How to select the right pottery wheel for you.

You can create stunning pottery pieces at home.  One of the first tools you will need is a pottery wheel that meets your particular requirements.

Contents:

Requirements (need)

Types

Features

Cost

Placement

Care and maintenance

Conclusion

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Introduction In the field of pottery, one of the key tools you will need to look at is a pottery wheel.  This is a device that allows you to take a lump of clay and spin at at a controllable speed to allow you to shape it in to any type of container or vessel you want to create.

Pottery Wheel Requirements

Probably the first question you'd need to ask yourself is whether you really need your own pottery wheel, set up in your home or apartment.  While this may seem convenient, if you expect to be just an occasional user you may actually be better off to use a wheel at a pottery studio or other shared facility (e.g. school, college).  You may need to sign up for classes to get access to a wheel but you may also be able to just pay for studio time so you can work on your own whenever you want.

This may work out better and sometimes cheaper than spending the time, effort and money to buy a wheel and modify space in your home to accommodate it.

Pottery Wheel Types

Manual vs. electric.  Belt vs. direct drive, table top, 

Pottery Wheel Features

Speed, power, size, bat pins, reverse, noise, catch basin

Pottery Wheel Costs and where to buy

Pottery Wheel Placement

Pottery Wheel Care and Maintenance

If you are wanting to do pottery at home one of the first things to think about is a pottery wheel.  How much money do you want to spend on your first wheel.  When you begin to look at all the choices it is daunting.  Also, do you want a used or new?

Used wheels are very hard to come by.  Most people tend to keep their wheels for a long time.  If you are so fortunate to find a used one, look at the age, it's overall condition and most of all, what its use was.  A home studio use with a single owner is very different than say a school use environment.  

New wheels can cost anywhere from $350 to $5,000.  Have a budget then target those wheels. My first wheel was $350 off Amazon. Just to note: you do get what you pay for.  A year later spend 35 dollars on a new motor and put it in. It still run great and is faster than my $2,500 wheel now.

Even when you get into a $1,000 and up wheels you will find so many choices like wheel head size, amount of clay It will handle (e.g. up to 25 lbs. or 100 lbs.). 100 lbs. may not be for you and so you may want to save the cost and go to a lower cost model.

Conclusion

By carefully considering your specific requirements and the available space in your home you'll be able to set your own pottery wheel and create amazing pottery pieces any time you want!

Question:

Do you think you'll be able to set up a pottery wheel in your home or apartment?  If not, why not?  Comment below.