How to Tap Center Pots on the Wheel

In this long-awaited video, I'm going to show you how I tap center pots. There's a whole range of reasons why you might need to center the pot again after it's been thrown. For trimming, the wax, to decorate, to band on glaze, to sponge off glaze, the list goes on and on. And while centering with other methods works absolutely fine, nothing beats the speed of tap centering. And as a production potter where many hundreds of pieces need to come on and off the wheel quickly, the more wasted time I can eliminate, the better. It only takes a few seconds to get the piece into the middle of the wheel, a few seconds just to tap center it right into place, whereas other methods that require stopping and starting the wheel can really eat into your time. And it really isn't a difficult skill to learn, you just need a bit of patience and a few hours to spare, and once the technique finally clicks, it'll be there forever, like learning to ride a bike. And you might not realize just how much time it can save you. All these little moments, centering it to wax, or centering it to trim, in the long term it'll really save you a huge amount of time. And it isn't just for small pots, you could do it on taller vessels, larger bowls, taller vases. When I actually think about it, I'm surprised by just how often I find myself tapping the pots into center, and it's such an intuitive skill that I don't even think about it anymore. I just position the pieces roughly where they need to be, and then tap them into the middle. But before we get into things properly, I think it's important just to reiterate the fact that this is my own approach to tap centering. There'll be potters all around the world who do it slightly differently. They might use their left hand or their right hand, they'll do it differently depending on the direction their wheel is spinning, or they might tap the pots at a different position on the wheel. This is just my approach, this is how I do it. Let's get started. One thing that's always helpful to remember are the lines and the rings on the wheel. If you don't have these, for the sake of learning, you could draw some on. These are incredibly good indicators of how centered your pot is on the wheel, even before you get into any of the centering techniques. I just position the pot by eye, so that the gap in between the first line and the rim of the pot is as even as possible the whole way around. And as I'm tap centering, it's this gap that often I'll watch with my eye, not so much the area where I'm tapping. But let's try it a bit more exaggerated. If the wheel were a clock, I'm tapping the pots at about 430. You need to be quite strict with yourself by keeping the area in which you tap defined. If you're switching between 430, to then 3, to then 2, it's going to be different in all of those positions, and the bowl will react differently to how you tap it. The rhythm at which you tap constantly changes too, because as the bowl rotates and gets closer and closer into the middle, the point at which it's off-center comes around more and more often. So I find myself tapping more slowly at the beginning, before tapping more frequently as it approaches the middle. In many ways though, you can pretty much get the pot centered just by using the lines on the wheel. Thereafter, it might just need a few tiny taps to get it into place. But more than anything, it's more about finding the rhythm. It is sort of like learning to ride a bike. You just need to sit there, and tap, and tap, and tap, until something clicks, and it just makes sense. It's about experimenting too. At the beginning, you might exert too much pressure when you tap, sending the bowl flying off the wheel, or you could be hitting too gently and barely moving it at all. Either way, I've always found the lines on the wheel head to be a very good guide. Of course, the amount of force you use when you're tapping depends on the shape and size of the vessel you're using. You might have seen this method, where you use a needle or your finger, and you allow the pot to go around, hit the pointer, and then move it a little bit closer to the middle each time. But with all the stopping and starting, and then moving it ever closer, you can see just how much longer it takes in comparison to taps entering the bowl into the middle. Which, when multiplied by several hundred pots, you can see just how much added time it creates, and it shows just how efficient tap centering is. But really, it's just a matter of teaching yourself to hit the pot in just the same spot every single time. And as your bowl approaches the centre, you have to start tapping with more gentle movements, as you want to move it less, obviously. It could be worth, when you're learning, to try tapping at different points too. You could try tapping at about seven or eight o'clock, or you could even try tapping at about two o'clock, depending on what feels comfortable. I've seen potters tapping at both those points before. Also, instead of your fingertips, you might just use the pads of some of your fingers. You know, two or three fingers versus one finger. I find I often change how I position my hands depending on what kind of vessel it is. So, say I'm tap centering a chuck that's thick and heavy, I might slap it with the whole of my hand, whereas if I'm centering a much more delicate, thinly thrown piece, I'll tap more gently with just a few fingers. But the principle of hitting in the exact same spot, in a rhythmic fashion, remains the same no matter what. In the video right now, I'm choosing to tap centre from the foot ring itself. Say that's the portion I want to get totally centre, I might choose to tap there, rather than down by the rim. And although I'm not doing it here, I would recommend having your left hand up by the bowl, ready to catch it in case anything goes wrong. Or, like you can see here, I keep one finger pushing down from the top just as I tap centre it, which helps keep the piece from tipping over or flying too far as I tap centre. But really it's going to change so much depending on what it is you're tap centering, so I recommend trying it out on as many different shapes as possible. If you are tapping taller, cylindrical pots, where you tap on the form is important too. If you were to try tap centering by striking the top of the rim, the piece could easily topple over, so generally whenever I'm tap centering, it's towards the And again, as I'm tap centering, you can see that it's a good idea to introduce your left hand, even if it's just one finger, to apply a tiny bit of pressure downward, which helps stabilise the entire form. Perhaps bisqueware isn't the best way to show a demonstration of tap centering, as it does feel a lot different when you're tap centering a heavier, leather-hard piece. You'll find no better practice, really, than making 20-40 bowls and just sitting and tap centering all of them as you trim them. By the end of the day, you'll have definitely mastered the skill. Leather-hard clay additionally has the advantage of being slightly sticky, so as you tap center it, it kind of holds itself in place, whereas bisqueware will kind of skid around on the wheel head. Of course, it isn't perhaps the best idea to be using finished pots to learn how to tap center, so if it's your first time, just pick up anything that's round. Anything can be tap centered, as long as it meets that criteria. Sieves work, plastic bowls, wooden bats, old thrown pots, chucks, it all works. You just have to allocate some dedicated time to sitting there and tapping. It definitely isn't fun, but it's a skill I so recommend to learn. I taught myself how to tap center when I had a few hours to kill when I was studying on the DCCOI Ceramics Skills and Design training course. I used an old upturned enamel bowl and just sat there tapping away until something clicked, and I could do it. Of course, good tuition helps, but you've just got to give it a go, and you have to be patient too, which seems to be a running theme in this craft. I've included many clips in this video that simply show the same motions over and over again. I think I'm a visual learner, and I found that it's always so helpful to just watch the same processes repeated time and time again to really gain an understanding of how a craftsperson does something. Tap centering itself is so inherently simple. It's gravity more than anything. You're simply tapping the pot into the middle with a few simple movements. There's no long explanation of why I do a specific thing or tap in a certain way. It's just a skill you've got to jump into until it clicks. Towards the end of this video, I've included a number of clips that show tap centering in more normal situations. You'll notice how I'm always using my left hand to apply some pressure downward from the top to help keep the pot stable and to help prevent it from spinning out of control. It's also there to help catch the vessel in case it flies off. When I'm tap centering bowls to wax their foot rings, I'll make sure the foot ring is perfectly in centre, whereas you can see the rim here is actually just wavering a tiny amount, and this is normal. These are handmade pots. As they dry and as they're bisque-fired, the clay unwinds and twists ever so slightly, so tiny irregularities like that are all too common. And even if the pot does have a more dramatic wobble, it will still have a true centre, a central axis where it will spin comfortably, even if it looks wobbly. These are all aspects you learn to deal with with experience, and like I said before, different pots require different approaches. That's something you just get used to over time. At the beginning, it's just important to remember that you need to tap regularly in the same spot and with enough pressure to get it moving into the middle. Like anything, it can be a little bit disheartening when you don't get it straight away, but it's very rare for that to happen anyway. Personally, I can't recommend learning this skill enough. It's so helpful, and it speeds up so many different processes. Thanks for watching, and I hope you found this video useful.