Be sure to read the caption at the end of the video. The pumpkin behind me is a 200lb thrown piece from when I was young and crazy, still crazy but old?#pumpkin#clay #ceramics #wheelthrown #shino

A post shared by Don & Cristina (@fishpaint5) on Mar 10, 2017 at 9:27am PST

In this video, we see Don from FishPaint5 demonstrating how he throws and shapes a pumpkin on the wheel.

Don is a teacher of ceramics and his work focuses on functional forms with imagery created by wax resisting and creating sculptural pieces on the wheel such as pears and pumpkins.

Steps in Throwing a Pumpkin in a Wheel

When it comes to Halloween everyone loves pumpkins. If you want to have your own forever pumpkin then this video by Don will help. Don starts out with a large amount of clay on the wheel. This can be hard for people to throw if they are not used to doing so. A trick that you can use in order to have the same amount of clay starts by putting some clay on the wheel, centering it, and then put more clay on top of the already centered clay and center again. Once Don has the clay centered he opens it up with his elbow and begins to open the piece wide. He compresses the center frequently and begins to slowly pull the clay up.

This process takes a lot of pulls since there is so much clay to move. At one point, Don has to stand in order to pull the clay up. Once Don gets the clay to the height he desires he beings to shape the form using a rubber rib. After shaping he closes the form and cuts the excess clay from the pottery wheel. After that, he attaches and shapes the stem and then creates the creases in the pumpkin. Don goes about this by using the side of a tool and then smoothing out the area with some water on his hands. After that, he creates little bumps by placing little balls of clay on the pumpkin and smoothing them out. To finish off his pumpkin he adds a few sharp lines near the stem to make it more realistic.

To see more of Don’s work find him on Instagram @fishpaint5.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRd0kHyguKp