For this assignment, you will throw and trim 3 plates.

Plates are a challenging form to make because there are so many challenges after the making the object. With a plate, throwing it is often the easiest part! Trimming at the perfect consistency is vitally important, drying as evenly as possible to avoid cracking as it dries, then glazing it and firing it so that it stays flat and doesn’t stick to the shelf is the final hurdle. Even with all those challenges, making a really nice ceramic plate is a real joy. It’s one of the most satisfying forms to use and there’s a reason why handmade plates are often a little pricey!

Anyway, there are several tricks to making a good plate, but the first one is to use more clay than you think you need. If you don’t have a lot of experience making and trimming plates, you’ll be surprised how much clay you need to trim off of it!

The rest of the tricks are in the two videos below …