Every potter must have one time or another suffered from the pottery cracking during firing or while drying. A cracked pottery is every potter’s nightmare but it does happen. Actually cracks, especially those found on the bottom of the pottery are more prevalent in pottery that is upright such as vases and mugs.
Cracks in pottery occur as a result of stress building up on the pottery due to non uniform drying. Generally, the clay will first try to resolve the issue of stress on it by finding a way to relive the stress. This most often results in the clay warping or change in shape at some point along the pottery. If the stress that is causing the warping is not removed, it may eventually lead to a crack. Generally the ideal way to avoid clay from cracking is to totally avoid the buildup of stress on the clay. Since this may not be totally feasible, there are other ways to relive the clay of the stress.
Stress build up can be caused by the clay not drying uniformly as a result of shrinking. Most often clay will shrink as it dries and the outer part ends up being dryer than the inner part. While the stress caused by non uniform drying may not cause immediate drying, the increase in temperature during firing may lead to increased build up stress and hence cracking.
Another cause of non uniform drying in clay can be caused by the clay not being evenly thick. Understandably, if the clay is not uniform, the part that is thinner will dry faster than the one that is not. Therefore ensuring that the clay is uniform is a good way to avoid clay cracking at the bottom.
No more wobbly
Sometimes, no matter how hard a potter tries, the pot doesn’t seem to come out straight. This is a main problem that is very popular among beginners. When clay is being worked on the wheel, it is in a cylinder shape. Most times the potter may be interested in getting another shape that is different from cylinder. They may achieve this by stretching the clay, if not done correctly, the clay may be stretched to thin and become wobbly. The trick to avoiding clay from wobbling is to learn how to stretch correctly, flare the trim and collar in.
Conclusion
This book was written with the beginner pottery maker in mind. When starting a new craft, there will always be questions you will have and this book serves to help you through the most common questions and problems on your journey. I hope you enjoyed this book and that it helps you on your way to becoming a truly great pottery maker.
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