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How to Make Pottery on the Wheel for Beginners (Udemy.com)

Beginners guide to throwing pottery on the wheel. Complete pottery lesson walks you step by step from start to finish

Created by: Steve McDonald

Last updated October 2021

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What you will learn

  • Buy the right tools for the job for around $10
  • Set up your permanent or temporary pottery studio.
  • Arrange your wheel, water and tools and get ready to throw a pot.
  • Throw a pot on the wheel from start to finish.
  • Choose the right clay.
  • Center your clay on the wheel.
  • Pull up the walls of your pot.
  • Shape the walls and finish the rim of your pot.
  • Cut your pot free from the pottery wheel.
  • Throw a bowl.
  • Throw a vase.
  • Throw a plate and trim a foot into the bottom of it on the pottery wheel.

How it compares

Against the other 418 rated Udemy courses in Lifestyle on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.6 out of 5higher than 47% of them
  • Reviews28#399 of 419 by number of reviews
  • Length1.4 hoursshorter than 81% of them
  • Last updatedOctober 2021earlier than 62% of them

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Course Description

Have you been dying to learn how to do pottery? Now is your chance. This course will teach you how to throw a pot on the wheel, from pulling your clay out of the bag to removing your pot from the wheel.

This pottery wheel course is for first time beginners new to throwing on the pottery wheel or for intermediate students who want to brush up their skills or troubleshoot their skills for quicker success.

It doesn’t include instruction on the process of firing your pottery once it has been thrown. That's for another course.

This course includes the following:

1. How to arrange your pottery wheel workspace, your clay, your water and your tools. How to set up a temporary kitchen tabletop studio if you have limited space. How to set up a room as a permanent studio if you have lots of space.

2. How to throw a pot on the pottery wheel. This is step by step lesson that takes you from pulling a piece of clay out of the bag to centering all the way through to cutting your pot off the wheel.

3. Specific tips and troubleshooting techniques to help you rapidly improve your pottery making on the wheel. These lessons will not only help you to quickly learn important skills, they will help you to avoid many of the common pitfalls that beginners and intermediate students face when learning to throw pottery.

4. Video demonstrations of the entire throwing process that you can watch over and over again to improve your technique. This will help you to throw pots much more quickly and easily than learning by trial and error.

This course assumes you already have access to a pottery wheel and know how to make it spin. It also assumes you can outfit your workspace with a water bucket and a basic set of tools including a sponge, a clay cutting wire, a clay needle and a wooden clay knife. If you don’t have these tools you can buy a kit that includes all of these tools for around $12 online or at most craft stores.

If you're ready to learn how to throw a pot on the pottery wheel, this lesson will show you how and give you tips and strategies so you can learn faster and with less effort.

Start watching and throw your first pot today!

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Instructor Details

Steve McDonald

Learning is easier with the right tools and instruction. In every one of my courses I take you step-by-step through the tools and knowledge you need to accomplish your goals. 

My talent is taking complex subjects (like Excel, Access and Photoshop) and making them simple to learn. I wasn't always good at technology. There was a time when I didn't even know how to correctly turn a computer on and off. But over the past 20 years I've dedicated myself to mastering technology. Now I'm proud to call myself a self-taught tech geek. 

I'm a geek who still speaks the language of normal human beings. I don't use a lot of jargon and fancy words that the average person doesn't understand.

I understand how frustrating it can be when the instructor goes too fast or leaves out critical steps in the learning process. That's why I make sure to clearly demonstrate each step for you visually, so you can follow along starting from the very beginning and going along until you've reached mastery.

I am here to guide you on your way to success. You can contact me at any step of the way for assistance. Let me know when you're struggling with a concept and I'll get right back to you to keep you moving in the right direction.

I'm always happy to help.  I believe in you, and I'm here to support you in your learning process.

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Reviews

4.6

28 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Zena Scott on 1/22/2022

didn't really teach much was more like watching some1 do it

By Maryam vastra on 11/24/2020

Merci i was looking for some one who throw on the same pottery wheel that I use ❣️

By Shweta Kumar on 6/25/2020

It’s an amazing art and and love it

By Tracey hughes on 4/24/2020

Good tips and clear instructions very helpful for beginners

By Pamela Lambert on 10/1/2015

I found the Instructor Mr. Steve McDonald to be very informitive as he walked us thru each step while giving us tips on the do's and the don't's of what can happen and will happen or could happen. His delivery of experience was most interesting. i could not see any reason the make changes to this beginners course.

By Gary Douglas on 12/10/2014

This class inspires me with the ease in which this is done, I'm going out and buy a pottery wheel, clay, and have some fun.

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Quality Score

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Overall Score : 92 / 100