Customer Reviews

Pottery on the Wheel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a student potter, I've looked at a lot of beginner's books. I bought one when I bought the wheel, some at the local bookstore, and some more at the local ceramics supply store. This one I got from the library and liked it so much I ordered it to keep as a reference. It has all the stuff in the detail that I wish the others had - detail sufficient to be of immediate use, but not so complex as to be difficult to understand. There is even more detail that will be of value when I gain more experience.

The book points out typical beginner's errors - I made 'em all - and how to prevent them. It discusses the sequence of pulling the clay to make a pot while maintaining center. Each chapter also has an outline at the end of the main points/steps that were the focus of the chapter so the reader will be sure to learn the most important considerations of that particular topic.

The text is clear, easy to read and understand, and the many photographs, in my opinion, could not be better - they are close-up, in focus and large.

I bought this book for my wife who had just finished ten weeks of throwing lessons. She read the book and was able to improve her work in just a few practice sessions. She is so pleased with her new knowledge and skill. The fine detail and the pictures of sectioned pots were easy to follow. The accompaning text was clear and the summeries allow for quick reference.

We can only recommend this fine book to anyone that wants to improve their skill.

The text is detailed, but easy to understand and the pictures do an excellent job of reinforcing the concept. I have been throwing for about a year, but reached a point where I was "stuck" and couldn't seem to move forward. After only ONE day of using the techniques in this book, I was able to double the amount of clay I could successfully throw and the results were better than anything I had previously produced. This is the best book there is on throwing.

Elsbeth Woody does not provide us with a lot of pretty pictures of finished projects which we have no idea how to duplicate. What she does do is provide exact instructions with plenty of pictures of a clay-spattered potter doing exactly what she is telling us to do (and we assume the potter is herself). She provides invaluable photos of each stage of each project with the project cut in half so you can see exactly where her hands are inside the pot. This must have taken an enormous amount of care and time to document. I am a fairly new potter, but with Ms. Woody's book, I have found the confidence to begin throwing much larger pieces of clay, as her instructions apply particularly to medium-to-large pieces. My only regret is that Amazon does not carry her other book about hand-building with clay.

I'm a professional potter, who's also a pottery teacher for Technique Ceramics, Scottsdale Az. "Pottery on the Wheel" is by far the best book that I've found for teaching wheel-thrown pottery. Ms. Woody covers a wide range of pottery techniques, from centering clay, making bowls, plates, lids, cylinders, pulled handles, and more. This book is also filled with wonderful photographs of each step. Ms. Woody slices each clay project in half to show the correct position of the potter's hands while forming the pot. This is the book that I credit my success as a potter to, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is really serious about learning pottery on the wheel! Buy it, you will not regret it!

I bought this book 25 years ago when I started pottery and my well-thumbed copy is an important part of my studio. I'm a Canadian potting in Japan and though most of my students are non-English users, the photographs in this book speak thousands of words. It is laid out logically and the cross-section cuts of the whole process from entering the centered clay to finished work are everything a student or teacher could want in an instructional book. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover it is still available and my student is looking forward to having her own copy.

As someone who has just started to learn pottery in a class, this book gives detailed information that your teacher may not provide. Even if you are learning by yourself the step by step (very detailed) lessons by themselves gives the beginner good and easy to understand steps for success! Lots of great pictures too.

This book was a Christmas gift to my daughter and son-in-law, since both of them recently started taking pottery classes. She really liked the details shown in this book. It shows step-by-step directions and pictures. The photos showing how the hands are placed inside the item are a big plus. It made a great gift to them.

I was given this book by my son, and it has literally changed my life as a potter! I was an intermediate student, who sometimes threw beautiful pots and sometimes not. Who sometimes could center clay beautifully and then sometimes fought clay off the wheel. I had a love of throwing but little control over the actual process, and was becoming frustrated with not having consistent experiences each day. After reading the first few chapters of this book, that all IMMEDIATELY changed. Really! I center easily now. I raise the sides evenly now. My bottoms aren't too thick along the sides... ever. My rim's don't go out of whack. And that all happened the day after I read the first couple of chapters! I am now going back and re-reading in detail. One of the best parts of this book, is the great detail (and photos) of hand positions and her discussion of pressure points, and exactly where you should be touching the clay. Now when I sit down at the wheel - 9 out of 10 pieces are almost perfect... every time. It is so cool. My fellow students call it the "miracle book". I do too!

I sometimes wonder how the beautiful conversational style used in this book came about.

Woody has built creativity into its simple, yet very effective composition, design and production.

I imagine whether Elsbeth S. Woody was just stating her instructions as she threw on her own wheel before the photographer who took all the photographs. The photographs of pottery cross sections provide a great touch in the teaching technique used in this book.

I'm a beginner and having read and applied (albeit partially and to the best of my abilities) only the first couple of chapters so far, I look forward to owning a copy as a lasting reference, and a great read. (My current copy is from the library.)