How to Make a Wavy Ceramic Bowl

One of my favorite pieces to make is the extra large wavy bowl because of the process and what it stands for.

How they begin

Every large wavy bowl starts with control. With wrestling 7-10lbs of clay into symmetry and balance. It’s a dance of pushing and pulling. It’s not easy making the “perfect” (if one is to believe symmetry is perfection) large bowl on the pottery wheel.

It is much easier taking that symmetry and making it human — and that’s the part I like most.

What that involves is taking that large symmetrical bowl, still stuck to the bat it’s been thrown on, holding my breath, and flipping it upside down.

When I exhale, it’s a letting go.

I then shake the piece gently from side to side and let gravity do the rest — I cannot control the undulations, the way the balanced clay walls choose to bend and sway the way bodies do.

The trick after that is letting the piece hold its shape in the drying process. Because if I were to flip the piece back up, the walls might fall altogether.

How they drape

Before I begin throwing, I rig one thin but sturdy plank of wood across two level and steady surfaces and have another plank ready nearby.

After the bowl is flipped, I place one edge of the bat on one plank, then, holding onto the piece with one hand, I slide the other plank parallel to the other to suspend the piece from the bat.

I usually leave it upside down like this overnight, just enough time for the walls to become leather hard and keep their shape once I flip the piece back around for wiring off and trimming.

Other than the fact that these bowls will always be one of a kind, what I love about their curves is how easy it is to hold onto them. How they fit into open palms comfortably. Gone is that feeling of holding on to something and feeling like it might fall. These bowls aren’t something you have to grip.

These bowls rest in your hands. They are carried. And they fit.