A cozy pottery studio vlog | My FIRST commission, new potterware haul, centering 1.2kg of clay

[@mattl3729]

Hi Tessa, congratulations on your first commission and those roses are quite nice- I look forward to seeing how they turn out. And I'm glad to see you tried a few of my suggestions and, hopefully, found some useful. I'd have loved to have someone look at what I was doing when I first started and give me pointers, so I'm always very happy to be able to do that now that I have more experience. Once you learn how to spiral wedge, you'll find that the conical shape you end up with makes the placing, and slapping method of setting your clay on the wheel head (as opposed to slamming it down) even better. I know it's a bit daunting to see spiral wedging done and feel like it's difficult, but I promise you it really isn't. You already have very good hand control when you throw, you just need to see a really good demonstration and follow along. It's the conical shape at the end that I find as useful as it just being easier on the arms. A couple of things I noticed that I can suggest doing after this video: the top edges of your pots still seem very thin, and that makes collaring in, and just keeping stability tough; since you are already someone who trims her pots, try to bear that in mind that you can trim thin, and it's better to keep walls thicker for the moment. As you progress, you'll improve your skill and can throw thinner. I don't know if anyone ever suggested this to you before, but it helps if you lessen your pinch as you approach the top, so you don't squeeze the clay as much- you have to be gentle and slow though. Just sort of spread your hands apart as you get near the top, then go back and press down on the edge to compress and strengthen it. I also think I may see the usual issue for new potters: leaving too much clay at the base rather than moving it up for use in the walls. This one plagued me for months and months, and just took practice to stop doing. One thing that can help is opening rather wider than the final diameter you want- then each time you push in at the bottom to start a pull up, you more easily force the clay up. If you start with a thick wall at the base, it can be more difficult to move it up. If your wrists are hurting while throwing, you're absolutely right that there's some posture issue there. A mirror can be very helpful to see where you might be going a bit wrong. It could be as simple as just tensing up too much. People always talk about bracing your arms, and holding very tight, but I'm not so sure this is universally needed. I've seen some potters who don't brace at all, and I myself don't. Now I've done this for more than 5 years now and probably have the strength built up for it, but it really is often the case of proper position vs. brute strength. It could be as simple as your hand bending back too much and using the more middle part of your palm instead of the butt of your hand right in line with your forearm. OR it's just that you haven't built up the muscle strength yet and that will come in time. Try to keep your forearm directly in line with the centre of your pot that helps not inadvertently using your middle palm and bending your wrist too much. And yes, a rib isn't a good tool for removing clay from the base while you're throwing- as I think you found, you don't have the leverage and it's easy to chatter and mess things up. A wooden knife or trimming tool is much better. I use a wooden knife that's about 20cm long myself. Actually use the point to cut down into the clay to separate it rather than try to scrape some off. I hope some of this might help.

[@softbaked.studio]

@@mattl3729 that definitely helps A LOT!! Thank you again for taking the time to analyze my process and posture, there are a lot of things I just don‘t know yet. Especially the tip with not pushing the clay to much at the top while pulling the walls- I probably misunderstood that back in February but I always thought you HAD to push more at the top so you don‘t build up a lot of clay. But probably it‘s the mix of both- not piling up clay at the rim so your pot doesn’t collapse but also not thinning it out as I do👀 And I will work on my hand positions and pressure points to see if it‘s my muscles building up or my bones close to breaking🫠😂 bc wrist pain while throwing is no fun Thank you!!!✨

[@valenaengberg1954]

Yess, buy a Klettverschluss and sew it to the t shirt and hammer the other side onto the wooden board with tiny nails. Also I’d recommend not putting the tshirt into the washing machine until you’ve cleaned it outside, the clay in the fabric could clog your machine and the plumbing under the sink :). Love your videos! I’m also a young pottery baby from Germany ☺️

[@softbaked.studio]

@@valenaengberg1954 oh yes I will keep that in mind, thank you✨🌷 also: nett dich kennen zu lernen🧚🏻‍♀️😊

[@batmanhey]

This gives me Uncomfy co vibes and its awesome keep up the work!

[@softbaked.studio]

@@batmanhey what a nice compliment!🥹 at first, I was hesitant to use the song in the outro that she also uses because I felt like it was „hers“ but then I thought- she wouldn’t see it that way and also the songwriter/ singer would rather want more prople to use her music so I chose it. I always wanted to use that song!✨

[@sydneyunicorn4430]

I'm so happy I came across your channel, Tessa. I found your videos so therapeutic and cozy. I've just started my home studio journey. May I ask where you got your shelves from? It looks so good!

[@softbaked.studio]

@@sydneyunicorn4430 that makes me so so happy!!✨ My shelves are from IKEA, just like all of the furniture in my studio. Wishing you the best of luck for your journey🌷