I'm fairly new to pottery and have only worked with electric wheels before. Recently moved and the studio only has a kickwheel so I had reverted to handbuilding because I was intimidated. Thank you for these amazing tips! I'm looking forward to working on the kickwheel this weekend :)
The kick wheel, especially when using one with a light flywheel isn't far from hand building. Your hands work in the same ways. I made these videos for my students. They tend to prefer the electric wheel and tend to stomp the gas pedal all the way down.
This was super helpful! I'm in a ceramics 1 class and the only wheel we have that's still working is a big kick wheel, and I was a bit intimidated, but the helpful hints like not kicking on the edge and moving the seat, the knee placement/movement, was super helpful!! Thank you :]
I noted you said the kickwheel helps you work with economy, which got my attention. I'm really interested in using the wheel for trimming. You made a great training video. Thanks again.
Many students using an electric wheel can't figure out how fast to go when trimming. The kick wheel helps sort this out naturally. (same sort of speed as when you made the pot). Watching a good potter work is a lot different from watching a video that is edited and only one thing results at the end. Efficiency is more about what happens to get done in the next hour or so.
@@verypeaceful1310 It's fanfiction for the tv series Avatar the Last Airbender. It's about a husband and wife who run a pottery studio. She has earth magic and can manipulate, move, and shape rocks, clay, and soil with magic. He has fire magic and can do anything from warming a cup of cold tea in his hands to blasting fireballs. Also, the husbands nation, the Fire Nation, is at war with the wife's kingdom, the Earth Kingdom. But somehow both their marriage and the magic they use together in their craft works anyway. I'm one of those people who like to write my fanfic with as much real world and canon plot accuracy as possible.
@@hilarymajor3983 I am literally wearing an avatar shirt, making little salt pots, texting my sister that I am now an earth bender. Hello I am your fan now. When does it come out and where do I start 😍
It’s on AO3, my fanfic name is Periphyton, the story is called Clay and Kiln. It takes place between Zuko Alone and The Chase. The ostrich horse Zuko stole is having problems so he asks for some help with his bird. He ends up spending a full day with a mixed Fire-Earth family, and learns how Firebending can be used to fire a pottery kiln. Also what happens when a grad student studying soil ecology and microbiology writes about a kid who is an Earthbender with a Fire father, who loves him and teaches his earth son about firebender style meditation.
Hello from the Netherlands, I recently started to learn wealtrowing at school and am finding it verry hard to control. They only have electric ones. I think I would do a lot bether on these ones. I usually do way bether with nonpower tools becouse I feel what I do. Sadly I can't find any company in my country that sales these. But this video wil really help me should I ever get my hands on one🤞
I love the kick wheel so much more than the electric pedal. I feel like you have so much more control (Granted, I learned on the kick wheel then tried the electric only once or twice) but honestly I hated the electric wheel and luckily my professor allowed us to to go back to the kick if we wanted. The electric’s speed just didn’t feel comfortable to me and I didn’t get that same wonderful feeling as I do with the kick wheel. I’m in the process of trying to build my own in my home because I miss it so much but can’t afford to buy one. I know it’s gonna be tough but it’ll be worth it. I had been wanting to get back into pottery even before the pandemic and now it just feels like it’s one the best reasons to build a kick wheel and get back into it.
+Abigail Wyatt ... Istarted on an electric wheel too. someone gave me a kick wheel, and I am cleaning it up a bit. I haven't tried throwing on it, yet. How did you find being able to successfully throw on a kickwheel? You know? Compared to the speed of an en electric wheel?
@@JSmedic1 After my intro art class in college I took ceramics instead of the regular painting that my friends took and I LOVED IT! It was an elective for us all & they came out of theirs as if it was a chore and I was never wanted to leave my ceramics class I loved it so much. Also my professor was really old school and REALLY eccentric, just made me fall in love with ceramics and pottery. So much so that I’m DETERMINED to build my own kick wheel one day😁
Does a kick wheel ever need to be lubricated or greased? I haven’t thrown in a very long time but recently purchased two kick wheels like the one you are using. One was outside and needs new wood for the seat, the other one was from a school and wasn’t exposed to the elements.
Hello from northern Japan! Thank you for your good advice... I've just restored an aged kick wheel, and appreciate the tips. By the way, assuming you are in Rochester NY (rather than Minnesota), do you know the potter Steve Merritt, formerly of RIT? Thanks.
Sorry for the late reply. I am in Rochester, Minnesota so I don't know Steve Merrit. I am originally from NY and did go to Alfred University, not all that far from the other Rochester. I have a fondness for the kick wheel - I am not sure why people think it is work to throw on one.
Hi! love your video, your style. Simple, efficient. Question: what does it mean to throw with efficiency and grace? Another potter said she "tickles" her clay on a kick wheel, vs with force when using an electric one. Any difference in the clay itself? Should it be softer? so many questions. I was given a beautiful kick wheel, nice inertia, great fly wheel. I love to sit up rather than crouching over an electric one. Just haven't found the trick to do any thing right, yet. (Not really a potter, more of a sculptor).
As a teacher, I see students approach throwing all sorts of ways, despite showing methods that work best for most people and are simple for beginners. I have also watched some awesome potters at work. So I have a few ideas on efficient work becoming graceful. Of course, I make a living as a teacher rather than full time potter so I am free from equating production with paying for health insurance. It is easier to show than describe but I will try my best to answer your questions. Have a clear goal in mind before you start. Size and shape and thickness in your head. One idea for each lump of clay. Just make that. Then the next thing is a fresh start. Relax, remember you are doing this because you enjoy it and will have something to show for your effort. Use soft clay. Or use the softest clay you can to make the form you desire. Your body will approve. Soft clay moves more easily so it takes less work and less time to make the form. Less time spent, working directly is efficient. You may not be able to fool around with softer clay for as long but you shouldn’t need to. Some people use stiff clay trying for control. This can be more like wrestling with the clay. Some people enjoy this battle. Don’t mess around with centering. Only center the clay as much as needed to make the form. You don’t need to center each piece of clay the same exact way unless your goal is simply to center clay perfectly. That’s not really the point, the form you make is what you are after. Centering never stops. You are centered. You coax the clay into cooperating with your ideas. You don’t need to be in a hurry. Working steadily beats thinking you need to get things done. Every time. If you have to set goals, make sure they are realistic. Remember that you are using a kick wheel intentionally. You are not attached to a machine, you are intimately involved with the way the clay moves. Work with the way the momentum comes out of the wheel. As the wheel slows, you respond with the way your hands move more slowly perhaps. You can gently kick and throw at the same time if you need to. There are no rules. Throwing the clay by lifting rather than pinching matters even more on a kick wheel. None of my students who “already know how to throw” actually do. Lots of teachers and even potters don’t throw by displacing the wall in order to lift the clay. You could mash the clay or you could coax the clay. One is a more graceful way of working and this translates to the form the clay takes. A skilled craftsperson makes things look easy, regardless of media. That’s who you want to learn from or emulate.
When I use an electric wheel, I end up with a splash pan full of water and slip. Is it important to use less water or not mess around too long as there’s not a deep pan that goes all the way around? Thank you for the tips!! I’m hoping to buy a second hand one.
This wheel pan dumps water back on the larger work surface. It catches water but trimmings fly off. None of this bothers me as the kick wheel in my home studio also has a very small improvised splash pan. Put a big sponge where water drips. Sweep up the floor before trimming so you can sweep up the trimmings without getting any foreign material in the recycled clay. This wheel is quick to clean up after use compared with wheels where you have to remove a two part splash pan. Some of my students take half a semester to figure out how to put a splash pan back on a Brent wheel. Use however much water you think you need, no one is judging how you work. Rather than mess around with one pot, simply take off when you get what you like and use the mess around time to make another piece. In my opinion, Lockerbie wheels have way too heavy of a flywheel for small to medium size pots, the kind most of us spend most of our time making.
Thanks! I like the idea of a kick wheel, but I will be making smaller pieces-probably 20 lbs at the most. Is there a kick wheel that is lighter for that level of throwing? I love Brent electric wheels, but I can’t find a used one, and for now a new one is out of my budget. I don’t know that I need a wheel as sturdy as a Brent, but I really don’t want to spend several hundred dollars for something that feels rickety or wobbly compared to the Brents I have used. Thoughts?
The videos I made show the three types of wheel we have in our studio - electric, kick and treadle. There are enough electric wheels for all the students and most seem to prefer them because they don't have to think about making it go. I think the kick wheel will teach you to be more gentle and efficient with the clay since muscling the clay around makes you kick more often. There are many types of electric wheel on the market. You don't need one with a huge wheel head or a big motor to make what most potter's spend their time making.
The wheel in the video is a Lockerbie wheel, available new from ceramic suppliers and in the used market. There are many sorts of kick wheel, this one is not my favorite since the flywheel is very heavy.
