impact on my practice.
#bowl #craftsmanship #trimming #wheelthrownpottery #clay #pottery
Out of all of the shapes I make, it’s the bowls that have undergone that greatest change over the past few years. Fundamentally, when they were simply fully curved forms, they were the objects that felt the least cohesive when compared to everything else I create. Yet, since introducing tall feet and angular sides, they’ve started to feel far more welcome within my body of work and they certainly are more unique and individual, I feel like I can have fun when throwing and trimming them, as the angularity opens up a vase realm of shapes that can be created verses those that are just simply rounded.
I never liked bowl forms that had an angular interior that matched an angular exterior, which is what happens you try and throw the angular shape straight off-the-bat. I prefer a rounded, sleek inside shape, as the glazes conform to it in a far better way, thus the solution, and the revelation I’ve sort of had since, is to throw a relatively thick curved shape that’s then trimmed back to be sharp and angular, a vessel made up from numerous straight planes.
Revelation is the right word too, as since beginning to make vessels like this my enjoyment of the process has rocketed, as have the quality of the pots themselves, not to mention that I’m far more content with how individual, in terms of character, they feel.
That’s a lot of words for a small change in my craft, but it’s had a considerable impact on my practice.
#bowl #craftsmanship #trimming #wheelthrownpottery #clay #pottery
