Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
These are some of the trickiest things I’ve trimmed recently as essentially, it’s a three-stage process. The first step is to throw some forms that are excessively thick, this alone feels rather unnatural but it’s important to distribute the clay evenly and for this, I rely on the interior form being what dictates the entire piece. The thing is though, I want these to have a curved interior and a tall foot-ring, which means that a vast amount of stoneware is left in the walls and base.
The next step, the following day, after this thickly potted mass as turned leather hard, the next step can begin. Now, I want these to have an angular form first, this means that before the intricate lines are trimmed, the first thing I have to do is carve out the sharper, straight form. As there’s plenty of material in these, I can do this without altering the interior shape.
Then, lastly, I can begin the rather painstaking work that’s trimming back the excess in order to leave these pronounced lines that extend out from the body. Initially, I thought this would be quite straightforward, but these protuberances need to be turned on three sides, so they’re refined slowly throughout the process, rather than simply all being “completed” in one go. Fragments of grog tear through these delicate lines and occasionally, the walls in-between them will bow inward slightly, ruining the interior form, a sign I’ve made the pots too thin.
This revealing of the lines is essentially a third act to my usual turning but I’m hoping these lines will create some interesting features for my glazes to pool onto and flow over, time will tell! By the way, if you’d like to watch a much more thorough video about their creation, that’s the subject of my YouTube video this weekend, a link to which you can find in my profile’s biography.
#trimming #satisfying #minimal #craft #pottery
These are some of the trickiest things I’ve trimmed recently as essentially, it’s a three-stage process. The first step is to throw some forms that are excessively thick, this alone feels rather unnatural but it’s important to distribute the clay evenly and for this, I rely on the interior form being what dictates the entire piece. The thing is though, I want these to have a curved interior and a tall foot-ring, which means that a vast amount of stoneware is left in the walls and base.
The next step, the following day, after this thickly potted mass as turned leather hard, the next step can begin. Now, I want these to have an angular form first, this means that before the intricate lines are trimmed, the first thing I have to do is carve out the sharper, straight form. As there’s plenty of material in these, I can do this without altering the interior shape.
Then, lastly, I can begin the rather painstaking work that’s trimming back the excess in order to leave these pronounced lines that extend out from the body. Initially, I thought this would be quite straightforward, but these protuberances need to be turned on three sides, so they’re refined slowly throughout the process, rather than simply all being “completed” in one go. Fragments of grog tear through these delicate lines and occasionally, the walls in-between them will bow inward slightly, ruining the interior form, a sign I’ve made the pots too thin.
This revealing of the lines is essentially a third act to my usual turning but I’m hoping these lines will create some interesting features for my glazes to pool onto and flow over, time will tell! By the way, if you’d like to watch a much more thorough video about their creation, that’s the subject of my YouTube video this weekend, a link to which you can find in my profile’s biography.
#trimming #satisfying #minimal #craft #pottery
