What is Centering?
August 24th, 2009 by 
aukirsch
Ahhhh Ha!!! By now you have gotten your “hands dirty” on the wheel, set up and cleaned up your wheel. So now what??? To be the master of clay on the wheel, you will need to find your center. Be sure to check the placement of hands on the clay (do you have the vulcan hand?) Are your elbows down? Where is your head? Did you keep your foot on the accelerator? ARE YOUR HANDS WET??? What is the sponge for?
So the question is What is your Center?
Posted in Eighth Grade | 
14 Comments »
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
To me centering is pretty easy once you get it down. But without a center you cant do any thing. So centering is one of the most important things in wheel throwing. Its the beggining it starts you off so you have to find your center!!!!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Well, so far i have only done two bowl and one cylinder with out any help from Mrs. Kirsch. So my discription of centering would be: have a wet sponge in between your pinky and ring finger and your thumb between your ring and middle fingers. to make a cone you would aply pressure to the middlish top part of your clay, then too make the flat-ness you make your hand (that still in the vulcan hand)in a X fromation. and while your doing this you have to keep your elbows down by your hips and you head over the clay.
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:53 pm
I cant really explain it because I cant really do it. I think it’s centered when it’s not swivelly and wobbilly. (spelling?). There is a spacific part of your palms that have to be in a spacific place at a spacific time, spacificly speaking.(ha ha) Anyways, your hands have to be wet and touching eachother and resting on your thighs at all times (which really hurts my back). To put it to terms, it’s centered when you tell us it is.
September 24th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Centering is a real art. It takes hard work to get it right. Even though we have been on the wheel for weeks we still have some trouble trying to find it. To find the center you have to use a steady hand and good focus. There is two ways to place your hands, coneing and vulcan hand. I use the coneing one. To do this tecnique you have to put your left hand thumb inbetween your right hand pinky and ring finger. Make sure the clay and hands is wet and then place your hands over the clay, also make sure your elbows are on your thighs/knees. Squeeze together the clay by holding your left hand steady on da bat and pushing your right hand into your left hand fingers. It should look like a cone shape thing. Now keep your left hand steady on the bat and place your right hand on the top of the cone. Your pinky and thumb must always be touching. Push down slowly and it should become flat on the top. To make sure it is center look over it from above and it should have no bumps, or anything like cut edges or one side is bigger than the other. If it isn’t center then you must do this process over and over again till it becomes centered.
September 24th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
To center your clay you first have to make sure that your pot is not wobbling and that it is at the center of the wheel. Then open your right hand and place your left on the top in the center and gently push your finger daown but not too deep. You should always keep your hands and clay wet. Your head should be over the clay and your elbows resting on your legs.And make sure your foot is off the accelerator so that you don’t accidentally step on it and it goes really fast. Puss I am happy to because I made my first cilinder (YAY!):D
September 24th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
What is my center? First, I need to find my center; by having my elbows on my thighs. My head is over the top of the clay, and my left hand is made into a Vulcan sign. I bring my right thumb in between the Vulcan sign, and place my sponge between my left index and middle finger. The use of the sponge is to help me wet the clay making it easier to center, pull, and cone. Then i place my foot on the accelerator, putting the wheel into an accurate speed I can handle. Then, when my wheel is at a speed that is comfortable I take my foot off of the accelerator. After, I make sure my clay is wet and my hands are wet as i cone and smash the clay. When my clay is not “doing the hula” or not wobbling, I probably have gotten it centered. So, basically my center is when my clay piece is ready for me to open and pull to create my clay creations.
September 25th, 2009 at 10:57 am
My elbows are on my legs. My head is over my pottery machine. When working on pottery I turn the accelerator onto the right speed than remove my foot. My hands are always wet. The sponge is to keep the clay nice and wet so it doesn’t fall apart at all times.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:07 am
What is centering? That’s a good question. Centering is when you form your clay, on a wheel, with your own two hands, so it doesn’t do “hula dancing.” To be specific, I’ll tell you how to do centering. When you have everything ready, wet sponge in hand and clay on your wheels bat, you need to do two processes to center your clay. First is to make your right hand into the vulcan sign, and put the thumb of your left hand in between your second and third finger. Using the side of your hand put pressure onto the clay to form a cone. The next step is flattening, which is fairly easy. All you need to do is switch your thumb to the spot in between your third and fourth finger, then kind of turnit so you can take the side of your hand and push down onto the cone tip to form a mushroom like shape. (Well that’s what mine looks like anyway). You need to repeat this process about two to three times until you can look at it from the very top and it looks centered. You’ll know what centering looks like when you see it. Anyway, you need to remember to keep your hands and clay wet but not too wet or you’ll have trouble forming your clay. If it’s too dry there will be too much friction between your hands and the clay and you may just possibly send your cay flying! Besides that you also need to keep long hair tied back so it doesn’t get clay in it or your hair ripped out. Oh, oh! I almost forgot to say one of the more important things besides getting your hair pulled out by the spinning wheel would be to keep your elbows on your thighs and to keep your hand stiff AND to keep your head above the wheel and clay. It helps you when your clay is REALLY off center and when it is a major in “hula dancing.” These steps long or as short as they seem, these steps describe centering and important things to remember while you do it or you’ll end up in a royal mess, and I don’t mean the clay!
September 29th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
centering…
centering is hard for a beginner but it gets easier when you practice. One big tip for centering is both of your hands have to be touching at all times durning it. Your going to be looking over the piece of clay that your working with so you can see if it is really centered. Put your right hand standing on its side so you thumb is facing up and your left pinkie finger is going to lock between your right thumb and pointer finger. put your hands on the clay and your hand is going to curve, so it looks like your gonna make a cone. Use the sponge to wet the clay. You always want to make sure that the clay is wet. Make sure that your elbows are on your knees. Thats how you center.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:46 am
so yes my hands are dirty and i do make the vulcan hand my elbows are bent my head is directly over the clay no u do not keep your foot on the accelerator my hands are wet the sponge is to wet the clay.
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 am
Chyanne, Wow! You have clearly explained how to center!!! Excellent job, I could see what you were explaining and know that you have experienced the process by the way you are writing it all down. So my question is how do you feel you are doing? I think that you have found your center!!! Now on to the pulling…
Thank you for your terrific explanation.
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:57 am
Caley, There are times I have can’t find the center either.
Sometimes it is me and I am not in the proper place, or sometimes the clay wasn’t prepared well and there are bubbles or lumps… Finding your center can be tricky.
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:59 am
Duchess, I am so proud of your hard work, not having the time to practice and then on your first time, BAM! You did it!
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:02 am
Casey, The accelerator can be tricky. There are times when I throw that I get excited at what I am shaping and my foot makes the wheel spin faster and the result is a mess. Woosh… it is all gone and I have to start over. Yes, the foot pedal is something to be aware of. Nice post!