Faceted Teabowls Dwayne Sackey

Appears in the Jul/Aug 2023 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated.

The faceted teabowl is probably my favorite form to make. Pulling, faceting, and opening the clay is extremely satisfying. The way the surface goes from a smooth and soft cylinder with slip and throwing lines to a crisp, yet raw and open faceted surface revealing the grog and granite in the clay is eye opening for me. Opening the form continues to astound me how plastic a clay body can be to spiral around my hand as the vertical facets stretch and stack atop each other into horizontal lines like strata on a weathered mountainside. This process really highlights the clay’s flexibility and resilience, each pot turns differently and the nuances in the undulating rim, curve, and line quality caused by the facets reminds me why. 

Though I’ve honed in the process over the years I’ve found that these forms are the least consistent that I make and I lose a significant percentage of each batch. Though they are not the easiest or most consistent, they are truly my favorite when they work out. 

This process was described to me by Sam Clarkson who reminisced about a very plastic porcelain clay body that he worked with while at Penn State University that allowed him to make vertical facets that spiraled when the form was opened. I was also inspired by Josh DeWeese when he demonstrated the way he pulled a tall cylinder, scraped it vertically with a textured rib, and opened it into a bowl. The combination of the two techniques led me to this teabowl form. 

Throwing the Form 

Start with 3 pounds of clay. It is very important that the clay is quite plastic and wedged well or fresh out of the bag from a supplier. I like to wedge decomposed granite into my clay as it adds depth to the body and creates speckles in the finished product. 

Center the clay on the wheel and once centered, open a hole in the middle big enough to fit your thumb. Next, pull a tall skinny cylinder with a wall thickness of ½ inch (1). I like to keep the wheel at a medium speed while opening and very slow while compressing the rim. 

Faceting the Form 

To begin faceting, adjust your cheese cutter. I prefer to use cheese cutters with an adjustable setting, though you can simply use a wire tool if you have a very steady hand and the ability to gauge the depth of your cut. Cutting just shy of a ¼  inch is a safe bet. You will have to experiment a bit with wall thickness and depth of cut, depending on your clay body and its plasticity. 

Make a vertical facet from the wheel head up through the lip and peel the ribbon of clay from the cylinder (2). Repeat this process 5 or 6 times as you work your way around the cylinder, ending when you connect the final facet with the first. It is important to do your best to make each facet equidistant and to aim to overlap each just a tad to create a hard line. 

Opening the Bowl 

Once you have faceted your cylinder, it is time to open it up into a bowl. Start by placing one or two fingers inside and letting your thumb rest on the lip (3), compressing as you gently begin to open and the rest of your fingers one at a time compressing the lip all the while. When the form is open wide enough to fit your hand inside (4), work your hand to the bottom and compress the clay as you begin to drag your fingertips up the wall, opening the form into a yunomi shape (5). 

At this point, I like to compress the rim with a chamois, being careful not to deform it too drastically and if anything to enhance the undulations that have begun (6). 

Next, use a throwing stick to gently open the form (7) until you have enough room to fit a larger rib into the bowl to create your teabowl curve (8). Remember to compress the rim often and with care. Finish the inside of the bowl with a flexible metal rib or a very smooth and flexible plastic one. 

If desired, you can place a wet wooden tool on the outer wall and slide it upward to make vertical lines to create some rhythm and further alter the rim (9). I like to repeat this process three times around the exterior. 

Before taking the bowl off of the wheel, it can be helpful to trim a bit of clay off of the very bottom while the clay is still soft so that the foot starts out round when you turn it over to trim it in a few days. 

Trimming and Finishing 

Trimming can be tricky, but I’ve found that using a foam bat or a soft leather-hard patty of clay helps with creating friction, keeping the pot in place, and allowing the undulation of the rim to rest gently on a soft surface preventing it from being damaged. 

My favorite trimming tools are the pear-shaped and triangle-shaped loop tools (10). I prefer a large triangle and love my tungsten carbide loop with which I take off the bulk of the excess clay. I like to keep my trimming tools very sharp and often sharpen them before each use. 

It can be tempting to trim the foot too thin, but I aim to maintain an even wall thickness throughout the entire pot. From time to time I carve out the inside of the pot with a loop tool, this method can achieve a fairly light form. That being said, these pots are my go to for the bagwall in my soda kiln and front face of my anagama, therefore I do not want them to be too thin, otherwise they will likely warp, crack, or not survive the heat. 

I like to start trimming a pot with a small indentation in the center to rest my middle or index finger in. I follow by pressing down with my left hand while I take large ribbons off of the outside of the foot ring, in doing so I begin to refine the outside of the foot (11). Once I’ve taken off the bulk of the clay and found the outside of the foot, I make concentric circles on the inside of the foot ring leading toward my left middle finger. I then cut away the remaining clay within the foot ring and refine it with the triangle loop tool (12). 

Once these forms have had a good while to dry, bisque fire them. I often use a simple shino liner glaze on the interior. I have also enjoyed leaving the interior unglazed and firing them upside down on a kiln post topped with a patty of wadding. Either way they tend to do well in high-atmosphere areas of the kiln where they get lots of action. The diagonal facets carry the ash slowly spiraling down the form and in turn pool glass, and save your shelves as well as the feet of your pots. 

Dwayne Sackey earned his BFA from Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2019. He exhibited at the Multnomah County Justice Center in 2019, and at the governor’s mansion in 2021. Sackey was a recipient of the 2021 Studio Potter grant for apprenticeship alongside his mentor Chris Baskin, had a demo presentation at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) in 2022, and taught a workshop at Clay By The Bay in 2022. To see more, visit www.dwaynesackey.com.