In which direction is your wheel spinning?

One of the first things I address when I start to teach the wheel to my students, is the direction of the wheel.

I generally ask whether the students are right or left handed and I explain that righthanded people mostly work on wheels spinning counter clock wise, while left handed people generally find themselves more comfortable on clockwise spinning wheels.

However, this is not a hard rule! If my students find it excessively hard to work on the wheel I often suggest to try the other way around. The truth is that in pottery there are no hard rules in my humble opinion. You need to find a way that works for YOU!

The direction of the wheel is also culturally or traditionally informed. When you visit a pottery in Japan, you’ll soon find out that the pottery wheels spin clockwise also for right handed people. This depends on the mechanism that traditionally was used to have the wheel spin. In Western countries the kick wheel was activated by the right foot, kicking the wheel away and as a consequence, having the wheel turn counter clockwise. In Eastern countries the wheel was gaining momentum through the use of a stick in the wheel driven by the right hand, making the wheel turn clockwise.

So, as I tell my students, I show you how I work with the wheel, I make sure that I show different ways how to work with it, but ultimately it is up to each person to determine what works best for her or him. The most important thing is to enjoy it, loose yourself in it and have a good time creating stuff.

It’s a passionate potter speaking 😜

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