The Pre-Centering Workout

Before you center your clay, you cone it. Coning (also called "coning up and down" or "forcing up") is a preliminary step that further homogenizes the clay and begins to align the clay particles for throwing.

Why Cone?

Even after wedging, throwing works the clay further. Coning up and down:

• Warms up the clay, making it more plastic.
• Aligns the clay particles in a consistent direction.
• Reveals any remaining hard spots or inconsistencies.
• Gets your hands working together before the critical centering step.

Coning Up

With the wheel spinning fast and the clay well-wetted:

1. Wrap both hands around the clay from the sides.
2. Squeeze inward while simultaneously pushing upward from the base with the heels of your hands.
3. The clay will rise into a tall cone shape, sometimes called a "volcano."
4. Keep your hands locked together. The spinning wheel does the work of raising the clay as long as you keep squeezing.

Coning Down

Now push the cone back down:

1. Place one hand flat on top of the cone.
2. With the other hand pressing from the side, push the top hand firmly downward.
3. The clay squashes back into a low, wide mound.

Repeat this cycle (up, then down) two or three times. By the last repetition, your clay should feel warmer, more uniform, and ready for true centering.

Coning Quality Markers

You are ready to center when:

• Cone rises without tearing
• Cone collapses down smoothly
• Clay feels uniform under both hands

If one marker is missing, do one more up-down cycle.

Dig Deeper

When the wheel spins, the outward pull you feel on the clay is described by centrifugal force, which is why unsecured clay can fly off the wheel head. Coning works because clay exhibits plasticity, the ability of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation under applied force, allowing you to reshape it repeatedly without it springing back.