To Wedge or Not to Wedge
Cheating BIG Time, but Don’t Tell Anyone!
I have a confession to make, and I’m not really ashamed of it! I really don’t like wedging clay for our stoneware pottery. I spent years cutting, slamming kneading and massaging clay before I weighed it and formed balls out of it to throw on the potter’s wheel. Our studio is in the basement of our home and the cutting and slamming would reverberate through the whole home… wake up early and go down to the studio and work? forget it!
I was watching the big mill work at the old Axner Pottery factory in Orlando one day and was fascinated by how the clay came out of the pugging machine (A large machine that mixes the clay and pulls the air out of it with strong vacuum pumps) and thought to myself… ‘So why am I wedging this clay to get the air out when they already do it here?” That was the day my cheating began. Any potter worth his salt, will extol the virtues of hours of wedging clay to make it smooth and take the air out…it’s a time honored part of the process which the clay gods decree you cannot forego, after all.
And here I find myself, cutting clay off the 25 pound bricks into 22 ounce chunks, balling them up and throwing them on the wheel. I can tell no difference. Surely, the pots will explode spectacularly in the kiln as penance to an angry deity of all things clay. They didn’t. Surely all the glaze will slide off the pots because the clay wasn’t properly prepared. Didn’t happen, either.
So now I’m a confirmed cheater, and I admit it. There, it feels better. (maybe) I’ve added one step in the years following this revelation that made it even better. Before I open a bag of clay for the first time, I slam it on the floor on each side of the bag, even top and bottom. For some reason that makes it even easier to work I think it shocks the clay inside, which has more moisture and distributes it to the whole bag. I’m not an expert, but it does kind of take the place of all the banging and slamming from regular wedging.
If you’re learning pottery, give it a try! Not that it will work for you, but constantly learning and trying new techniques can lead to some pretty cool tricks!