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  • HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List

    Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List

    Before we get to the wheel, let's talk about what you actually need. Short version: not much. Long version below.

    I priced a "beginner pottery kit" online once for $89 and got quietly annoyed, because I could see it was maybe $30 of actual stuff in fancier packaging. So here's what things cost, for real, so nobody upsells you.

    The Basics (budget tier — what you need to start)

    • Clay, 25 lb bag, cone 5-6 stoneware — around $20-25. The studio can sell you clay by the pound too if you don't want a whole bag yet. Don't buy porcelain as a beginner. It's less forgiving and you don't need that fight right now.
    • A needle tool — about $3. For trimming edges and checking wall thickness.
    • A wooden rib — $4-6. For shaping and smoothing.
    • A metal kidney rib — $3-5. Different job than the wooden one, you'll want both eventually but the wooden one first.
    • A wire clay cutter — $2-4, or honestly a length of fishing line with two washers tied on works fine. I'm not precious about this one.
    • A sponge — the kind from Macey's or Costco is fine. You don't need a "pottery sponge." Cut a regular one in half.
    • An old towel — you have one. Use it.

    That's it. That's the list. Six or seven bucks in tools, plus clay. Everything else in this class we're using studio equipment — wheels, bats, the water bucket, the wire shelf for drying.

    Nice-to-Have (tier two — buy these later, if you keep going)

    • Trimming tools (a small set) — $12-18. You won't trim anything worth trimming in week one, so there's no rush.
    • A rib with a curved edge for bowl interiors — $5-8.
    • Your own bat — $6-10 each. Studio has plenty to borrow, but if you fall in love with this, having your own means you can pull a piece off the wheel and let it dry without waiting on shared equipment.
    • An apron — whatever you've got works. I wear an old flannel shirt backwards. Not glamorous, but this is a wet, gray, messy business and your clothes will know it.

    What NOT to buy yet

    Don't buy a wheel. Don't buy a kiln. Don't buy glazes. We're weeks away from any of that, and by the time you're ready to make those calls you'll actually know what you like — whether you're a bowl person, a mug person, whether you even want to keep going. I'm still asking myself that question about my own pottery, so no judgment either way.

    Also skip the "creativity kit" type bundles with stamps and texture rollers. Fun later, useless now. You need your hands to learn centering before any of that matters.

    Local-ish shopping notes

    Clay and studio tools I'd get through the studio directly — freight on wet clay is expensive and there's no reason to order it online when we've got bags on the shelf. For the sponge, the towel, an apron shirt — that's a Macey's or Costco run, nothing special needed. If you're up for a longer trip, there are ceramics suppliers off toward Salt Lake with better tool selection once you're past this class, but for week one, don't overthink it.

    Bring what's on the budget list to our first session. That's genuinely all you need. At the end of the day it's mud on a spinning wheel, so don't let anybody talk you into $89 worth of stuff to find that out. 🤙

  • HandoutHandout 2: Cheat Sheet — Core Techniques & Settings

    Handout 2: Cheat Sheet — Core Techniques & Settings

    Print this, get it wet, don't worry about it. Half of learning this stuff is just having it in front of you while your hands are busy doing something else.

    ---

    Wheel Speed

    • Centering: fast. Faster than feels right at first. Slow speed just lets the clay wobble longer before it gives in.
    • Opening: slower, medium.
    • Pulling walls / shaping: slower still. The faster the wheel, the less control you have. Speed is for centering, not for finesse.

    If you're not sure, go slower. You can always speed back up. You can't un-launch a bowl.

    Water

    I run wetter than most people teach it. That's just me, but I'll defend it: dry hands drag and tear the clay, especially for beginners who don't have the touch yet to compensate. Keep a full bowl of water at the wheel. Re-wet often. If your hands feel like they're catching at all, that's your cue, not a sign you're doing something wrong.

    Centering (the whole game)

    1. Cone the clay up, push it back down. Twice, minimum.
    2. Hands steady, elbows braced into your hips or thighs — not floating in the air. "Elbow into your hip" is basically my whole teaching style in four words.
    3. Apply pressure evenly, don't chase the wobble with your hands. Let the clay come to center. Rushing this is the single biggest reason people end up trimming a lopsided bowl later and wondering why.

    Oh my heck, when it finally stops wobbling, you'll feel it. It's not subtle. That's the moment to notice.

    Opening

    • Thumbs in, slow and steady, leave about a half inch of floor thickness on the bottom. Less than that and you risk poking through when you trim (ask me how I know).
    • The "magic ring" method — some folks swear by it for opening. I've tried it maybe five times. Still can't get it to behave. 😂 We're doing the plain method in this class because it's the one I actually trust.

    Pulling Walls

    • Compression first, every pull. Compress the base, then pull up.
    • Three to four pulls is usually plenty for a beginner mug or bowl. More than that and you're often just thinning walls that were already thin enough.
    • Even pressure, steady speed, don't grab and yank. Think of it as convincing the clay, not forcing it.

    Trimming

    • Leather-hard, not bone dry — should feel like cold butter, not chalk.
    • Light touch. This is where people rush because it's the "boring" part, and it's exactly where beginners quit and end up with a piece that's unfinished forever. Finish it. That's the difference between a hobby and a nice story about that one time you tried pottery.
    • Check wall thickness by feel before you commit to thinning more. I put a hole clean through a bowl bottom once doing this. Cut it in half afterward just to see the wall — useful, in a "well, now I know" kind of way.

    Tools (what you actually need)

    • Needle tool — a few bucks.
    • Wooden rib — four or five bucks, don't let anybody upsell you past that.
    • Trimming tool — same ballpark.
    • Sponge, wire tool. That's it.

    That "beginner kit" online for $89 — I looked. It's maybe $30 of actual stuff. Buy less than the internet tells you.

    When Something Goes Wrong

    Pot flies off the wheel, walls collapse, whole thing turns to soup in your hands — that's normal, that's part of it, reset and go again. 😂 Not a big deal.

    If a trimming tool actually cuts you, or you slip near the wheel head — stop. Tell me. That part I take seriously, no exceptions.

    At the end of the day it's mud, so most mistakes just mean more mud. 🤙

  • WorksheetHandout 3: Centering & Pulling Up — Your Progress Checklist

    Handout 3: Centering & Pulling Up — Your Progress Checklist

    Print this out and bring it to the wheel with you. Check things off as you actually feel them happen, not as you think you understand them. Understanding and feeling are two different things at the wheel. Only one of them matters here.

    ---

    Before You Sit Down

    • [ ] Clay is wedged, no air pockets (if you don't know what an air pocket sounds like yet, ask me to pop one for you)
    • [ ] Hands are wet, not dry. I run wetter than a lot of people teach it. That's just me, but dry hands tear up beginners' clay, so trust me on this one for now.
    • [ ] Water bucket within reach
    • [ ] Elbows tucked into your hips, not floating out in space

    Centering

    This is the whole game. Everyone wants to skip to the bowl. There's no bowl until this part is honest.

    • [ ] Clay stopped wobbling completely — you can rest a finger on top and it doesn't tap you
    • [ ] Cone up, cone down, at least three times without the clay going off-center
    • [ ] Hands feel steady, not gripping. If your forearms are shaking, you're fighting it instead of guiding it.
    • [ ] I said "oh my heck" or something similar out loud (optional, but it's a good sign)

    If you're not checking these boxes, stay here. Don't move on. I'd rather spend the whole class on centering than send you home with something that wobbled the whole way through.

    Opening

    • [ ] Thumbs in, floor of the piece left thick enough (about the width of your finger — check it, don't guess)
    • [ ] Walls even as you widen the opening

    Note: there's a "magic ring" technique some people swear by for this step. I've tried it maybe five times. Still can't get it to behave for me. I teach the plain way because it's the one I trust. If you find the magic ring works for you, genuinely, good, go with it. 😂

    Pulling Up

    • [ ] First pull — wall gets taller, doesn't collapse
    • [ ] Second pull — still standing
    • [ ] Third pull — you can feel where the wall gets thin (usually near the top)
    • [ ] At least one piece today collapsed and you didn't panic about it

    That last one isn't a joke. A pot flying off the wheel is not a big deal. Reset, rewedge, go again. I want you calm about it because I'm calm about it.

    By the End of Today, You Should Have

    • [ ] At least five attempts, not one careful attempt
    • [ ] At least one you'd call ugly
    • [ ] Zero attempts you spent more than ten minutes on

    Five bad pots teach your hands faster than one careful one teaches your head. This isn't about being creative — it's a physical skill, same as anything else your hands are learning to do. They'll get it or they won't yet.

    Safety Check (actually read this one)

    • [ ] Trimming tools put down flat, never left standing blade-up
    • [ ] Long hair back before the wheel's moving fast
    • [ ] Sleeves out of the way
    • [ ] If a tool actually cuts you or you slip near the wheel — stop, tell me right away, we deal with it before anything else happens

    One Honest Question to Answer Before Next Class

    Why do you want to make this bowl?

    I got asked that once by a kid in Primary and didn't have a good answer. You don't need a good answer either. Just sit with the question for a week.

    ---

    At the end of the day it's mud, so don't overthink the checklist. Just don't skip it either. 🤙

  • HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide

    Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide

    Every one of these problems is normal. You're not doing it wrong, you're doing it new. Here's what's probably happening and what to do about it.

    1. The clay won't center, it just keeps wobbling

    Almost always this is pressure, not skill. Your hands are backing off because the wobble feels scary. Don't back off. Brace your elbows into your hips, lean in, and hold steady pressure until it stops. It stops all at once, not gradually. First time it happened to me I said "oh my heck" out loud to an empty studio. You'll know it when you feel it.

    2. The clay is climbing up into a cone and won't come back down

    You're pushing in from the sides more than you're pushing down from the top. Centering is down-and-in, not just in. Palm over the top, real weight into it.

    3. Your hands keep sticking or dragging

    You need more water, not less. I run wetter than most instructors teach it, that's just my preference, but for beginners especially, dry hands tear the clay instead of moving it. Keep a wet sponge going. The mess is fine. It's a mess by design.

    4. You opened the clay and now the bottom's uneven or too thin

    Measure with a wire tool or your fingernail before you panic. A lot of beginners open too fast and gouge one side. Go slow, keep the same depth on all sides, check with your finger flat across the bottom.

    5. Walls are collapsing as you pull them up

    Usually one of two things: walls too thin too fast, or too much water pooling at the base and turning the whole thing to soup. Pull in stages, don't try to get to full height on the first pull, and keep an eye on how wet the base is getting.

    6. The whole thing just flies off the wheel

    It happens. It'll happen to you. Bryan came to watch me throw once, said "how hard can it be," and twenty minutes later had a fist-sized lump of clay launched clean across the studio floor. Nobody's above it. Scrape the wheel head, re-wedge, start over. This is a 😂 moment, not a big deal.

    7. The piece is thick on the bottom and thin at the rim, or the reverse

    This is a pressure-and-speed issue as you pull up. Even pressure, even speed, both hands moving together. Uneven walls usually mean one hand is doing more work than the other without you noticing.

    8. Trimming took off too much and there's a hole in the bottom

    I've done this. Poked clean through the base with a trimming tool and just sat there looking at it. When it happens, don't panic, cut the piece in half and look at your wall thickness so you actually learn something from it instead of just tossing it. That's usually the more useful outcome anyway.

    9. You keep apologizing for how bad it looks

    Stop. Everyone's bad at this for a while. That's not me being nice, it's just true. Nobody in this room, including me three weeks in, made something decent right away. My first piece was a wet gray ashtray nobody asked for. It's holding paperclips on a friend's desk right now.

    10. You feel like quitting once it's centered and thrown, before trimming

    I get why. Trimming is slow and it's boring compared to the wheel spinning. But this is where a hobby becomes something you actually finish, instead of just a story about the one time you tried pottery. Push through this part. It's short.

    ---

    One honest gap: if you've heard of the "magic ring" opening technique and want to try it, go ahead, but I can't help you much there. I've tried it maybe five times and it's never worked for me. I teach the plain method because it's the one I trust. 🤙

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay but you can't just say "it collapses or it doesn't" and leave it there, that's a whole philosophy, you can't drop that on people cold.

    AUSTIN: It's true though.

    JESS: I know it's true. I'm saying give people forty more seconds.

    AUSTIN: Fine. Okay. Hi, I'm Austin. I teach the wheel throwing class on Tuesday nights at the community center.

    JESS: And I'm Jess, I run the podcast side of things for Utah Community Learning, which mostly means I sit here with a microphone and make Austin explain himself.

    AUSTIN: She's not wrong.

    JESS: So this is episode one, before anybody's even touched clay yet. Austin, why pottery. Why is this the class you signed up to teach.

    AUSTIN: I didn't set out to teach it. I moved to American Fork in 2026, I had some time on my hands, and there's a studio nearby that rents wheel hours for twelve bucks. I went because twelve bucks is twelve bucks and I knew what that was worth. I kept going because centering clay is the first honest thing that's told me no in a while.

    JESS: Say more about the "told you no" part, because I think that's going to land for people.

    AUSTIN: Clay doesn't care about your résumé. It doesn't care if you had a good day. It's either centered or it's wobbling, and it'll tell you immediately, no argument. I found that kind of restful, honestly.

    JESS: That's very on brand for you, finding a mud-based rejection restful.

    AUSTIN: At the end of the day it's mud, so. 😂

    JESS: Okay, tell the ashtray story. People need the ashtray story.

    AUSTIN: Oh my heck, fine. First time I ever sat at a wheel I'd watched maybe one video the night before, felt real confident about it. Forty minutes later I had produced what I can only describe as a wet gray ashtray that nobody asked for. Lopsided. Genuinely no redeeming qualities.

    JESS: And you kept it.

    AUSTIN: I kept it. It's on my friend Bryan's desk right now holding paperclips. It's earned its place.

    JESS: I love that it has a job.

    AUSTIN: It has a job. Better job than it deserves.

    JESS: Okay, so, people listening who aren't signed up yet, or who are signed up and nervous — give them one real thing they can use before they ever sit down at a wheel.

    AUSTIN: Wet hands. Not dry. A lot of instructors will tell you to control your water, keep things tidy. I run wetter than that. Dry hands drag and tear the clay apart when you're a beginner, you don't have the touch yet to get away with dry. So keep a full bowl of water right next to you and don't be shy with it. The mess is fine. It's a mess by design.

    JESS: That feels like permission, honestly.

    AUSTIN: It is permission. Also it's four dollars of water. Nobody's upselling you on water.

    JESS: Speaking of upselling — I know you have Feelings about beginner kits.

    AUSTIN: I do. I saw one online for eighty-nine dollars, "everything you need to start throwing," and I looked at what was in it and it was maybe thirty dollars of actual stuff. That made me quietly angry. You need clay, a wheel, and about six bucks of tools. That's it. I'll tell people exactly what things cost, in class, unprompted, because somebody should.

    JESS: That's basically your whole teaching philosophy in one sentence.

    AUSTIN: Maybe.

    JESS: So next Tuesday's the actual first session. What are people walking into.

    AUSTIN: We're not making anything the first night. I know that disappoints people. We're centering. Just centering, for the whole session if it takes the whole session, because the bowl is easy once the clay is centered and the bowl is a disaster if it's not. Everybody wants to skip to the bowl.

    JESS: And you won't let them.

    AUSTIN: I will not let them. 😂

    JESS: Okay, last thing — anything you're bad at that people should know going in, so nobody's expecting a miracle worker?

    AUSTIN: Magic rings. There's a technique some people swear by for opening the clay, real popular online, and it does not work for me. I've tried it five separate times over the years. Still can't get it to behave. I'll teach you the plain method, the one I actually trust, and I'll tell you the fancy one exists and that I'm just bad at it.

    JESS: Very reassuring, somehow.

    AUSTIN: That's the goal. Nobody in that room needs to watch me pretend.

    JESS: Alright. Next episode we'll actually be at the studio, first class in progress, so you'll hear real wheels, real chaos.

    AUSTIN: Probably somebody's clay flying off onto the floor within the first twenty minutes. Historically that's about right.

    JESS: We'll catch it on tape either way. See you Tuesday.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —so I told her, "no, it's supposed to wobble a little, that's not a flaw, that's Tuesday." Anyway. Welcome back, this is episode two, I'm Jess, I run the recording gear so Austin doesn't have to think about it.

    AUSTIN: I appreciate that because I would forget it exists.

    JESS: Last week was all centering. This week we're talking about what people actually asked you afterward, right? You said you got a lot of the same question.

    AUSTIN: Yeah. Mostly some version of "why is mine still lopsided when yours looked easy." And the honest answer is mine wasn't easy either, three weeks in. It just doesn't look hard on video.

    JESS: You've got a story about that.

    AUSTIN: I do. Early on I taught a small group, this was before the studio even had me on the regular schedule, and there was a woman in it who kept apologizing. Every wobble, every collapse, "sorry, sorry, I'm just bad at this." Maybe four times in twenty minutes.

    JESS: Oh no.

    AUSTIN: And I finally just told her, flat, everyone's bad at this. That's the whole point. Nobody sits down and centers clay on try one. If you could, we wouldn't need a six-week class, we'd need a pamphlet.

    JESS: How'd she take it?

    AUSTIN: She kind of laughed and stopped apologizing. I wasn't trying to be nice about it, to be honest, I was just telling her something true. It relaxed her hands, though. That's the actual reason it matters. Tense hands tear the clay. Apologizing hands are tense hands.

    JESS: That's a good segue into the actual tip, because I know you've got one for people who aren't even taking the class.

    AUSTIN: Sure. If you're just starting out on your own, wet your hands more than feels right. Most people are taught to control their water, keep things tidy. I run wetter than that, on purpose. Dry hands drag on the clay and they'll tear a beginner's walls right open, especially once you're past the centering stage and trying to pull the wall up. So keep a bowl of water right there and dunk more than you think you need to. It's messier. That's fine. It's a mess by design.

    JESS: I feel like that's the kind of tip that sounds backwards until you try it.

    AUSTIN: A lot of pottery advice sounds backwards until your hands understand it, and your hands understand things faster than your head does anyway. That's most of what this class is, honestly. Making five ugly bowls so your hands learn what your brain can't figure out from a video.

    JESS: Speaking of ugly bowls, did we ever resolve the ashtray?

    AUSTIN: The ashtray's still on Bryan's desk holding paperclips. It's not going anywhere. It's a wet gray disaster and it's permanent now, which I think is funny.

    JESS: It's basically studio decor at this point.

    AUSTIN: It's a warning label, is what it is. It says "this is what try number one looks like, keep going."

    JESS: Okay, before we wrap, tell people what's coming next session, because I know some folks are already asking about mugs.

    AUSTIN: Next time we're pulling walls up off centered clay, so we go from a centered lump to an actual cylinder. That's the step where most people either get frustrated or get hooked, there's not a lot of middle ground. We're not doing handles yet, that's later. This is just wall, height, thickness, learning what "too thin" feels like before it becomes a hole in the bottom.

    JESS: Which has happened to you.

    AUSTIN: Once, memorably. Poked a hole clean through trimming a bowl I'd left too thin. I just sat there looking at it for a minute. Then I cut the whole thing in half so I could actually see the wall and learn something from it, since at that point you might as well.

    JESS: That's a very "at the end of the day" move.

    AUSTIN: At the end of the day it's mud, so. Nothing's precious until it's fired. That's actually kind of the whole lesson for next week too, come with wet hands and low expectations, and we'll get you a cylinder.

    JESS: All right, that's episode two. See everyone at the wheels.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay but that's the part people don't believe me about. He actually did just sit there. Staring at it.

    AUSTIN: I mean what else are you gonna do. There's a hole in the bottom of the bowl. Staring felt correct.

    JESS: For listeners who weren't in the room, this is Austin explaining why there's a bisected clay bowl on the shelf by the window.

    AUSTIN: Yeah, trimmed it too thin, went a little further than I should've, poked clean through with the tool. And I just sat there for a second. And then I figured, well, I've already ruined it, might as well cut it in half and look at the wall thickness. So now it's a teaching bowl. You can see exactly how thin is too thin.

    JESS: That's episode three, by the way. We're on trimming.

    AUSTIN: Trimming, yeah. Which is the part people check out on. Week one, two, everybody's excited, they're centering, they're pulling walls up, it's exciting. Then we get to trimming and it's quiet, repetitive, you're just shaving foot rings off leather-hard bowls for forty minutes. Half the room starts looking at the clock.

    JESS: Is that the "finish the piece" thing you talk about.

    AUSTIN: That's exactly it. This is where people quit, in my opinion. Not at centering, which is actually hard. They quit at trimming, which is just boring. And I think that's the difference between having a hobby and having a story about the one time you tried pottery.

    JESS: Harsh.

    AUSTIN: It's just true though. At the end of the day a bowl's not done till it's trimmed. Otherwise it's got a thick ugly foot and it tips over on your counter.

    JESS: Okay, give me the one tip. Something somebody listening at home, never taken the class, could actually use.

    AUSTIN: Sure. Don't trim when the clay's too wet or too dry. You want leather-hard, which basically means it holds its shape but a fingernail still leaves a mark if you press it. Too wet and it just smears and grabs the tool. Too dry and you're fighting it and you'll crack the rim. Here in American Fork, with how dry the air is, that window closes faster than people expect. I've had bowls go from perfect to too-dry in like an hour if they're sitting near a vent.

    JESS: That's specific.

    AUSTIN: It's specific because I lost a bowl to it. More than one.

    JESS: Speaking of losing bowls to things — you want to tell the magic ring story, or should I.

    AUSTIN: Oh my heck, you're not gonna let that go.

    JESS: It's a good story.

    AUSTIN: Fine. So there's this technique, opening the clay with what people call a magic ring, some folks swear by it, it's supposed to be faster and cleaner than the way I open centered clay. And I've tried it. I've tried it maybe five times over the past while, different videos, different advice. Doesn't work for me. At all. Clay just goes lopsided every time.

    JESS: And you're admitting this in a class you teach.

    AUSTIN: Yeah, because I think it's useful for people to hear that the guy up front doesn't have every technique. I'll teach you the plain method, the one I actually trust, the one that works basically every time if you're patient with it. I'll mention the magic ring exists. And I'll tell you I'm bad at it. 😂 That's just where I'm at with it.

    JESS: I respect that. Okay, real quick, cost question, because you always bring this up unprompted and I've started expecting it.

    AUSTIN: The trimming tools, you mean.

    JESS: Yeah.

    AUSTIN: A decent trimming tool's like four, five bucks. Maybe six for a nice one. If somebody's trying to sell you a trimming set for thirty, forty dollars, you're paying for packaging. You need like two shapes, honestly, and you can get real good mileage out of one loop tool for a long time.

    JESS: Good to know before Costco run season.

    AUSTIN: It's mostly not at Costco, but yeah, same idea. Check what it actually costs before you believe what it's marked at.

    JESS: Alright, let's close it out. Next session.

    AUSTIN: Next session we're doing handles. Which is its own whole thing, attaching a handle without it cracking off in the kiln or pulling loose when it's dry. I'll show you the score-and-slip method, we'll talk about why a handle that's a little crooked is honestly fine, better than fine sometimes.

    JESS: Is this the mug story.

    AUSTIN: That's the mug story, yeah. We'll get there.

    JESS: Alright. See everybody Thursday.

    AUSTIN: Bring a towel. It's a wet class. 🤙

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