Diagnose and correct a wobble
Every potter deals with wobbles. The skill isn't avoiding them entirely: it's catching and correcting them early.
The exercise
- Intentionally throw a cylinder slightly off-center (weird, but useful)
- Slow the wheel down
- Watch where the wobble is: it's usually one spot that's thicker/thinner
- Gently coax the wall back to true with steady inward pressure at that spot
The key insight
A wobble means one part of the wall is heavier than the rest. The fix is gentle, sustained pressure at the heavy point, not a quick push, which just makes a dent.
Don't collapse the piece trying to fix it. Gentle. Patient.