- Once fully centered place your hands on each side of the centered ball of clay
- Use your thumb to find the middle and start “drilling” a hole in the center
- Stop about 1/8-1/4″ from the bottom
- To check take your needle tool and stick it down that hole all the way to the bat or wheel head
- Take your index finger and slide it all the way down till it touches the bottom of the clay
- Pull the needle tool out with your index finger and place and measure the distance from the tip of your index finger to the tip of the needle tool
- Error on the side of a little more on the bottom as you can trim the bottom but once you have gone too far down it is almost impossible to recover unless you start over
- Place your right hand over your left hand
- SLOWLY pull towards you
- Stop when you get to the size you would like
- Using a wooden rib use the short end of the right angle to compress the bottom of your piece so that the bottom doesn’t crack
- Next step is Pulling Up the Wall