Blog Post #8

While working on the wheel this week and last week I had some difficulties and some accomplishments. I worked on the kick wheel and the treadle wheel for the first time. Moving from the electric wheel to the kick wheel was a big change. When working on the kick wheel I had much more control over my pots unlike when working on the electric wheel. The one thing I didn’t like was that once I got it moving at the pace I wanted it to it would slow down once I placed my hands on the wheel. It took some time but I finally got the hang of it. I made my first tea bowl on the kick wheel. Centering on the kick wheel was much easier than centering on the treadle wheel. The treadle wheel is difficult when centering because I’m not used to the way it works. The movement of the wheel is totally different from that of the kick wheel. On the treadle wheel you can’t put your elbows on your knees like on the electric and kick wheel, you have to keep them close to your body and apply pressure towards your body. Once I figured this out it helped my centering a bit, I’m still working on it. Opening the pot is the easiest thing for me. The pulling of the walls upward is the thing that I need to work on. Each time I try to pull them up I always make it to thin and it makes a ring and falls off. I’m still working on this but hopefully I’ll be able to make at least one good pot on the treadle wheel.