Turning Stone Pottery » Pottery Wheels

Traditional and Modern Pottery Wheels

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:08:05 +0000

Pottery is an old art. It has existed for hundreds of years even before history began. Even with modern advancement, pottery has remained relatively unchanged from what it was before. One very important aspect of this art, aside from the clay, is the pottery wheel. An artisan can create majestic structures from clay, a pottery wheel, and his bare hands.

Today, the use of pottery has evolved to incorporate technological advancements. Basically, a pottery wheel is a platform on which clay is shaped. It is connected to a flywheel via a vertical shaft. Traditional wheels have flywheels that are pushed with the foot. Electric wheels are those that have motors for power. Years of experience can tell you which you should personally prefer. However, if you don’t have the experience, choosing between traditional or electric wheels for making pottery can be carefully made by considering the following factors.

Size and Amount of Work

Electric wheels that can sit on tabletops can contain about 20 lbs of clay. Kick wheels are large structures that are secured near the floor. Depending on how big and how many you are going to make, you may find that electricity can help lighten out the load.

Personal Preference

Many potters prefer the traditional kick wheel because it gives more personal control. If you want the psychic feel of the wheel, you may opt for a kick wheel. Electric wheels remove the spiritual feeling of traditional wheels, but it requires less skill that beginners always find useful. The use of traditional or electric wheels for making pottery will depend largely on your skills.

Cost

The price difference between the two types is nearly identical. However, electric wheels add to your electric bill and may cost you more in the long run.

Ergonomics

Stiffness and back and joint pains are normal complains of potters who spend hours sitting or standing next to their wheels. Pottery puts you into restricted positions that cause the pain. Kick wheels requires even more difficult positions and the constant kicking may cause more pain.

In the end, you have to let the artist in you decide what type to pick. Choosing between traditional or electric wheels for making pottery is just the first step into the long journey of pottery as an art.

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The Long Journey of the Potter’s Wheel

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:14:56 +0000

The potter’s wheel may be all too simple for you. But if we take it into a historical context, the wheel is one of the most ingenious applications of mechanical principles during its time. Pottery began as an art even before recorded history. Back then, people doesn’t know anything yet about wheels or other mechanical principles that we take for granted today. The history of the potter’s wheel is thus a long story, and an exciting one to tell.

The story begins in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC. Archeological evidences have undoubtedly put the history of the potter’s wheel to begin in the ancient city of Sumeria. The wheel and axle is also thought to have originated in the same area. In 3000 BC, wheels became a universal tool in pottery making in Mesopotamia, which soon spread eastwards towards the Indus Valley and then to other parts of the world.

Basically, the potter’s wheel is just a circular platform mounted to revolve freely about an axis. The most primitive type of this wheel is named “tournette,” which is probably just a disc of baked clay pivoted vertically on a support post. The disc is easily revolved by pushing the disc itself, either done by an assistant or the potter himself. The tournette lasted long but is obviously disadvantaged. Soon, the modern form of the wheel arrived, when the foot is used to turn a second disc which is connected to the main disc.

Further into the history of the potter’s wheel, we see that it played a great role in the development of pottery as an exquisite form of art. The use of the potter’s wheel allows the creation of pots with fine symmetry. Before, pots were built by hand in a slow and laborious job. Wall of even thickness is almost impossible to make without the wheel. A few more years passed and the wheel reached Rome and Crete and the potter’s wheel became a standard tool in every potter’s workshop.