I'm gonna show you three different wedging techniques. The Potter's most
popular Rams head, the spiral, and the stack and slam. Which one do you think is
best. I'll be sharing the surprising results
with you later in this video.
Hi Marie here at Pottery Crafters giving you tips tools and techniques to help
you make beautiful pottery. If you're new to this channel don't forget to
subscribe and click that notification bell. Wedging has to be the least liked
but most important part of playing with clay. Whether by hand or machine it has
to be done. There are a few things you'll want to do before you start to wedge.
You'll need something to wedge on that your clay won't stick to. You can wedge
on wood. I have wood here or wood covered with canvas. Also clay doesn't stick to
plaster, masonite, concrete, or granite You'll also want to weigh out your clay.
This is a good habit to get into because it's good to know how much clay you need
for the items that you'll be making, also gives you a good feel for the weight of
the clay. When learning how to wedge you should start with 1 to 3 pounds of clay
not too small or not too large, whatever fits most comfortable in your hands
until you get the hang of it. I'll be using 3 pounds for this video. Let's get
wedging. When starting the Rams head you want to form your clay into a rectangle
or square. Place your thumbs and lower part of your palms on top of the clay.
Wrap your fingers gently around the clay. Don't squeeze your fingers into it as
you're pressing on the clay. You want to press in as you're pushing the clay down
and out towards the wall. Bring the top towards you by moving your hands to the
top and placing the lower tip or chin of the Rams head on the board and press in
down and out towards the wall.
In, down and out, towards the wall. Bring it back up to the chin. In, down, out,
towards the wall. The palms of your hands are putting most of the pressure on the
clay. Your fingers are only guiding and lifting the clay.
Notice how I'm pushing the clay in and not folding the clay over. This would
create air pockets instead of getting them out. Make sure you're not pushing
down too hard, you don't want your Rams head to look like it's been hit by a car,
You also don't want your hands to be too far apart, your clay will start to spread
out too far and look like this. Make sure you're pushing at least an eighth of the
rams horns inward. In, down, and out towards the wall.
You want to get a good rhythm as you're pushing in, down, and away.
Pulling back up going in, down, and away. This gets the large and small lumps out
and also helps the clay particles or platelets align with each other giving
the clay more flexibility.
When you're finished wedging just roll the ram's nose around like this and pat
the horns in and on the sides so you don't get air trapped as you're pressing
your clay together. Now Pat your clay into a ball and now you're ready to Center on
the wheel and I have a video on eleven problems beginners run into while
centering and easy ways to fix them. I took half of my clay and mixed it with
the Evergreen Mason steam let's see how long it takes and how many wedges it
takes to completely blend the two together with the Rams head wedge. I'll
be cutting it open every 20th wedge.
The spiral is another wedging technique. The spiral can be a little trickier but
still easy to learn. This method is similar to the Rams head by both
creating a swirl pattern. You can wedge clockwise or counterclockwise. I'm gonna
wedge counterclockwise. You want to start out by placing your thumbs together in
the butterfly position and placing your hands on top of the clay which starts
out triangle or square and press down moving your palms in the
counterclockwise direction. Lifting up going to my left and
turning it 15 degrees. Moving your hands over at least an inch or more and then
push it down again. Going counterclockwise lifting back up to my
left. Moving my hands over to the left at least an inch and then pushing down
again moving your hands this way coming back up again and going back down.
See how I'm pushing. I leave an indentation here as I'm lifting up. I
want to move my palms over at least an inch.
Come back up, rotate only about 15 degrees counterclockwise, and then push
down again. Come back up rotate 15 degrees, push back down again.
This gives your clay even moisture and uniform consistency throughout. Making
your clay more malleable - workable. Also gets rid of the air pockets. If you're
doing it correctly you'll know fairly quickly because your clay will have a
spiral shape that looks like a shell.
Once you get the hang of it, it becomes pretty easy to do and with practice
before you know it the Spiral wedge will become automatic.
Now let's see how long it takes for the spiral wedge to completely blend the two
colors together cutting every 20th wedge.
The stack and slam wire wedging. This method is one of the easiest and also
good at compressing the clay which reduces the risk of your pottery
cracking. Take your wire cut your clay in half, stack your clay in your hand, and
slam it down on the table. You want to continue to do this about 5 to 7 times
turning the clay each time. When it's in a rectangle shape cut it again stack it
and slam it again. You want to do this about 20 times.
That's how easy the stacking slam is. Now we're going to try and blend the two
colors together with the stack and slam and see how many wire cuts it takes for
it to totally blend together. I'll stop at every five.
After blending the two colors together with each wedging technique I was
surprised by the results. The rams had took a little over six minutes and two
hundred wedges. The spiral wedge took less than four minutes and only a
hundred wedges. The stack and slam took a little over six minutes twenty-five
slices and around a hundred and forty Slams. Keep in mind you will only need to
wedge thoroughly like this for recycle clay or mixing Mason stains and other
types of colorants into your clay. Fresh clay right out of the bag only needs to
be wedged about 30 to 40 times and the stack and slam about 15 slices. I recycle
a lot so it looks like I'll be doing a spiral wedge from now on. Which ones do
you like the best? Which wedge are you gonna choose? It's
amazing how clay is taken from the earth and brought into our lives in so many
different ways, from practical everyday uses to stunning pieces of art and it
all begins with wedging. If you have any recommendations or any other tips or
ideas for future videos please feel free to post those in the comments section
below. Some of the best tips and feedback come
from you. Also in the comment section are more show notes and resources. Click here
to go to my other video about eleven problems centering and easy ways to fix
them. Also, click here for other pottery making videos and keep making that
beautiful pottery.