A Guide to Wedging Clay: Tips, Skills, and Troubleshooting for Potters

This video is a guide to wedging clay.

Learning to properly wedge clay is a basic and essential skill for any potter. Anyone who has tried to roll a slab, or throw a piece of clay on the wheel just to experience pesky bubbles which ruin the piece knows just how important proper wedging is. Proper wedging of clay will eliminate air bubbles as well as create a smooth homogenous claybody which is even in moisture. This video shows the method I teach my students in class.

I show two methods of wedging in this video- an asymmetrical spiral wedging where the clay is rotated around a point (mine being my left hand), resulting in a conical form to the clay as you wedge, and the symmetrical rams-head wedging, (I realized belatedly I mistakenly called it rams-horn) where both hands push evenly during rotation, resulting in a clay forming rams-head shape. Whichever of these two ways my students choose to wedge, the most important thing to remember is that the clay is rotating within itself, and should NOT incorporate air during the process. If you have clay which has stiffer and wetter areas, wedging is crucial for creating a blended homogeneous consistency. Softer clay is easier to wedge than very stiff clay as well.

As a side note: one thing I don’t discuss is avoiding a bad habit I see many of my kids come to me with from younger grades. They want to take their lump of clay and throw or drop it on the table multiple times. This indeed will COMPRESS the clay, but it won’t properly mix it or remove air bubbles when stiffer. This is a no-no in my classroom. I try to teach them to do it properly for best results.

I am using a table which is covered with heavy canvas. The canvas allows the clay to release from the porous surface, as opposed to working directly on the formica top which would cause it to stick. The canvas must be diligently cleaned after use with water, as it really holds dust. The taller wedging table to the right in the video is a plaster filled top, covered with canvas. I find it better in concept than in practicality, as it is just too tall for me to comfortably use. If you are 6’ tall, it is probably a perfect height for you. Many potters I know use Hardibacker Board for their wedging surface- as it is sturdy, durable, and yet somewhat absorbant to release the clay from sticking. Other potters I know highly recommend using a birch plywood wood surface which is not sealed as a wedging surface. All surfaces should be cleaned well with water when done to avoid unhealthy dust. The cutting wire is a great little add if you can have an affixed wire nearby for slicing your clay as you wedge. When slicing, I will slam down the slices perpendicular to the table to realign the particles and drive out the air bubbles. Just remember to clean the wire off as you work to prevent dry chunks getting in your clay!

Check out my Amazon Influencer Store where I have recommendations for some of my favorite tools and products many of which I use in my videos- which are available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/shop/karanspot...

For the great tools I used in the video (including the MKM rollers and the wooden Kemper tools) check out this link to a live Googledoc I continually update with lots of my favorite tools on Amazon using my associate links! (also some non-amazon suggestions on here!)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X...

In this video, I am using standard 153, a nice midrange firing stoneware in my classroom.

I am a public high school ceramics teacher at William Mason High School in Mason, Ohio. (Mason is currently the largest high school in Ohio!) As a potter, I have been working in clay for over 30 years, and I have been teaching for over 28 years, the past 20 have been specifically teaching high school ceramics. I love what I do! I have my own studio in my home basement, where I work on my personal pottery for my Etsy site; https://www.etsy.com/shop/KaransPotsA...

I started my Youtube channel to make videos to help my students if they are absent and miss a demo, or if they would like to explore more advanced techniques independently. I have been amazed to reach such a wider audience than my own students!

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