How to trim a foot on a bowl

[@Phoebe-cy8xc]

You are such an excellent teacher! 👏👏❤️

[@prettycountrygirl2]

Excellent tutorial. Now, if I could only learn to perfect it. 8-5-23.

[@jeanriggs5044]

That video was very helpful. Thank you.

[@klp4655]

Great video - I hope that one of these days I will trim feet with such ease.

[@missykitty100able]

Do you move it away or toward you when it doesn't touch your fingernail?

[@MrSpacemanJim]

How do you trim the upper part of the bowl? Do you repeat the process after flipping the bowl over?

[@DaraGreen]

You should not have to trim the upper part, no more than half the pot should be trimmed. Practice throwing the bowl many times so the majority of the pot is thin and even.

[@tangobart]

If the bottom is not flat after cutting from the wheel..? Then how do you make the bottom flat (again), so it stands FLAT and EVEN on the table..? My teacher uses a cutting blade from a iron-saw. To trim it flat. But sometimes that is a issue...

[@DaraGreen]

Sure! First of all, try to learn how to cut it off the wheel flat. Make an indent for your wire tool to go in and then spin your wheel as you pull you wire tool out. Otherwise when you are trimming try to hold and control your trimming tool so you can just hit the high side until it is under control and you can trim it normally. Another trick is to tap it on a table to help flatten the bottom. I hope that helps! Thanks for watching!

[@fromcalifornia2822]

Key is holding your hand/tool VERY steady, both horizontally and vertically. As she said, hold your tool over the top of the pot high enough to just take off not level clay. Soon you will see the uneven part is gone and you can continue to make a fully level foot (or base or bottom). I never see pottery teachers mention the key to all phases and types of throwing is keeping your arms, hands and fingers absolutely still and to hold same through at least one full (or many) revolutions of the pot. The bigger or higher the pot the more important holding still becomes. Again/it baffles me that no ceramics teacher I have seen mentions this. This lack of knowledge, I believe is why many would-be potters are never able to center and why they give up. Oh, yeah - centering also and mostly requires holding arms, hands, and fingers still and keeping them still through at the absolute least a full revolution. With that said, it pays to “brace” elbows to the body so the arms, wrists, hands and fingers can better remain still. Also significant is it helps to use the other hand/finger to gage to show the steady use of the hand; hard to explain. Manicurists do this when painting fingernails. (😂). One more thing😀. It helps to set the speed of the wheel and taking one’s foot off before centering and throwing a pot. This is because movement of the leg can cause the body, arms, hands and fingers to not remain still. It also helps because the brain can better focus on remaining still if the foot is not involved. (Sounds a little overboard, but it can’t help to try it.) Hope you have already figured the above out, and if not that it helps.

[@cadmiumr3d]

Is there a correct way to dry the bowl after you trim? Such as from the center out? I had one that cracked after I trimmed it.

[@DaraGreen]

Upside-down would be best OR on a rack so air can reach the bottom Although cracking most likely is coming from the clay being uneven after trimming. Try to imagine cutting your bowl in half from top to bottom and having the walls and foot being completely even after you trim it. I hope that helps!

[@mykevenable8180]

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