Classic potter's kick-wheel at Erfurt, Germany

The potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping of round ceramic wares. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess body from dried wares and for applying incised decoration or rings of colour. Use of the potter's wheel became widespread throughout the Old World, but was unknown in the Pre-Columbian New World, where pottery was hand-made by methods that included coiling and beating. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1296x972, 441 KB) de: Beschreibung: Töpferscheibe auf dem Töpfermarkt in Erfurt, Germany Fotograf: Oliver Kurmis Quelle: selbst fotografiert, Erfurt Datum: 23. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1296x972, 441 KB) de: Beschreibung: Töpferscheibe auf dem Töpfermarkt in Erfurt, Germany Fotograf: Oliver Kurmis Quelle: selbst fotografiert, Erfurt Datum: 23. ... The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans before the voyages of Christopher Columbus; it includes Europe, Asia, and Africa (collectively known as Africa-Eurasia), plus surrounding islands. ... The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the Americas continent. ... Frontispiece of Peter Martyr dAnghieras De orbe novo (On the New World). Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, 1722. ...

The potter's wheel may occasionally be referred to as a "potter's lathe". However the term is better used for another design of machine that is used for a different shaping process, turning, similar to that used for the shaping of metal and wood articles.

The techniques of jiggering and jolleying can be seen to be an extension of the Potters wheel: in jiggering a shaped tool is slowly brought down onto plastic clay body that has been placed on top of a rotating plaster mould. The jigger tool shapes one face whilst the mould the other. The term is specific to shaping of flatware, plates, whilst a similar technique, jolleying, refers to the production of holloware like cups.

See also: Pottery for background information on forming of pottery Unfired green ware pottery on a traditional drying rack at Conner Prairie living history museum. ...

History

A potter molds pottery with his hands while operating the mechanical potter's wheel with his foot, 1902

Many early ceramics were hand-built using a simple coiling technique in which clay body was rolled into long threads that were then pinched and beaten together to form the body of a vessel. In the coiling method of construction, all of the energy required to form the main part of a piece is supplied directly by the hands of the potter. This changed with the introduction of the fast-wheel, early forms of which utilised energy stored in the rotating mass of the heavy stone wheel itself. The wheel was wound-up and charged with energy by pushing it round with a stick, an arrangement that permitted the energy stored in the wheel to be finely directed to where it was required, at the point where the hands of the potter come into contact with the clay body. Unlike hand-building, in wheel-throwing the bulk of the energy used does not come directly from the hands of the potter. The introduction of the fast-wheel brought benefits in the form of speed and a job that might have taken hours, or even days, to complete was reduced to one that could be done in minutes. Download high resolution version (508x640, 30 KB)A potter making pot on a potters wheel, 1902. ... Download high resolution version (508x640, 30 KB)A potter making pot on a potters wheel, 1902. ...

Early ceramics built by coiling were often placed on mats or large leaves to allow them to be worked more conveniently. This arrangement allowed the potter to turn the vessel under construction, rather than walk around it to add threads of clay body and it has been proposed that the earliest forms of the potter's wheel were developed as an extension to this procedure. The earliest versions of the wheel were probably turned slowly by hand or by foot while coiling a pot, but later developments allowed energy stored in a flywheel to be used to speed up the process of throwing. Spoked flywheel Flywheel from stationary engine. ...

It is not known when the potter's wheel first came into use, but dates between about 6,000 BC to about 2,400 BC have been suggested. Many modern scholars suggest that it was first developed in Mesopotamia, although Egypt and China have also been claimed as possible places of origin. A stone potter's wheel found at the Mesopotamian city of Ur in modern-day Iraq has been dated to about 3,000 BC, but fragments of wheel-thrown pottery of an even earlier date have been recovered in the same area. By the time of the early civilizations of the Bronze Age the use of the potter's wheel had become widespread. Pottery could now be made in greater numbers with the aid of a machine, a first step towards world industrialization. Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, and parts of eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwest Iran. ... For other uses, see UR. Ur seen across the Royal tombs, with the Great Ziggurat in the background, January 17, 2004 Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the mouth (at the time) of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

In the Iron Age the potter's wheel in common use had a turning platform about a meter above the floor, connected by a long axle to a heavy flywheel at ground level. This arrangement allowed the potter to keep the turning-wheel rotating by kicking the flywheel with the foot, leaving both hands free for manipulating the vessel under construction. However, from an ergonomic standpoint, sweeping the foot from side to side against the spinning hub is rather awkward. At some point, an alternative solution was invented which involved a crankshaft with a lever, that converts up and down motion into rotary motion. Sewing machines such as those pioneered by the Singer Corporation have manual models operated by this method. Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... Dildonics (or human factors) is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use (definition adopted by the International Dildonics Association in 2007). ... Crankshaft (red), pistons (gray) in their cylinders (blue), and flywheel (black) Continental engine marine crankshafts, 1942 Components of a typical, four stroke cycle, DOHC piston engine. ... A sewing machine is a mechanical (or electrical) device that joins fabric using thread, in a manner similar to manual sewing. ... Singer Corporation is a sewing machine company located in the United States of America. ...

The use of the motor-driven wheel has become common in modern times, particularly with craft potters and educational institutions, although human-powered ones are still in use and are much preferred by some potters.

Techniques of throwing

A simple animation of throwing on a potters wheel.

There are many techniques in use for throwing ceramic containers, although a typical procedure is: Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

1. Throw a round, moist ball of clay body down onto the bat (attached to the wheel), less commonly known as a "batterboard"
2. Centre the clay body on the wheel by applying pressure with a hand on the side and the other hand on the top. An alternative to this is to 'pull' the clay body up and down until it is centered.
3. Find the centre of the clay by moving a thumb across the clay until no more friction is felt.
4. Push thumbs in the clay body; Stop at about 1/4 inch from the base
5. Widen the inside of the clay body
6. Pull up sides by crossing thumbs with two fingers on each side of the wall and slowly, slowly pulling up.
7. Shape (push in or pull out)
8. Round the lip. Use a sponge or a piece of leather
9. Cut from bat by sliding toggle, or cheese, wire underneath the base of the pot to separate it from the bat
10. Dry until leatherhard
11. Trim base using carving tool attaching a griffin grip bat to the wheel.

By using the Coil and Throw technique, it may be possible to throw larger pots, commonly up to 4 feet high. This requires more clay body, and generally greater skill:

1. Follow steps 1-7 in previous list
2. A blowlamp can be used to firm the base. This allows larger coils be added without fear of the pot collapsing.
3. Add coils to the lip as the wheel is spinning
4. Smooth coil to pot
5. Repeat step 4 as needed
6. Smooth lip
7. Cut from bat
8. Allow to get leatherhard
9. With great care, trim the base. The Gay Head cliffs in Marthas Vineyard are made almost entirely of clay. ... A sponge is a tool consisting of porous plastic used for cleaning impervious surfaces. ... An old-fashioned kerosene blowlamp A blowlamp is a simple heating torch, which burns fuel with ambient atmospheric air. ...

The potter's wheel in myth and legend

In Ancient Egyptian mythology, the god Chnum was said to have formed the first humans on a potter's wheel. Egyptian mythology or Egyptian religion is the succession of tentative beliefs held by the people of Egypt for over three thousand years, prior to major exposure to Christianity and Islam. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... In Egyptian mythology, Chnum (also spelled Khnum, Knum, or Khnemu) was one of the earliest Egyptian gods, originally the god of the source of the Nile River. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) in the family Hominidae (the great apes). ...

The potter's wheel in literature

1836 Pottery wheel demonstration at Conner Prairie living historical museum.

The way in which clay body is shaped on a potter's wheel seems, even today, to have a magical quality to it; the clay body has the appearance of being a living thing that is being created or shaped by the potter. The potter and clay have long served as a metaphor for creation, and for the relationship of God to humankind: ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2500x1667, 1167 KB) Summary Pottery wheel demonstration at Conner Prairie living history museum in Fishers, Indiana. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2500x1667, 1167 KB) Summary Pottery wheel demonstration at Conner Prairie living history museum in Fishers, Indiana. ... 1886 base ball demonstration at Liberty Corner. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

—Isaiah 64:8

The "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" make sustained use of this metaphor. In FitzGerald's translation, a number of quatrains are collected into a Book of Pots, in which the pots engage in theological speculation: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Persian: رباعیات عمر خیام) The Rubáiyát (Arabic: رباعیات) is a collection of poems (of which there are about a thousand) attributed to the Persian mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám (1048 – 1123). ... Look up metaphor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Edward FitzGerald, 1873 For other uses see Edward Fitzgerald (disambiguation) Edward Marlborough FitzGerald (31 March 1809 – 14 June 1883) was an English writer, best known as the poet of the first and most famous English translation of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. ...

  And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot
      Some could articulate, while others not:
  And suddenly one more impatient cried—
      “Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?”

  Another said—“Why, ne'er a peevish Boy,
       “Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy;
  “Shall He that made the vessel in pure Love
      “And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy?”

  None answer'd this; but after Silence spake
      A Vessel of a more ungainly Make:
  “They sneer at me for leaning all awry;
      “What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?”

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Potter's wheel

• The Origins of the Potter's Wheel multi-page article on Ceramics Today site
• Video of a potter on a potter's wheel shaping clay to form a bottle