Pottery by Father Theophan. Photo by Fr. Theophan 

By Father Theophan
Saint Job of Pochaiv Orthodox Church
Los Alamos

Last week I sat down at the wheel to teach another person how to throw pots. As I explained the process and leaned into the spinning clay, it occurred to me how many ways I’ve seen this done. There are about as many ways of making pots as there are people who make them. 

I was taught, and thus I teach, a particular method. We were shown and had the process explained over and over during the first month of our learning. So much so, that it is nearly hardwired into my brain. It’s become muscle memory.

Both hands are used in conjunction, left pressing inward, right pressing downward, while they are both linked as strongly as possible into the waist through the elbows. This allows the potter to exert the most pressure possible while remaining as stable as possible. 

Once centered and opened, I teach that the pulling of the walls is done at four or five o’clock on the wheel-head, the right-hand quadrant closest to the potter’s right leg. The left hand and fingers on the inside of the pot align with and oppose the right hand and fingers on the outside. Between the two middle fingers, the clay is squeezed and pulled and rises into the walls of the pot. 

But then there are those who throw with both hands at “ten and two,” grasping the rotating clay like a steering wheel and pulling the walls that way. Or, more shockingly, pulling the clay with only one hand, thumb on the inside, opposing fingers on the outside. 

These methods are so far out of my experience that watching them boggles my mind. Yet plenty of potters make beautiful pots using those techniques.

This is not to say that everything is permissible, that all roads lead to useful tableware or beautiful ceramic art or something in between. There are infinitely more ways to fail than succeed. 

Some things we learn, mostly inadvertently, are not useful, both in pottery and in life. It’s easy and convenient to blame externals: the clay, the wheel, the tools, the weather. Conversely: imperfect parents, a toxic faith tradition, my socio-economic experience, etc.

Failure is always an option, just ask a potter.

Success is also a real possibility.

However different the methods are on the wheel, there are similarities. Attentiveness and care, steady hands, and mindfulness of the motion of the clay are paramount. 

Clay spinning of the wheel is less forgiving of inattention than a nearly ripe avocado. A moment of distraction can easily lead to another addition to the slop bucket.

“There is no end that justifies the means. If the means are evil the end will be evil too.” –Fr. Stephen Clark

Attention to our life, to both the ends we are aiming for and the means we are using, is vital. As things are returning to normal, maybe now is a good time to reflect on them.