Throwing...

I was talking to Sylvie about her work and she very kindly offered to show me how to throw.

Here is Sylvie showing me how it's done...

She makes it look easy...

But it is not! As you can tell my effort is on the left, but I am still proud of it...

It takes a lot of skill to control the clay; using the speed of the wheel (controlled by your foot), the shape and pressure of your hands and careful timing.

The wheel was created over 5000 thousand years ago in the Middle East and has hardly changed since.

It was only as I was actually throwing a pot that I began to consider how this related to my research into how ceramic form is influenced. In the book Functional Ceramics (which I discussed below) Hopper explores throwing. He describes thrown pots as "structures which grow in a spiraling organic way from a soft inorganic mass" (Hopper 2000:61).

However, although it is an organic movement it is also related to the principles of solid geometry and a balance between forces. Hopper writes that

"The forces a potter uses to counteract the centrifugal forces of clay on a revolving wheel is similar to the forces which mold planets in space" (Hopper 2000:60).

So thank you Sylvie, it was really good to do and you are a very patient teacher!