08/31/2026
What happens when you cone incorrectly… 👀
In the first motion, you can see me using the sides of my hands to drag the clay upward, then pushing it back down into a puck.
This is an incorrect way to cone because I’m primarily pulling the **outside** of the clay upward rather than moving the clay from within the form. It still works-ish, but you have to work harder, it’s less effective, and you tend to lose more clay.
Interestingly, this is something I often notice with people who have learned to throw from videos online rather than with an in-person instructor.
In the second motion, my hands squeeze inward right at the wheel head, forcing the clay upward between them.
This is the proper coning motion. Instead of dragging the exterior upward, you’re squeezing clay from within the form and continually bringing new clay to the surface. This helps work out air bubbles and amalgamate the clay, particularly if you did a quick job wedging.
By the end of this video, though, I had lost 0.20 lb of clay.
And this is one of the reasons I actually don’t recommend coning to my students.
As your skills progress and you begin throwing larger amounts of clay, coning becomes increasingly demanding on the body. You’re asking your hands and wrists to do a significant amount of the work. Add harder clay, larger amounts of clay, or the extra time it takes while you’re learning, and that repetitive pressure may contribute to pain and overuse injuries like tendinitis or tennis elbow.
It’s also not the most effective way to work air and inconsistencies out of your clay.
When I throw, I think about my body holistically:
**How can I use my whole body to accomplish this movement instead of concentrating the force through a couple of joints and muscles?**
I did production pottery for 15 years, and I’ve been throwing for 22. If I want my body to let me keep doing this for another 22, every repetitive movement matters.
So if I don’t cone… how do I centre? 👀
Tomorrow’s video breaks it down.
