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Why Cone?


I'm curious- for those of you who cone your clay before centering, why do you do it? How many times do you do it?
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klineola said…
Yea, I do it, but a friend who was watching me kind of chuckled saying, "Huh, you still do that...[chuckle, chuckle, chortle]". Oh well. My clay isn't refined and my pug mill is as old as shitand doesn't de-air, so I guess it's working for me to 'cone'. I find it is easier to center, especially for beginners. As far as how many times, I can't recall. Maybe 2 or 3??
September 10, 2008 at 12:19 AM
Judy Shreve said…
I always cone -- hate to wedge. When I wedge I add air bubbles - so I cone instead. And it helps center 'me' before I throw.
September 10, 2008 at 7:15 AM
John Britt said…
Yes. For me, coning is centering.

If you only center the ball of clay and the inside is not mixed and moving in a spiral then you get all kinds of assorted problems, like "s" cracks.

Especially if you don't have a pugmill and don't wedge much.

Gotta cone!

John Britt
www.johnbrittpottery.com/wks.htm
September 10, 2008 at 7:37 AM
Alex H. said…
Replying on an old post, but in our studio, we are refer to spiralling as spiral wedging. It centers the clay, wedges it (though not as completely as using a wedging table), and gets the clay particles going in the same direction as the wheel is turning. This supposedly makes the rest of the throwing process easier, but I haven't gotten the hang of it. I'd rather just slap down a ball of clay and start working with it.
January 27, 2011 at 1:01 AM
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