Your Complete Guide to Perfect Pull Ups
Has your perfectly straight cylinder ever started to twist like soft-serve ice cream? What begins as a slight wobble can quickly turn into a full spiral. While this common issue ruins many promising pots, you can fix it by understanding the underlying causes. After teaching hundreds of students, I've noticed that success lies in understanding both the common pitfalls and the essential techniques. Let's break it down.
The Four Possible Culprits
1. The Water: Think you're using enough water? Think again. When you apply water directly to your pot, most of it just flies off, leaving you with dry hands that catch and drag on the clay surface. Instead, rinse your hands up to your wrists every 20 seconds. This creates a natural flow of moisture that works with you, not against you.
2. The Speed: When your hands move faster than your wheel's rotation, you're essentially creating a spiral highway up your pot's wall. The fix? Let your wheel make a complete revolution before your hands finish their upward journey. Think of it as a slow dance between your hands and the wheel, with the wheel always leading.
3. Moving too much clay at once is like trying to move a crowded room through a single doorway - chaos! Instead, create what I call a "clay wave" at the bottom with strong pressure, then ride that wave up, gradually easing off as you go. You can't force it; you have to work with it.
4. The Hasty Exit :Think of clay like a shy dance partner - if you pull away too quickly, things get awkward. After each movement, take a brief pause and slowly release pressure before removing your hands.
The Technique That Ties It All Together
Position yourself on the dominant hand’s side of the wheel, in the quadrant closest to you. Here's my foolproof method:
Start with clay from the bag or thoroughly wedged clay - this homogenizes your material and makes it more predictable.
Slow your wheel to half the centering speed.
Use the "Mississippi Method" - count down from 10 to 1 as you pull up, decreasing pressure with each number (10 Mississippi, 9 Mississippi, 8 Mississippi…) .
Let your outside hand lead (applying pressure) while your inside hand follows (receiving pressure).
Watch for that "wave" of clay at the bottom of your pull - it's your signal that the clay is waiting for you to coax it up and distribute it evenly throughout the pot.
Pro Tips for Success
Compress the lip after each pull
Clean excess water from inside between pulls
As your piece gets taller, slow the wheel even more
Check wall thickness frequently by feeling with light pressure
Remember, throwing pottery isn't about muscling the clay into submission. It's about finding that sweet spot where technique meets intuition. Take your time, stay mindful of these principles, and watch your cylinders transform from wobbly warriors to straight soldiers.
Want to see me slow down the process and take it step-by-step? Watch my beginner demos.
[About the Author: As a pottery instructor with over a decade of experience, I've helped countless students overcome their throwing challenges. These insights come from both personal experience and watching the transformations in my students' work.]
