John throwing a bowl V

John is using a blowtorch in order to dry the bowl enough for him to remove it from the wheel without distorting it. Normally he would allow the bowl to dry for a few hours before doing this. The intense heat of the blowtorch does not damage the bowl because the bowl is still very wet and thus it mostly just removes the surface water. Finally the bowl is cut from the wheel using a wire, and left to dry.

John throwing a bowl IV

Here John uses a tool to smooth out the throwing lines from the inside of the bowl. This removes the signs that it has been handmade, but as he points out, often potters will exaggerate or add throwing lines in order to make the bowl appear MORE handmade, as this can be seen as desirable by consumers. (Perhaps because handmade products are more expensive than machine manufactured ones?)

John throwing a bowl III

John throwing a bowl II

These five videos show John throwing a bowl from beginning to end. One of the distinctive things about John's potting method is that he begins each vessel by forming a cylinder (apparently all potters do this differently).

MAKING FLATWARE I: Here John rolls a piece of clay into a slab suitable for making flatware (for more video and pictures of the flatware making process see Julia's posts below)

Left: a Raku fired pot with copper glaze

Right: the Raku kiln John uses