When you say pottery, a pottery wheel comes to mind. But there are many other ways to turn a lump of clay into a beautiful creation, where you only need your hands and the clay. Time to compare: what are the pros and cons of wheel throwing versus handbuilding?
Accessible
As mentioned above, to do start handbuilding you only need your hands and your clay. You don’t need to get to know any new tools: you can get started immediately. For wheel throwing on the other hand beginners need some time to figure out the right way to do it. How fast should your wheel spin? What’s the right position? How do you use this spinning wheel to create the shape you want? You and your pottery wheel need to become friends first.
Meanwhile with handbuilding, you have direct control over the clay. You learn as you go how the clay reacts, and how you can get it in the right shape. With a pottery wheel, things are less intuitive. For many beginners it takes a lot of practise to master all of the techniques you need when wheel throwing. Centring, pulling the walls, opening… It’s a process of trial and error.
Faster
When you handbuild you create the shape of your pot with only your hands. When your wheel throwing, your hands get a lot of help from the wheel. The spinning motion actually does a lot of the work for you. Especially if you’re working with a large amount of clay, that is a huge advantage.
Once you’ve mastered the techniques, you’ll finish each creation much faster on a pottery wheel than with handbuilding. This is your reward for all the work you put in to learn the different throwing techniques: suddenly you can achieve beautiful results in a short amount of time.
Uniform versus unique
A beautiful, smooth curve is a lot easier to create on a pottery wheel than with handbuilding. The spinning motion helps you make very consistent curves and shapes, which comes in handy if you’re trying to make a set.
On the other hand, when you’re handbuilding you’re not limited to round shapes. You can do whatever you want, and that can lead to a very unique end result. It could be said that this allows you to add a more personal touch.
The perfect combo
There is of course a third option: you can combine wheel throwing and handbuilding. Some potters like to first create a shape on the wheel and then handbuild some extra elements to add to it. It’s the best of both worlds!
But even if you don’t want to combine the two: it’s definitely worth trying out many different techniques. This helps you figure out where your strenghts are, and it’s a great way to get to know the clay even better. The things you learn when mastering one technique, might come in handy when learning another technique.
