How to Trim Pottery on the Wheel (Florian Gadsby)

Once you've thrown a pot and safely taken it off the wheel, the next step is to let it dry to the right stage before trimming.

First, Let Your Pot Become Leather Hard

Before you can begin trimming, your pot needs to firm up to what potters call leather hard.

At this stage, the clay has lost some of its moisture and is firm enough to handle without easily distorting, but is still soft enough that you can carve away clay with your trimming tools.

In our studio, if you leave your pot uncovered, it will generally reach leather hard within one to two days. If you cover it with plastic, you can slow down the drying process considerably, and it may take up to a week.

Of course, clay doesn't follow an exact timetable! The weather, temperature, humidity, thickness of your piece and how tightly it is covered can all affect the drying time. As you make more pots, you'll gradually get a feel for when a piece is at just the right stage to trim.

What Is Trimming?

Trimming is the process of putting your leather-hard pot back onto the pottery wheel and removing excess clay to refine its form and shape.

It's an opportunity to clean up the profile of your pot, remove unnecessary weight from the base and create details such as a foot or foot ring. It's also a chance to take another look at the form you created while throwing and make those final adjustments that can really bring the piece together.

Learning How to Trim

The best place to learn how to trim is in class and from other members in the studio.

Having someone there to demonstrate the process, help you position your pot and show you how much clay you can safely remove is incredibly useful when you're learning.

The second place we'd recommend is this lovely video by Florian Gadsby.

Florian takes you through his approach to trimming and refining a thrown pot, giving you a chance to see how an experienced potter works through the process from beginning to end.

As always, Florian's method may be a little different from the techniques you've been shown in class — and that's a good thing! There are many different ways to approach pottery, and watching different potters work is a great way to broaden your understanding and eventually develop a way of working that feels right for you.

Once you've got your pot trimmed and you're happy with its final form, it's ready for the next stages of the pottery process.