The tools for use with the potter’s wheel are mostly of thin steel, and may easily be cut from a sheet of steel which one can buy of a dealer in hardware. There should be an oval shape, two and a quarter by four inches, and another of the same size and shape with the edges cut in saw-teeth (see Fig. 5). There should also be a tool with one straight side and the other curved (see Fig. 6), and a rectangular one about two by four inches. A hoe-shaped tool of steel (see Fig. 7) is indispensable for working on the wheel, as is a slender point of steel, an inch and a quarter long, set in a wooden handle (see Fig. 8), and a piece of stout wire. A rubber polisher, the size and shape of the oval tool of sheet steel, will also be found useful. These may be bought of dealers in potters’ tools. A sponge, a ground-glass slab about a foot square, a rolling-pin, and sandpaper are also essential.
Round and square slabs of plaster of paris should be provided upon which to put the pieces of pottery while they are being formed. These may be bought or cast in moulds, according to the directions in Chapter VII.