Practice Pieces: Cylinders Cut Open
Most potters have made clay cylinders and cut them in half to evaluate thickness and symmetry. This rite of passage is a step towards making taller and thinner pots.
These four examples began as equal sized lumps of clay weighed on a scale. Students can place their hands on them as if raising the pot's walls and feel the thickness.
A common error is to leave a thick wad of clay where the pot's floor and interior walls join. I undercut that area in the first cylinder, and thinned it ongoingly.