How To Throw Mug Cups Off The Hump On The Potter’s Wheel

Hello, this is Yoon from Yoon Lab. In today's clay time, I'll be sharing some tips and tricks on how to throw off the hump using the potter's wheel. The benefit of throwing off the hump is you can speed up your ceramic production by throwing identical pieces of ceramic ware with just one lump of clay. It's a skill I've learned in South Korea over the years. Here are some of the tools I'll be using today. Wire cutter, stick sponge, sponge, rubber ribs, needle tool, wooden modeling tool, and a caliper. I'll go over the tools as I'm throwing multiple mugs. This is about 7 pounds of white porcelain. Spin around the lump of clay on the wheel head so there are no air bubbles trapped underneath the clay. Place the clay on the wheel head, have the wheel spinning slowly and start slap centering the clay with dry hands. When the lump of clay sticks to the wheel head, apply water to your hands and clay. Start centering the top portion of the hump by coning up and down at least 3 times. The bottom part of the hump doesn't need to be perfectly centered, but make sure the top part of the hump is centered. Make a little doorknob with the approximate amount of clay you want to use to make a mug. Apply water and slowly place both hands around the clay to gently drill a hole into the center of the clay. Using your thumb, create an opening to widen the hole. Starting from here, you'll want to minimize the use of water and use slip instead so the clay doesn't absorb too much water. Compress and flatten the base of the mug before pulling up the walls. It's harder to flatten the base when the walls are all pulled up. Also, it's important to compress the base well to avoid cracking during the drying process. Slowly pull up the walls by marrying your hand speed and the wheel speed. It's ideal to do 3-4 pulls. If you go beyond, the clay will be absorbing too much water and start shrinking. If the mug happens to be too big, you can use the needle tool to trim off the rim. Once you have an evenly thick wall, you can start shaping the mug. Slowly shape the wall using your fingers. You're no longer adding water or slip. Instead, you're removing it. The sponge stick is a good tool to get rid of water and slip off the interior wall. It's a useful tool for small ceramic ware when your hands are too big to reach inside. Using a wooden knife, cut in about an inch of the bottom of the mug. Make sure you know where your inner base is and make a mark on the exterior wall. You don't want to cut above the inner base. Using a wire tool or a thread, gently cut as level as you can. Using four fingers, lift up the mug and place it on the board next to you. It might take some time to get used to this method, but you'll start to realize how fast you can work throwing off the hump. Thanks for watching!