Pulling Arched Handles on Angular Cups
Oh, to be able to describe every step that goes into pulling a handle in a one-minute video. Despite this looking like a very simple process, handle pulling can be tricky to learn, like anything really, the only annoyance is that when you start you often ruin lots of good pots with terrible handles, but they will eventually catch up. If you’re looking for a more thorough tutorial though, there’s a 35-minute guide on my YouTube channel that does a decent job of explaining all the ins and outs.
It’s a bit like riding a bicycle, hell at first and clumsy-feeling, then, with time you gain control, stability, and eventually it becomes second nature, you’ve got to go through hell first though, I did, I used to hate pulling handles, really, I hated it, yet then I started my apprenticeship with Lisa Hammond and I simply had no choice other than to learn and I did. I’d throw 30 mugs, pull handles on them, sometimes 3-4 handles per cup in fact, my aim wasn’t to create finished pieces, they were purely vehicles for practicing handle pulling.
I’d line them all up and Lisa would go through them, chucking those that weren’t good enough into a heap, which I would then wedge up and recycle. Those that were good enough could be fired.
Despite this, the pots I made during my time at Maze Hill Pottery were raw glazed, this means the leather hard handled form is dipped in slip, (this is watered down clay that coats the pot like glaze), and in many cases, those precious few handles I made that passed the test, were overwhelmed with slip and simply flopped off the pot. I’d discovered a new barrier I’d have to overcome.
#pottery #ceramics #satisfying #crafts #handmade #handles #studiopottery