Wheel Throwing Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Learning to throw on the wheel takes practice, but most beginner struggles come down to a handful of habits. These tips and tricks will help you center faster, pull taller walls, and lose fewer pots along the way.

Start with the right clay

• Pick a smooth stoneware. A smooth or lightly grogged midrange clay is the most forgiving for beginners. Very fine porcelain is beautiful but less forgiving while you learn. Browse our pottery clay and stoneware clay.
• Wedge every ball. Wedging pushes out air bubbles and evens out the moisture. Air pockets are one of the top reasons pots blow out in the kiln or wobble on the wheel.
• Start small. One to two pound balls are much easier to center than big lumps. Weigh them so you can repeat a size you like.
• Keep it soft. Clay that is too firm fights you when centering. Clay that is too soft collapses. If it sticks to your hand and smears, it is too wet.

Centering tips

• Brace your arms. Rest your elbows on your thighs or the splash pan so your body does the work, not just your hands.
• Fast wheel, slow hands. Run the wheel fast while centering and move your hands slowly and steadily.
• Use just enough water. The clay should be slick, not soaking. Too much water makes the clay soft and weak.
• Cone up and down. Push the clay into a tall cone and back down two or three times. This lines up the clay and makes centering much easier.
• Test with a still hand. Hold a fingertip lightly against the spinning clay. If you feel no bumps, it is centered.

Opening and the floor

• Open straight down in the center, and stop about a quarter inch to half inch from the wheel head. A needle tool poked into the floor tells you exactly how thick it is.
• Compress the floor. Run your fingers or a rib across the bottom a few times. A floor that is not compressed is the most common cause of S cracks.
• Sponge out the water that pools in the bottom before you pull walls.

Pulling walls

• Slow the wheel down. Pull at about half the speed you used for centering.
• One slow pull beats three fast ones. Move your hands up at an even speed, about one rotation per half inch.
• Keep your hands connected. Touch your thumbs or fingers together across the rim so both hands move as one unit.
• Collar in as you go. Gently squeeze the form inward between pulls. Pots naturally want to flare out, and collaring keeps the walls strong.
• Know when to stop. If the walls start to twist, thin out, or go off center, stop and let the pot be what it is. That is how most pots are lost.

Finishing the rim and cutting off

• Compress the rim with a piece of chamois or your fingertips. A compressed rim is stronger and less likely to crack.
• Trim off an uneven rim with a needle tool while the wheel turns slowly.
• Clean up the base with a wooden tool, then cut the pot off with a wire pulled tight against the wheel head.
• Throwing on bats lets you lift the pot off without touching it. This helps a lot with wide or thin pieces.

Find ribs, needle tools, sponges, wires, and more in our clay tools.

Drying and trimming

• Dry slowly and evenly. Cover pots loosely with plastic so the rim does not dry faster than the base. Uneven drying causes cracks.
• Trim at leather hard. The clay should be firm enough to hold its shape but still soft enough to carve. If trimming tools chatter, the clay is too dry. If they drag and gum up, it is too wet.
• Center before you trim. Tap the pot to center it on the wheel head, then hold it down with a few small coils of clay.
• Trim the foot to match the wall thickness so the pot dries and fires evenly.

Common beginner mistakes

• Too much water: Soggy walls collapse. Use a sponge to wipe water out as you go.
• Uneven walls: Thick bottoms and thin tops are normal at first. Cut a few practice pots in half with a wire to see where the clay is.
• Rushing: Most problems come from moving too fast. Slow, steady hands make better pots.
• Skipping wedging: It is tempting, but it causes more lost pots than almost anything else.

Keep practicing

Every potter cuts up a lot of pots while learning. Try throwing the same simple cylinder over and over until it feels natural, and then start changing the shape. Once your pots are bisque fired, check out our midrange glazes and our guide to pottery glazing techniques to finish them off.

Ready to get on the wheel?

Our clay and wheel throwing kits come with clay and glazes picked to work together, so you can focus on centering and pulling walls instead of guessing at materials.