Want to Make Larger Bowls¿ Start with this Shape.

Today I'm making some large serving bowls. This is a great shape if you want to get into making larger bowls. The shape is simple and best of all easy to make. And it can be fired to maximise kiln space with a very old technique. I'm using 2.5 kilos of clay for each bowl. So I can make 4 bowls from my 10 kilo pug of clay. I'm using my favourite yellow speckle clay. planning on leaving the outside of my bowls unglazed so I need some clay with character. It has a little grit and some speckles but it's not too rough to be a problem on my hands. So I've wedged my clay to make sure it's homogeneous and I start by centering. I definitely recommend throwing these bowls on a bat. If you don't have bat pins on your wheel you could use a chamois or a pad of clay. I cone up and down a few times until my clay is centered and then I flatten the clay to around 18 centimeters. I push down into the clay leaving a little under a centimeter in the base just enough to form quite a shallow foot. I open out across the base is flat but where the walls meet the base I need a curve and I bring the walls up. I bring the walls up to their final height and the rim out to its final width. That's 11 centimeters high and 26 centimeters in diameter. To stay up to date with all of our projects be sure to subscribe. It's a way of supporting us that is much appreciated. To create a rounded rim I use the webbing between my pinky and ring finger. This saves me finding a chamois. I straighten the walls and then to give the bowl its simple distinctive shape I push from the inside just at the base and I straighten the walls up a little more. To further accentuate the curve at the base I trim and you can leave the clay here to trim at leather hard if you'd rather and then I make another and that's about it I can wire through and set aside to dry to leather hard once my bowls dried to leather hard I upend Center and fasten I've actually let this one dry a little too much. It can be a little harder to control the drying as seasons change. And I'm just going to trim a little around the base. Now I mentioned a little earlier that my clay is kind of dry. The trimmings are dry shavings so to make it a little easier I take a damp sponge and hold it against the base as i trim this allows me to trim quite a dry pot without having to wet my pot down i don't need to do any shaping but if you've left more clay around the base you might need to trim a little more another tip is to use a mirror when trimming mine's just off camera i trim across the base I trim across the base these don't need a really pronounced foot ring the foot is formed by trimming a gentle curve across the base and then I smooth the surface. I find a flexible rib works really well for this. Just enough of a foot to sit well on a table and that's it for trimming. Now I did mention a firing technique that I'm keen to try and that is firing rim to rim so the rims have to be exactly the same size and i dry my pieces fully i bisque fire with the bowls stacked rim to rim i glaze by pouring glaze into the bowls oops i swirl a little to coat the whole surface and then i empty the glaze out i wipe any drips and then i very carefully wipe the rim this is important when firing rim to rim. The whole rim has to be free of glaze and then I load the bowls stacked rim to rim and I can fire a bowl sitting on top. You could easily glaze the outside too but I really enjoy the look and feel of this yellow speckled clay once it's fired and then I fire my bowls to a mid-fire. My bowls are finished and stuck together. I separate by tapping on my benchtop. They come apart quite easily however i must say this is dependent on the clay you use this is because some clay bodies with speckle include things like granular manganese or iron oxide that can melt and fuse so if you want to try this firing method you do need to test your own clay to make sure it works for the temperature you're firing to these bowls are perfect for serving salads and of course they work for many other things they look great as fruit bowls they're simple to shape and the shape doesn't overly tax the clay they're a great way to ease into making larger bowls i would definitely recommend making these larger bowls on a bat because they have such a large surface across the base for more super useful large bowls why not check out my large pasta bowl video and as always happy potting