So, I stumbled upon this thing called the ‘Lloyd Carter method’ a while back. Saw some pictures online, looked kinda neat, you know? Just a different way to finish off clay pots. Figured, why not give it a shot myself?
First things first, I had to gather my stuff. Dug out my usual pottery tools, grabbed a bag of my standard clay. Nothing fancy there. Set myself up in the garage, laid out the plastic sheeting so I wouldn’t make a total disaster zone. Well, tried not to.
Getting Started (or trying to)
Okay, so the instructions I found seemed straightforward. Basically, after throwing the basic shape, you’re supposed to use these specific paddle techniques while the clay is leather-hard. Lloyd Carter, whoever he was, apparently had a very particular way of tapping and smoothing. Sounded simple on paper.
I threw a few small bowls, nothing too ambitious. Let them sit until they felt about right – that tricky leather-hard stage. Picked up the paddle I’d made, trying to mimic the grip I saw in a diagram. And then I started tapping.
Man, it was awkward. The first bowl? Tap, tap, oops – dented it right in. Way too much force. Okay, lesson learned. Second bowl, I went lighter. Tap, tap, tap… it kinda worked? But the smooth finish everyone raves about? Nope. Looked more like I’d just randomly whacked it a few times.
I spent, like, a whole afternoon on this. Probably went through five or six bowls. One just completely collapsed when I tried to smooth a tapped area. Another dried too fast under the garage light while I was figuring out the tapping rhythm. It got pretty frustrating, I gotta say.
- Clay consistency felt key, and mine was maybe a bit off.
- The paddling angle? Super hard to get right.
- Keeping an even pressure? Forget about it.
Did it Work Out?
Well, kinda. By the end of the day, I had one bowl that looked… okay-ish. Not exactly the masterpiece finish I saw online, but you could sorta see the intended texture from the Carter method. It wasn’t smooth, but it had this patterned look.
Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll stick with this Lloyd Carter thing. It takes a lot more patience than my usual methods. Maybe Carter was just way more skilled than me, or maybe he just had way more time on his hands. For now, I think I’ll go back to my old ways. It was an experiment, right? Tried it, didn’t quite conquer it. That’s the way it goes sometimes when you’re messing around with new stuff. At least I can say I gave it a go.
