Potter's wheel

In <a href="/facts/Pottery/XLcUT1mX">pottery</a>, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of <a href="/facts/Clay/xnwouEkB">clay</a> into round <a href="/facts/Ceramic/9JKudpqX">ceramic</a> ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from <a href="/facts/Leather-hard/IAVeo0p8">leather-hard</a> dried ware that is stiff but malleable, and for applying incised decoration or rings of colour. Use of the potter's wheel became widespread throughout the <a href="/facts/Old_World/jt02swyQ">Old World</a> but was unknown in the <a href="/facts/Pre-Columbian/0Ntjleee">Pre-Columbian</a> <a href="/facts/New_World/dzUuo3Xl">New World</a>, where pottery was handmade by methods that included <a href="/facts/Coiling_(pottery)/30exwTVK">coiling</a> and beating.
A potter's wheel may occasionally be referred to as a "potter's <a href="/facts/Lathe/FjF9FYLR">lathe</a>". However, that term is better used for another kind of machine that is used for a different shaping process, <a href="/facts/Turning/oH6EzR1e">turning</a>, similar to that used for shaping of metal and wooden articles. The pottery wheel is an important component to create arts and craft products. 
The techniques of jiggering and jolleying can be seen as extensions of the potter's wheel: in jiggering, a shaped tool is slowly brought down onto the plastic clay body that has been placed on top of the rotating <a href="/facts/Plaster/GG73HRD7">plaster</a> <a href="/facts/Molding_(process)/1GkAeyCx">mould</a>. The jigger tool shapes one face, the mould the other. The term is specific to the shaping of <a href="/facts/Tableware/fsIHo0nA">flat ware</a>, such as plates, whilst a similar technique, jolleying, refers to the production of <a href="/facts/Holloware/lTtRSSQY">hollow ware</a>, such as cups.

Potter's wheel open-in-new

Potter's wheel