Working on the Wheel
CHAPTER III
WORKING ON THE WHEEL
From Encyclopedia Britannica
Fig. 10
That the primitive potter did not mould his pottery on a wheel we can be reasonably sure. The Egyptians, however, as early as 4000 B. C., used the simplest potter’s wheel, as is proved by fragments of pottery still in existence. This wheel was a small, round table revolving on a pivot (see Fig. 10). The potter set it in motion with his hand, and from time to time gave it a spin to keep it revolving. The same wheel is used to this day in many parts of India. An improvement on this simple contrivance was made in Egypt under the Ptolemies. A larger circular table was fixed lower down on the same axis. This the potter set and kept in motion with his foot, leaving his hands free at all times to mould the clay, while the wheel was kept at a regular speed.
What is technically known as “throwing” or moulding pottery on the wheel is a process that is not learned in a moment, or even in a day. It takes time and patience, but it is certainly one of the most fascinating parts of the craft. One would have lost half of the charm of pottery-making who had not felt the plastic clay, on the potter’s wheel, rise and fall between his hands, almost as if endowed with life!
The rapidity with which pieces can be formed on the wheel is an advantage over other processes, while the regularity of shape, refinement and perfection of finish give wheel-made pottery a beauty all its own. Until lately, few women potters have worked on the wheel, because the ordinary form of potter’s wheel, which was turned with one foot, the potter standing on the other, made the work too difficult and laborious for a woman to attempt. Now, however, a wheel copied from an old French model is in use which enables the potter to sit while at work. This is the wheel shown in Fig. 11. It is obtainable from makers of potters’ tools. The cost of such a wheel, with an iron top and shaft, and wooden flywheel made of three thicknesses of boards, is eighteen dollars, but second-hand wheels can sometimes be bought for much less. When the wheel is set up, the shaft box (a square box below the upper wheel) is fastened to the edge of a strong table or shelf, which has been placed in a good light. A seat which slants forward, not unlike a reading-desk in form, is made of wood (see Fig. 11), and set up near enough to the wheel for a person sitting on it to reach the wheel comfortably. It is braced by a board on either side extending diagonally forward, from the leg of the seat to the floor, and by a board fastened on the right of the top of the seat and reaching to the table. Under the table a foot-rest, roughly made of boards, is needed.
