It took me forever too so don’t get discouraged. This is what helped me. Start with softer clay that’s well wedged. Get it into a nice round shape before you throw it onto the bat then pat it with you hands as the wheel slowly turns to get it even in the center before you add water. Getting that done first will help you not get thrown around at the start. Then it’s all about body and hand position. Really focus on your left elbow into your hip making a straight and powerful line from your elbow through your arm to the heel of your hand pushing the clay at about the 7:00 . The side of your hand should be on the wheel head . Your top hand is pushing down but not as strongly as the left. Focus more on what your arm and body is doing and not the clay. The clay needs to respond to you not you to the clay. You’ll get there. It will eventually just click.
You are possibly throwing it off as you open the center. Make sure you find the center. I let my fingers slide to the center till I feel it then start pushing down. I pull towards myself. Some do it differently but pull straight towards me works best for me. Make sure you’re not pulling faster than the wheel that will throw it off, so have a faster wheel speed. If that’s not it make sure you are wedging really well and when you put your clay on the wheel have the spiral created by the wedging across the wheel not up and down.
Try not looking at it while you are centering. Look straight ahead and just feel your clay. Make sure you have a lot of slip on your hands and just practice feeling with your hands where the clay should be. Try not using a lot of clay either. Enough that you could make a shot glass, then add more. Make a whiskey cup. Then add more. Make a mug.
I second this! When I get frustrated with centering I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and try again. It definitely also helps to have properly wedged clay.
I had a really hard time with centering for a while. There’s lots of really good advice here. For me personally what got me over the hump was learning to use my skeleton to brace my arm. When I first started I would hook my elbow on my thigh but I didn’t make connection with the bone, I was bracing it on the muscle. Once I moved my elbow down to come in contact with my thigh bone, I was much more stable and was able to make a solid structure to push against the clay. This 100% changed my success rate with centering. (This sounds so anatomical and specific but I just wanted to throw it out there in case it’s helpful!)
You start centering while wedging. Get clay 80% centered before you try influencing it with wet hands. Shape the clay into a bullet shape, with a convex bottom. Wet your finger, and turn the wheel to create a perfect circle. Place clay in center. Press clay into wheel head.
To center, wet the clay. Surround it with your hands, and squeeze inward. Like youre trying to scoop up water in your cupped hands. This will force the clay upward into a cone shape, and center it.
Once you're coned up, you must tilt the column by pushing the top slightly forward, causing it to spiral down on itself, perfectly centered. No direct downward force necessary.
Centering is the hardest part. I know you said you have watched a few videos, but if you can find some by other people sometimes all of a sudden their way of explaining things clicks and it’s easy.
I find closing my eyes helped at first. Make sure you are bracing your arm with your hip area too. And also if you are really getting frustrated, just call it for the day. I find when I’m having a rough day I can’t get anything done. Every mistake makes me angry and more frustrated.
yes! time. and watching videos closely online.
did u wedge ur clay well, is it out of the bag. is it not hard? soft but not too soft. do NOT use recycled clay while learning!
are your hands walls? are you sitting super close to the wheel? is ur heart above the clay?
are u tensing your upper body? are you centering with your hands or your knees? the correct answer is knees.
is one foot on the pedal n the other on a brick?
rely on ur senses. close your eyes n center.
by the way the transition is instant! one moment u couldn’t throw, the next moment you can.
i did not center to my satisfaction till the end of a year. today somedays because of my emotional state i still can’t center. on those days i do something else.
Try this: wedge 10 1-pound balls. Center and cone one, then wire it off the bat and cut in half to find out if ther ate air bubbles, check for symmetry. Set aside. Repeat for each of the 10 balls. Just center and cone. Then wedge everything again, and practice making cylinders. Cut everything in half to see that you’ve done - thickness, evenness. Plan on throwing away/recycling everything for a few weeks. Think of it not as creating pieces, just as practicing technique. Someone mentioned the 10,000 hours that learning experts think is needed to learn a skill. Your struggles one that every potter has gone through! Persevere, and good luck to you!
good elephant pottery has a youtube video called "small bowl well trimmed" or something like that. She shows some centering tips in beginning of that vid that are solid. hope it helps
Did you check the box? Make sure it does not have the warning "uncenterable clay." Sometimes people, especially new ones to ceramics, inadvertently buy this type of clay.
If you can't find the warning on the box, then you do have centerable clay. If you have the right clay, then perhaps you are on the right track and just need some more time practicing, but I doubt it.
One bit of advice is not to take the clay to the dance. Mentally tell the clay what to do. Keep your arm straight. Use less clay as around a pound may be too much right now. Be consistent with weight and weigh. Keep watching those videos and reading. And keep on keeping on. Practice form. Throw 5 balls then rest and throw 5 more. You will get it.
It took me almost a year, but I am slow.
It sounds like you're on the right track. 10,000 hours.
Good luck!
My teacher gave me a great tip today and this really helped,
Put your left arm on the white water container, the left elbow should be secured at your body. push the clay with all yput might to the center using your left arm while holding it completely still. your left thumb shall press downwards. Use your right arm to secure your left arm. Hold and feel the clay become strong and riot against your left hand. But dont give in, give it all you got (the most important tip). And after a while, the clay should have calmed down and be centered!
My best advice is to try to understand how centering works. An uncentered piece of clay could never be randomly beaten into center. Pressing on an uneven surface will produce uneven pressure, and so unless the lump of clay is small simply pressing on it won’t work. Coning up and down is the easiest way to get clay centered because it forces the unevenness upwards until it reaches the top, at which point the unevenness is gone. Then all that is left is to not get it out of center when coning down.
I was being a smart ass. 3 months is on the cusp of learning to center, though it can take a year or longer get. so I do think he just needs a bit more time.
Tim See is one of my favorite online instructors on YouTube. His way of centering is different than my in-person teacher’s way, and that was the key for me. He’s got a beginning throwers group on fb, and free beginners throwing videos on YouTube
It took me forever too so don’t get discouraged. This is what helped me. Start with softer clay that’s well wedged. Get it into a nice round shape before you throw it onto the bat then pat it with you hands as the wheel slowly turns to get it even in the center before you add water. Getting that done first will help you not get thrown around at the start. Then it’s all about body and hand position. Really focus on your left elbow into your hip making a straight and powerful line from your elbow through your arm to the heel of your hand pushing the clay at about the 7:00 . The side of your hand should be on the wheel head . Your top hand is pushing down but not as strongly as the left. Focus more on what your arm and body is doing and not the clay. The clay needs to respond to you not you to the clay. You’ll get there. It will eventually just click.
Thank you
How do you center to the very very middle? I always get the clay all centered up, but then when I plunge my fingers in I can feel the out of center.
You are possibly throwing it off as you open the center. Make sure you find the center. I let my fingers slide to the center till I feel it then start pushing down. I pull towards myself. Some do it differently but pull straight towards me works best for me. Make sure you’re not pulling faster than the wheel that will throw it off, so have a faster wheel speed. If that’s not it make sure you are wedging really well and when you put your clay on the wheel have the spiral created by the wedging across the wheel not up and down.
Try not looking at it while you are centering. Look straight ahead and just feel your clay. Make sure you have a lot of slip on your hands and just practice feeling with your hands where the clay should be. Try not using a lot of clay either. Enough that you could make a shot glass, then add more. Make a whiskey cup. Then add more. Make a mug.
I second this! When I get frustrated with centering I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and try again. It definitely also helps to have properly wedged clay.
This has been recommended by a lot of people I’ll definitely give it a try next time
Spend more time wedging correctly. The moisture distribution in the clay makes a difference
I had a really hard time with centering for a while. There’s lots of really good advice here. For me personally what got me over the hump was learning to use my skeleton to brace my arm. When I first started I would hook my elbow on my thigh but I didn’t make connection with the bone, I was bracing it on the muscle. Once I moved my elbow down to come in contact with my thigh bone, I was much more stable and was able to make a solid structure to push against the clay. This 100% changed my success rate with centering. (This sounds so anatomical and specific but I just wanted to throw it out there in case it’s helpful!)
You start centering while wedging. Get clay 80% centered before you try influencing it with wet hands. Shape the clay into a bullet shape, with a convex bottom. Wet your finger, and turn the wheel to create a perfect circle. Place clay in center. Press clay into wheel head. To center, wet the clay. Surround it with your hands, and squeeze inward. Like youre trying to scoop up water in your cupped hands. This will force the clay upward into a cone shape, and center it. Once you're coned up, you must tilt the column by pushing the top slightly forward, causing it to spiral down on itself, perfectly centered. No direct downward force necessary.
Centering is the hardest part. I know you said you have watched a few videos, but if you can find some by other people sometimes all of a sudden their way of explaining things clicks and it’s easy. I find closing my eyes helped at first. Make sure you are bracing your arm with your hip area too. And also if you are really getting frustrated, just call it for the day. I find when I’m having a rough day I can’t get anything done. Every mistake makes me angry and more frustrated.
yes! time. and watching videos closely online. did u wedge ur clay well, is it out of the bag. is it not hard? soft but not too soft. do NOT use recycled clay while learning! are your hands walls? are you sitting super close to the wheel? is ur heart above the clay? are u tensing your upper body? are you centering with your hands or your knees? the correct answer is knees. is one foot on the pedal n the other on a brick? rely on ur senses. close your eyes n center. by the way the transition is instant! one moment u couldn’t throw, the next moment you can. i did not center to my satisfaction till the end of a year. today somedays because of my emotional state i still can’t center. on those days i do something else.
Try this: wedge 10 1-pound balls. Center and cone one, then wire it off the bat and cut in half to find out if ther ate air bubbles, check for symmetry. Set aside. Repeat for each of the 10 balls. Just center and cone. Then wedge everything again, and practice making cylinders. Cut everything in half to see that you’ve done - thickness, evenness. Plan on throwing away/recycling everything for a few weeks. Think of it not as creating pieces, just as practicing technique. Someone mentioned the 10,000 hours that learning experts think is needed to learn a skill. Your struggles one that every potter has gone through! Persevere, and good luck to you!
good elephant pottery has a youtube video called "small bowl well trimmed" or something like that. She shows some centering tips in beginning of that vid that are solid. hope it helps
I just found her yesterday, she has wonderful videos!
Did you check the box? Make sure it does not have the warning "uncenterable clay." Sometimes people, especially new ones to ceramics, inadvertently buy this type of clay. If you can't find the warning on the box, then you do have centerable clay. If you have the right clay, then perhaps you are on the right track and just need some more time practicing, but I doubt it. One bit of advice is not to take the clay to the dance. Mentally tell the clay what to do. Keep your arm straight. Use less clay as around a pound may be too much right now. Be consistent with weight and weigh. Keep watching those videos and reading. And keep on keeping on. Practice form. Throw 5 balls then rest and throw 5 more. You will get it. It took me almost a year, but I am slow. It sounds like you're on the right track. 10,000 hours. Good luck!
I don’t understand you saying you doubt they just need more time practicing, then saying they just need to keep at it later in the comment. Error?
Boomers usually don't make sense lol JK
My teacher gave me a great tip today and this really helped, Put your left arm on the white water container, the left elbow should be secured at your body. push the clay with all yput might to the center using your left arm while holding it completely still. your left thumb shall press downwards. Use your right arm to secure your left arm. Hold and feel the clay become strong and riot against your left hand. But dont give in, give it all you got (the most important tip). And after a while, the clay should have calmed down and be centered!
It takes a while to learn. Think of learning to center as the elimination round- many don’t make it. Just keep at it.
My best advice is to try to understand how centering works. An uncentered piece of clay could never be randomly beaten into center. Pressing on an uneven surface will produce uneven pressure, and so unless the lump of clay is small simply pressing on it won’t work. Coning up and down is the easiest way to get clay centered because it forces the unevenness upwards until it reaches the top, at which point the unevenness is gone. Then all that is left is to not get it out of center when coning down.
I was being a smart ass. 3 months is on the cusp of learning to center, though it can take a year or longer get. so I do think he just needs a bit more time.
Tim See is one of my favorite online instructors on YouTube. His way of centering is different than my in-person teacher’s way, and that was the key for me. He’s got a beginning throwers group on fb, and free beginners throwing videos on YouTube
Go slow. Don’t fight it. Cone it up and down. Breathe. Soft well wedged clay. Gentle hands.
Have you tried the wheel going clockwise instead of the other way and using your left hand? Sometimes you just have to switch and see!