How to Make an Ordinary Lid Extraordinary Adam Field

=If there is one thing I have learned from making DVDs with uber-talented artists over the last couple of years, it's to pay attention to all the details. The details make all the difference in the world.

Adam Field could stop with his intricately carved surfaces and he would have gorgeous pots, but he chooses to go even further and consider every additional detail from the lids to the feet. And the pots go from gorgeous to exquisite. In today's clip, an excerpt from his fantastic DVD Precision Throwing and Intricate Carving, he demonstrates one such detail (on one of the coolest lids I've seen!).- Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

To learn more about Adam Field or to see more images of his work, please visit www.adamfieldpottery.com.

Helpful Terms

Calipers Adjustable tool for measuring inside/outside diameters, as in making lids. Source: Clay: A Studio Handbook

Pottery Bat A pottery bat is a pottery throwing accessory that enables freshly thrown work to be removed from the throwing wheel without the damage or warpage that can occur from touching the pot directly. Pottery bats also make it possible to return a piece to exact center to work on later.

Throwing bats can be made from most any rigid material, but wood, wood composites, plastics, and plaster are the most common. Except for plastic, these materials are all porous so pots will release from them easily as they absorb water from the clay. If the material is not porous (e.g., plastic) the pot must be wired off before it sets up too much, or it will crack as it shrinks.

Rib Wide, flat handheld tool used to shape, smooth, and/or scrape clay surfaces; usually wood, rubber, plastic, or metal, either rigid or flexible, with straight, curved, or profiled edge. Source: Clay: A Studio Handbook

**First published in 2015.