23.10.2023

Pottery or Art? Ceramics. Potter's wheel Potter's wheel history

The clay spins on the potter's wheel, the master's hands gently embrace it, guide it, and now the smooth outlines of a jug with a wide bottom and a narrow neck emerge... Magic, and that's all... It is impossible to take your eyes off this mesmerizing action, when a piece of ordinary clay in skillful hands turns into into a real work of art.

Pottery is as ancient as humanity itself. The study of world art certainly begins with ceramics, which can be preserved in the ground for thousands of years. It is not for nothing that in archaeological expeditions the most eloquent artifacts are considered to be clay shards. From these inconspicuous fragments of the past one can study the history of entire peoples and civilizations.

Interweaving mysticism and craft

Since ancient times, the potter has been under the protection of higher powers: in ancient times, powerful gods descended to earth and taught the first people the craft of pottery. And God created man himself from a piece of clay and breathed sacred life into him. The sculpting of figurines of goddesses and gods, as well as animals, was considered a special mystical ritual on great holidays. They were decorated, given gifts and protected in every possible way. The potter’s magical action was to use all the elements of nature: the master took clay (the element of the Earth) into his hands, moistened it with Holy Water, and with the help of God’s creation (the potter’s wheel) and his talent, he sculpted a vessel. Then he dried it in Air and gave it immeasurable strength in Fire. It was not for nothing that potters were respected people; they tried not to quarrel with them, so as not to bring the wrath of God upon their house.

The making of clay products was accompanied by many rituals and beliefs that were inaccessible to the common man. For example, it was possible to go to the source for water for clay only on Saturday before sunrise. A mark in the form of a cross was placed at the bottom of the dish so that an evil spirit could not enter it. In ancient myths, the potter was associated with all kinds of evil spirits, which helped him fire the dishes.

In Volgograd there is a museum-reserve called Old Sarepta, where a ghost still lives. In the 18th century, a German settlement settled here. One of the famous masters of his craft was I. Niedenthal, a potter by profession. After his death, at night in one of the halls of the museum the creaking of a potter’s wheel and the sounds of broken dishes can be heard...

The origins of pottery

In ancient times, our ancestors used clay not as an independent material, but as a binding element: thus, they combined bird droppings, fluff and seashells. Only hundreds of years later, people began to use clay to make dishes, and a little later, to clean it of harmful impurities - to remove it. The first clay products were, of course, unfired, so they have practically not survived to this day. The first burnt objects were found in Japan and date back to 10,700 BC. The earliest vessels were made using the rope technique: clay sausages were twisted in a spiral around the base. In Japan, elite hand-made utensils for tea ceremonies are still made using a similar method.

Great invention

The invention of the potter's wheel created a real sensation in pottery. With its help, it was possible to speed up and refine the production of clay products: the dishes came out of the hands of the potter more delicate and elegant. In the countries of India, Egypt and Mesopotamia, archaeologists attribute traces of the presence of a potter's wheel to the 3-4 millennium BC, in China and Ancient Greece - a thousand years later. It is interesting that in Egypt they began to use the wheel as a potter's wheel much earlier than for transportation. This invention came to northern Europe and Russia only in the Middle Ages. It is noteworthy that with the invention of the potter's wheel, the craft turned from predominantly female to male, since turning a heavy wheel required considerable male strength.

Hand circle

The basic design of a potter's wheel consists of a disk mounted on an axis. African tribes, almost to this day, used a wooden disk on a thick leg, which was installed in a dug hole. The circle itself remained virtually unchanged, only the materials from which it was made were improved and a drive was added. The hand wheel was placed on a bench, and the potter himself sat astride the same bench. The rotation was carried out either by himself or by his assistants. Later, animals - donkeys and bulls - began to be used as draft power.

Foot circle

Over time, craftsmen began to change the height of the flywheel, adjusting it for personal convenience. So soon the idea was born to lower the flywheel itself to the level of the feet. Rotating the legs made it possible to free up the hands, thereby significantly increasing the level of the potter's skill and the quality of the products.

Electric potter's wheel

The century of the invention of electricity did not leave pottery aside. The craftsmen decided to adapt the electric motor to the old foot circle:

With a friction drive: the electric motor was not fixed rigidly, but a special rubber roller was put on its shaft. The potter pressed the pedal, the motor turned, and its rubber band spun the flywheel of the circle. The desired speed could be achieved by holding and lowering the pedal. A brake was also invented. The most durable and reliable pottery wheels;
- with a gearbox: a high-speed motor is used here, with a gearbox mounted on the output shaft. A rubber belt connects the gearbox to the faceplate, thereby driving the latter. Disadvantages include a fairly high noise level and fragility;
- with direct drive: the development of electronics has made it possible to remove the transmission link between the motor and the faceplate. The simplicity of the design allows this type of pottery wheel to be as efficient, lightweight and quiet as possible. It is possible to regulate the rotation speed: for beginners, 200 rpm is enough, for professionals - up to 400.

Nowadays, pottery wheels are used only by craftsmen who do not recognize the consumer attitude towards pottery and who put their soul into their creations. This is why hand-made products are becoming more and more popular...

Molding on a mat

Improvements in the tape technique led to the molding of the pot on a small piece of reed matting or a curved shard (a fragment of a broken vessel). The mat or shard served as a base during the construction of the pot and as a convenient axis of rotation, thanks to which the vessel turned easily in the hands of the potter. This manual rotation gave the potter the ability to continuously smooth the pot and symmetrically align the shape as it was built. Some primitive peoples, such as the American Indians, did not create anything more progressive than this technique, and all their ceramics were made by this method.

An important step in the development of pottery production was the development of the rotation technique. In this case, the master stuck a piece of clay to the finished bottom and, rotating the bottom with his left hand, traced the piece in a spiral with his right, gradually sculpting the edges of the pot. With this method, the product came out more even.

Later, for ease of work, they began to place a wooden disk under the workpiece. To facilitate the rotation of the stand, some unknown potter thought of attaching it to an axis. The sculpting process will be greatly simplified if you make this disk rotate along with the workpiece - this is how it was invented simple handmade pottery wheel. He soon noticed that by quickly rotating the stand, the vessels could be given a more regular shape. But the light stand stopped quite quickly after unwinding, and in order to increase the inertia of rotation, they began to make it more massive - from hard wood, baked clay and stone. Used since 3500 BC. in Mesopotamia, made it possible to make vessels much faster and smoother. It is believed that the inventor of the circle lived in Babylon in the 4th millennium BC. Then the potter's wheel appeared in Egypt, India and Greece. In Europe it became known in the 500s BC.

The ancestor of the modern potter's wheel consisted of a wooden or stone disk mounted horizontally on a rod driven into the ground. To prevent the rod from wobbling and maintaining a vertical position, a stationary wooden board with a hole in the middle was placed between it and the circle. The result was a well-adjusted device. With one hand, the left, the master brought the circle into a smooth, uniform rotation, and with the other right, he began sculpting. With his right hand, the master shaped the vessel, applying pre-prepared strands in a spiral. This simple device made a real revolution in pottery, raising it to the level of art. Thanks to him, the work has noticeably accelerated and improved.

When rotated, the products came out much denser and more uniform. Their shape turned out to be correct and graceful.

In Greece, the wheel was usually rotated by a potter's apprentice, adjusting the speed at the command of the master. The large size and weight of the wheel ensured a fairly long period of its rotation after launch. Having an assistant turn the wheel allowed the potter to use both hands in shaping the vase and give the process his full attention.

The potter's wheel appeared relatively late - in the Eneolithic (the transition period from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age). The first, not very perfect circles were used in the 4th millennium BC. e. in Mesopotamia (city of Uruk). One of the first was Sumer in Southern Mesopotamia, where the potter's wheel began to be used in 3250 BC. In Egypt it was in use as early as 2800 BC, and in Troy wheel-made pottery was discovered in the Troy II layer, c. 2500 BC

At first the potter's wheel was stationary and only then became rotating.

A new step towards improving the art of pottery was invention of the foot circle. He appeared much later and in many places replaced the manual one. Came into use in the 2nd millennium BC. (3 thousand BC). The use of which sharply increased labor productivity and improved the quality of products - made it possible to produce dishes with thinner walls. With the advent of the potter's wheel and the improvement of the kiln, this work began to be carried out by a specialist, a professional potter. There is no doubt that as a result of the invention of the potter's wheel, pottery making became a man's craft, since the use of machinery was generally considered not a woman's job. Men began to engage in pottery making. Its main advantages were that it allowed the rotation speed to be increased several times and freed the master to work with both hands.

The main differences of the foot circle:

The spindle (axis of rotation) has been lengthened.

The rotating disk was rigidly connected to it. Two boards were used to strengthen the spindle. The lower one was the basis of the entire device (a recess was cut into it, into which the end of the spindle was inserted). The top board with a through hole supported the spindle in a vertical position.

A foot wheel was rigidly attached to the bottom of the spindle.

The foot potter's wheel completely eliminated preliminary, rough hand sculpting. The potter sat down at the wheel and took a piece of clay of the required size. Squeezing this piece with his palms and throwing it from hand to hand, he gave it the shape of a ball, and then hit it forcefully in the center of the upper disk.

Having sat down next to the circle, the potter rested his foot on the lower circle and brought it into smooth motion. Due to the fact that the lower wheel was heavier and larger in diameter than the working upper one, it served as flywheel: maintained rotation for some time even after the foot was removed from it. This made it possible to produce thin-walled vessels that were more complex in shape. Moreover, their production time has been significantly reduced.

They made everything possible on the potter's wheel: chimney and water pipes, lamps and even birdhouses. But the main product that came off the potter’s wheel was still dishes: stove pots, cauldrons, jars, kneaders, frying pans, vessels, bowls, cups, oil dishes, salt shakers, jugs, mugs and much more.

Dishes made on a potter's wheel appear in different places at different times, but only where artisans have already emerged.

In the 17th century the wheel was set in motion by means of a rope thrown over a pulley, and in the 19th century. The steam-powered potter's wheel was invented.

Sometimes the potter himself painted vases, but usually these two professions were separated. There was a tendency for the potter and vase painter to work together. It remains unclear whether two potters could have been involved in the creation of the same vase; perhaps one was shaping the vase on a wheel, while the other was finishing the mold.

In rare cases, two painters could work on one vase. The reasons for such cooperation are unknown, but the fact itself is beyond doubt.

The invention and spread of the potter's wheel led to the emergence and isolation of specialist potters. In different countries, the potter's wheel was used at different times:

Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, India - 4-3 millennium BC. e.;
Iran, Central Asia, Greece, China - 2nd millennium BC. e.;
Western Europe - Hallstatt and La Tène cultures of the 1st millennium BC. e.
Eastern Europe - Przeworsk (II century BC) and Chernyakhov culture (III century). However, with the arrival of the Slavs of the Prague culture, the potter's wheel was forgotten and reappeared only in the 9th century (Luka-Rajkovets culture)
In America, the potter's wheel was not known until the arrival of Europeans (see Indian pottery).

In modern ceramic production, potter's wheels are almost never used. Currently, in the practice of ceramic workshops and ceramics studios, electrically driven pottery wheels are almost exclusively used. The basic design of the potter's wheel has remained virtually unchanged since ancient times; the changes affected mainly the type of drive.

History of the development of pottery wheels (according to A.V. Kudryavtsev - TM “Golden Hands”)

Hand potter's wheel

It’s difficult to say exactly how the prototype of this circle was born, we’ll leave it to your imagination! Structurally, it was a flywheel mounted on a short axis and rotated with the help of hands. Since the product is molded by hand, massive faceplates-flywheels were used, which ensured stable rotation for a long time. In a more developed version, the labor of an assistant (or slaves) was used to rotate the faceplate. In Russia, beginning potters sometimes used a direct analogue of this ancient wheel - they sculpted “Health” on a wheel (for those unfamiliar, these are two stamped steel disks connected by a short axis, and between them, in the grooves, there are steel balls).

Foot mechanical circle

The development of the manual drive was the separation and separation of the faceplate and flywheel in height, which made it possible to lower the flywheel so low that it became convenient to spin it with the help of your feet. In various versions, this circle is still alive. Structurally, they were made of wood; tar was used as a lubricant for rotating parts.

Electric pottery wheels

Skipping the era of using animals as a drive and the appearance of the first steam engines, let's move to the era of electric drive. Taking a mechanical foot-operated circle as a basis, someone used improvised means to adapt an electric motor to it. The motor was not fixed rigidly; a rubber roller was placed on its shaft. When you press the pedal, the motor turns, and the rubber band of the motor begins to gradually spin the flywheel. By holding or releasing the pedal, you can achieve the desired rotation speed. A similar drive design was used in G. Ford's first cars. To slow down the heavy flywheel, a new element was introduced - a foot brake. The classic modern incarnation of this type of wheel is the PROFI-MAX pottery wheel. The great advantage of such wheels is their high reliability and durability due to the use of an asynchronous motor. A type of friction drive is a drive with a so-called rolling roller (similar to the record drive in electric players of the 70s and 80s).

The electric drive is a high-speed DC commutator motor with an electronic speed control circuit. A compact planetary gearbox is mounted on the output shaft of the motor, which in turn drives the faceplate itself. The rubber belt is the connecting link between the faceplate and the gearbox. The main disadvantage of such an electric drive is the low reliability of commutator motors and the increased noise level of the motor-gearbox assembly. A typical representative of this type of transmission is the “GOSH” circle.

direct drive (motor-wheel).

The development of electronic power technology and microprocessors has made it possible to make wheel motors affordable. The main feature of a pottery wheel with such a drive is the absence of any transmission/intermediate device between the motor and the faceplate. That is, the faceplate sits on the same axis with the rotor of the motor-wheel. This ensures the simplest possible design of the pottery wheel itself, reducing its weight and dimensions, ensuring a reduced noise level, and obtaining any fixed speed of rotation of the faceplate. There are no wearing parts in the engine, such as in commutator electric motors. To ensure maximum electrical safety, the circle is powered by a DC mains transformer power supply (output voltage 36V). In field conditions, or in the absence of mains voltage, the circle can be powered by three car batteries connected in series. In this case, the continuous operation time can be up to 8 hours. In modern electric pottery wheels, the rotation speed is continuously adjustable, usually ranging from 0 to 200 rpm for beginners, and from 0 to 400 rpm for professionals when high shaping speed is required. In addition, you can change the direction of rotation of the faceplate: for right-handers - counterclockwise, for left-handers - clockwise.

Basic requirements for modern electric pottery wheels

Potter's wheel "SUPER-PROFI"

electrical safety - the use of electric drives operating from a constant voltage of 12..36 volts
reliability and maintainability - i.e. a minimum of structural parts, their maximum rigidity and reliability, ease and accessibility during repairs
compactness (with a high dead weight: otherwise stability is lost when molding large products) - ease of transportation and storage
ergonomics - ensuring a high level of comfort during long-term work at a wheel, the ability to work both sitting and standing, no splashing of clay slurry on the sides
noiselessness is the most difficult parameter, since the use of an electric drive initially leads to increased noise. Direct drive models have the lowest noise levels, but they are expensive and therefore not yet widely used.

Types of pottery wheels

Naturally, the central place in the work of potters is occupied by pottery wheels, around which, as if around the center of the Universe, the entire pottery craft revolves. With their help, shapeless pieces of pliable clay in skillful hands are transformed into elegant vessels of the most diverse, sometimes bizarre, shapes.

A potter's wheel is a smooth disk that has a cantilever mount on a rotating axis and is driven by muscular force or an electric or, less commonly, mechanical motor. In ancient times they were hand-operated, then foot-operated and, finally, electric. It should be noted that foot and electric pottery wheels are more convenient to use. This is explained by the fact that both hands of the master remain free. Despite the fact that the electric wheel is more modern and progressive, the pottery wheel with a foot drive is not losing ground, since, according to some craftsmen, only on such a wheel can one smoothly and widely regulate the speed of rotation of the workpiece and better feel the material.

Additional tools

If you seriously or even just at an amateur level have decided to master the craft of pottery, then in addition to the already known circle, you will need some other tools that greatly facilitate the work and allow you to perform various manipulations with the material. The main tools of both the sculptor and the potter are stacks - wooden, metal or plastic spatulas of various shapes and sizes. You also cannot do without a metal string with two convenient handles at the ends, with the help of which the finished product is cut from the circle after molding.

Workshop equipment

To make it clear, working on a pottery wheel is a rather dirty activity, and you most likely will not find a place for yourself in a city apartment, unless you allocate an entire room for a workshop. But not everyone can afford this. In addition, pottery wheels are not silent when working, and this may cause dissatisfaction with neighbors. But in the private sector of the city, in the countryside or in the village, there are plenty of places to realize your plans for mastering the pottery craft. In warm weather, you can do this right in the open air, but it is still advisable to have a canopy over your head to protect from the scorching sun or rain. Setting up the workshop itself does not present any significant difficulties. It is enough to put a table for tools and other auxiliary things, one or more shelves for finished products, and provide lighting for the workspace.

If you are just starting your journey in the field of working with clay, then you do not need to set out to purchase a professional pottery wheel. To master the basics and get a feel for the material, amateur learning is enough. Moreover, its design is completely simple and easy to repeat for those who know how to use metalwork tools.

How to make a pottery wheel

Now there is no shortage of special stores, where both beginning and established potters are offered the entire range of goods for their craft: pottery wheels, all kinds of “grades” of clay, auxiliary tools and even kilns where finished products are fired. But the price tag in such stores is usually very high. And if you want to save money, you can make a pottery wheel with your own hands.

To do this, you need to make a frame from a wooden beam or a metal profile. Bearings are installed in its lower and upper parts, in which the shaft with a circle fixed on it will rotate. It is advisable to make the circle itself from a material that is impervious to moisture: plastic, fiberglass, aluminum, brass or bronze with a thickness of at least 10 mm. It is best if a circle with a diameter of 250-300 mm is turned on a machine by a lathe. The circle is attached to the shaft using a flange or any other convenient method.

Foot driven circle

If the circle is supposed to be made with a foot drive, then a massive flywheel must be installed on the lower part of the shaft, which can be knocked down from thick boards and given the shape of a wheel, or you can use any suitable massive metal disk, for example, a 30-kilogram pancake from a barbell.

Electric drive wheel

If you plan to make an electric circle, then a sewing machine motor is a good choice as a drive. Its advantage is that on this engine you can independently regulate the shaft speed. This is done using a special pedal. Such an engine along with a pedal can be purchased at a specialized store (it will not be cheap) or at a flea market/flea market (it will be much cheaper than buying a new one).

If you use an electric drive, you can move away from making a special frame and use any old table or even a massive stool. In addition, you will need a shallow (up to 10 cm) and wide plastic container with a diameter of 40-45 cm. It is fixed to the frame so that the circle rotates freely inside it. This is necessary so that drops of water with clay do not fly in all directions, but remain inside the container. As a last resort, you can make a fence from dry planks and then soak it several times with drying oil to give the wood water-repellent properties.

Now you know how to make a pottery wheel with your own hands. And if you really want to, it’s quite possible to do it yourself.

Pottery wheel for children

Many advanced schools for early child development practice modeling classes from plasticine, salt dough, polymer or ordinary clay, etc. These classes develop children's creativity, imagination, imaginative thinking, and sense of beauty. In addition, during modeling, children develop fine motor skills, they relax and get rid of all kinds of phobias. After hand modeling, a children's pottery wheel will be the next stage in the child's mastering of working with plastic materials. Such activities are usually very popular with the younger generation.

You can also make a pottery wheel for children yourself or buy a ready-made one; fortunately, manufacturers offer a lot of options to suit every taste and budget.

A little about clay

There are many different types of clays that differ in origin, impurity content, and composition. According to the technical classification, they are divided into shale, refractory, and kaolin. Clays also have their own so-called fat content. The “fattier” the clay, the more plastic it is, and the “leaner” it is, the more crumbly it is. Skinny clays mold less well, and products made from them crack during firing. Fatty clays behave much better in this case. Moreover, the thinner the product must be made, the fatter it should be. Clays also differ in their color, which depends on the content of metal oxides in them. When the clay contains no more than 1% impurities, the product made from it will be white, and if it is more, then after firing it will turn red, regardless of the original color of the clay.

It is much easier for a beginning potter to start working with prepared clay, which is easy to buy. When you get your hands on the right clay, then it won’t be too difficult to find clay in other places that is also suitable for the job.

Working on a pottery wheel

Any clay, even ready-made store-bought clay, must be “beaten” before use. You need to roll a “sausage” out of clay and tear it in half by twisting it. Then forcefully throw it onto a board or table, fold it again, roll it out and tear it apart. Such manipulations need to be repeated at least 20 times. You can also not tear the clay, but cut it with a wire string with handles. This is necessary in order to remove air from the clay and make it homogeneous. Otherwise, the remaining air bubbles will interfere with work, and if the cavity remains in the wall of the finished product, then during firing it will burst in this place due to thermal expansion of the air inside the cavity.

The next step in clay preparation is spiral kneading. A piece of clay is placed on the table, and pressing on it, you push it away from you with your palms and at the same time try to turn the clay towards you (this is how housewives knead stiff dough by hand). If done correctly, you will hear air bubbles coming out of the clay with a characteristic flapping sound. After 30-40 repetitions, the clay can be considered ready for use.

Now you need to cut off the required amount from the piece, place it in the center of the circle and press down a little. If the clay is not in the very center, then it needs to be corrected and then run the circle. If the clay is placed unevenly relative to the center, it may fly off the wheel. The position of the hands when working with a circle: elbows pressed to the body, bend the hands, bring the wrists together and hold it like that on a piece of clay. Hands should not be tense, their movements should be smooth and soft.

When talking about pottery, it is impossible to ignore one of its most important tools - the potter's wheel. This simple device was invented about 7 thousand years ago and has remained virtually unchanged since then. The external design and the materials from which its parts are made have, of course, been modified over time, but the basic principle of operation has remained the same.
The first hand circles appeared in Ancient Mesopotamia in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates among the Sumerians in the 4th millennium BC. e. Around this time it began to be used, apparently, in India and Iran. Judging by archaeological finds, already at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The potter's wheel appeared in Ancient Egypt, Syria and Central Asia.
In other regions it appeared much later. For example, in China - in the 14th century. BC e., on the territory of Italy, Greece, Spain, as well as in the Black Sea region and the Caucasus - in the VIII-VII centuries. BC e.
Only in the early Middle Ages, in the 4th-6th centuries, did craftsmen working in the territory of modern Scandinavian countries, Germany and Russia begin to use the potter’s wheel.
Its very first and simplest forms were round wooden disc platforms on a vertical rod rotating in a hollowed out block. They were intended to support the clay during molding and were rotated by hand.
Such a simple device allowed potters to dramatically increase labor productivity, significantly improve quality and increase the variety of products.

The prototype of the first pottery wheels were probably flat supports in the form of a plant leaf, a piece of mat, stone, etc., on which the products were turned during shaping and which did not allow wet clay to stick to the ground. Then some peoples developed stands in the form of disks on thick legs, which were installed in a hole dug in the ground or a specially made depression in a thick board. Until recently, such devices were used by potters
some African tribes. To facilitate rotation, the end of the leg was sometimes made flat.
Obviously, over time, such legs gradually turned into spikes.
Gradually, the design of the potter's wheel was improved.
Already in the 3rd millennium BC. e. a simple turntable appeared, driven by hands. It was a device in which a circle-stand was mounted on a short axis installed
on the thrust bearing. The rotation speed of such a device was low. However, it made it possible to create more advanced products, produce a higher quality finish on their outer surface, and also apply the ornament more correctly and symmetrically.
A hand-made potter's wheel was placed on a bench or wooden block, and the master sat on horseback on the same bench.
At first, the hand wheel was rotated by the master himself, then his assistants began to do this work.

The next step in the development of the potter's wheel was the addition of a flywheel to it, which made it possible to significantly increase the speed of its rotation and the imparted inertia. This design also included a vertically rotating shaft and bearings fitted to it. In some regions, for a long time, the main material for these parts was hard wood (for example, oak, boxwood, yew, hornbeam, etc.), in others - stones.
Already in Ancient Egypt, the so-called foot potter's wheel began to be used.
An image of an ancient Greek potter's foot wheel appears on a clay tablet from Corinth.

Figure 8. Potter working on a foot wheel. Drawing on a clay tablet from Corinth

The main part of such a design to this day remains a small disk made of any sufficiently strong and smooth material (wood, marble, plastic, metal, etc.) - On the underside of the disk, in the center, there is an axis rigidly attached to it or kernel. A transmission device is connected to the bottom of the axis, which allows the upper disk to rotate.
alt="" />The engine that set the upper circle in motion was
various devices. One of the most common was another disk of larger diameter, located under the master’s feet.
The lower circle was strengthened in different ways. In order for it to rotate together with the axis and the main (top

around, in different regions quite a few methods were invented, for example, a set of clay balls rolling under the lower circle inside a clay circular block, also fashioned from clay, a thin layer of oil in which the lower disk floated freely, etc.
The lower disk was usually located under the potter's feet, and the upper one was at the level of his lower back.
The speed of rotation of the disk on a foot-operated pottery wheel made it possible to remove finished products using twine, and later - metal wire.
A fairly large number of different designs of pottery wheels are known from archaeological and ethnographic sources.

Figure 10. Varieties of pottery wheels

As a classic example, let us give another of them, which became widespread in Russia at the end of the 19th century. It was a table on four legs connected by crossbars. A cast iron plate was fixed in one of the crossbars, in which a vertical iron tetrahedral rod rotated. The upper end of the rod was attached to the top board of the table, on which a small wooden circle was tightly attached. It was on it that the potter molded the products. The lower end of the rod was fixed in another wooden circle. By pressing the heel with your feet, you could turn the lower circle in any direction, while simultaneously working with both hands on the upper circle.

Figure 11. General view of the potter’s wheel design, common in Russia in the 19th century.

Already in the initial periods of its existence, the potter's wheel was used not only for drawing vessels from a lump of clay. It was also used to facilitate the sculpting of structural parts of vessels, processing (smoothing) of hand-made vessels, etc.

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