What I Learned from Wedging Clay
· 2 min read
The best advice I got was plainly to slow down. The glaze looked grey in the bucket and came out deep blue. I altered my mind about stoneware twice while writing this.
Getting started
Mugs are harder than they look; handles most of all. I altered my mind about tableware twice while writing this. I altered my mind about mugs twice while writing this. I keep coming back to handles, mostly because it rewards patience. Most of what I know about the wheel came from getting it wrong first.
I keep notes on every firing, even the disappointing ones. Below are a few notes, roughly in the order I picked up them. I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. I altered my mind about firing schedules twice while writing this.
Here is what altered, and what stayed exactly the same.
The setup
The shift showed up gradually, then all at once. Looking back, the earthy approach was the right call. Thanks for reading, and for the generous notes that keep arriving. I like firing schedules that shows the marks of how it was made.
Between trimming and loading the kiln, the second one taught me more. Test tiles are unexciting until one of them changes all of it. What surprised me most was how little equipment it needed. This started as a quick note and gradually turned into something longer. The kiln opened warm, and the first bowl made it all worth it.
Small, repeatable steps beat big plans nearly every time. The small things matter less than the routine of paying attention. If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you. Between mixing glazes and loading the kiln, the second one taught me more. Some of this will be plain; some of it took me years.
First steps
I would rather do one thing with care than five things in a hurry. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about handles. Clay remembers every mistake you make with it.
If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about slip decoration.
Every firing is a small experiment, and some of them fail. Most problems with slip decoration turn out to be problems with time. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for mistakes.