New Lined Pots — What Do You Think?
Throw thick-walled bowls, then trim their exterior lines so you can refine the shape without making the inside irregular.
- Throw the walls thick and keep the interior curved; trim the exterior lines later for more control over their placement.
- Check weight and balance during heavy trimming, and let saturated clay dry before glazing for a thicker coat.
- For the next batch, make the trimmed lines sharper and vary their spacing; the pieces are decorative, not functional.
The pottery-making sequence is visually useful, especially the trimming and glaze-finishing stages. · Best for: Potters interested in sculptural forms, trimming, and glaze application.
Florian Gadsby describes making stepped, lined bowls by throwing thick walls and trimming the exterior after shaping. He compares glaze application and finishing, then assesses the fired decorative pieces.
Throwing thick walls for flexible trimming0:01
- Thick walls allow a curved interior while the exterior is trimmed into angular, ridged lines.
- Throwing the lines into the outside from the start can mirror them inside, leaving an irregular interior and less room to adjust.
Trimming and preparing the pots0:52
- Take the pots off the wheel during extensive trimming to assess their weight and balance.
- After the 1,000°C firing, wet-sand rough grog specks on protrusions without softening the lines.
Glazing and finishing1:41
- Let water-saturated clay dry before glazing; otherwise, it may absorb too little glaze for the desired thickness.
- Apply the specific glaze in two sessions on separate days; the moss green glaze can be dipped in one go.
- Smooth overlapped thick glaze around the rim; for the moss green glaze, remove tong marks and tidy the base.
Firing and evaluating the forms2:18
- Reduction-fire the bowls to cone 10 and unpack them about 42 hours later.
- Polish the feet so the pots will not scratch the surfaces they sit on.
- Gadsby prefers the smoother interiors and plans to sharpen and vary the spacing of the lines.
Decorative intent2:36
- Interior bumps can cast interesting shadows, but he prefers a smoother interior.
- He describes the tactile bowls as decorative pieces, almost chalices, rather than functional vessels.
Step by step
- Throw the bowls with thick walls and curved interiors.
- Trim the exterior lines, checking the pots' weight and balance as you work.
- Fire the pots to 1,000°C; if needed, wet-sand coarse grog specks on protrusions.
- Wax the damp pots and let them dry before glazing.
- Apply glaze in one or two sessions, depending on the glaze and desired thickness; tidy the glaze and base.
- Reduction-fire to cone 10, then unpack about 42 hours later and polish the feet.
Tools & resources mentioned
- Pottery wheel — used to throw the thick-walled bowl forms.
- Kiln — used for the 1,000°C firing and the later cone 10 reduction firing.
- Felspathic crackle glaze — applied in two sessions and smoothed where it overlaps at the rim.
- Moss green glaze — dipped in one go, then tidied by removing tong marks and cleaning the base.
Notes are AI-generated from the video's transcript and may miss nuance.