38. Learning Spiral Wedging / Kneading Clay 菊練り with Hsin-Chuen Lin 林新春 菊練揉土示範

Hi, in my previous video I showed you wedging clay, but I haven't shown you why and how. And today I'm going to show you why and how. Most of the time, even I have a puck mill, I still like to wedge the clay before I throw. Here I use this one as an example to show you the spiral wedge. I usually like to just wedge like this first, kind of mix a little bit, and then I put it sideways and push the very first push. When you lift it up, because when you see the spiral, you have a little one by one against each other, so when you pick it up, you kind of exaggerate, you kind of spin your clay at an angle. My way of wedging is counterclockwise, so when I pick it up with my right hand, I kind of spin the clay a little bit, about 15 degrees, and then I push it again right on top of this part, just repeatedly, so that you can go around and around. So basically, it's only two steps. One is pushing down, and then when you pick it up, you lift it up, kind of exaggerate, about 15 degrees I would say, and then push down. So two steps. One, lift it up, and then you push down. I'm using one hand. Left hand, down here, one, and then your right hand kind of stops it from the clay getting too big, too wide, the head getting too wide. So right hand here, so both hands do like this. Pick it up, one, two. Pick it up, one, two. So both hands do the same thing. Eventually, you will get to your nice form of a spiral wedge. Okay, and why you want to do a spiral wedge? Let me make a mark here, okay, on this side. Okay, a finger mark, and when I'm doing it, the clay is keep on spinning, and you can see the mark is going to go at this direction, and then goes to the inside. So the same thing, the clay inside will come out. Okay, let me show you. You can see that my finger mark is moving from this direction to here. So the mark is right over here, and then if I'm doing it, eventually, you see that the mark is coming to here, and then goes inside. So it's a spiral. So same thing, if you have air bubble inside, it will come out and pop. If you have impurity or some rocks, it can come out, and you can pick it up. Okay, that's the good thing for spiral wedge. Okay, keep on doing it. And other good thing for spiral wedge is that you can wedge a large amount of clay. Like if I put two pieces of the clay together, okay, these two together, do the same thing that I usually like to extend first. Right, the very first push, and pick it up again. See that this piece of clay is a lot more bigger than this one. So you can use this method to wedge a large amount of clay, or even a smaller amount of clay. Remember, push down, and your right hand has to hold it so that the head doesn't become larger and larger. And when you pick it up, you have to give your clay a little bit of spin, about, I would say about 15 degrees, and then you push down on the spot, on top of the spot. Okay, and you just keep on doing it until you feel, I would say that I would do about maybe 200 times to 300 times, depending on the condition of your clay. Mine is already have a pumping, so I can use less effort to wedge the clay. Okay, now when you're ready to roll it over, become a piece, this is what I do. Okay, this hand moves to the top here, and then this hand, you don't push, your left hand, you don't push down very hard. So you kind of want to roll the clay all together. And at the same time, your right hand is kind of smooth the bottom part, your bottom will be quite smooth enough. It will be the shape like this. And for the bottom, if you roll it like this, the bottom will be even. Okay, let me give you a different angle of how I get the clay together. I move my camera here. All right, this might be clear. Just smooth the bottom. The bottom is smooth, and you're ready to go to the wheel and throw.