 I'm going to center this piece of clay to throw a plate or a flat thing. It's come out of the wedge fairly round. I do sometimes like to pat it or gently slap it round. You want to be careful when you're working with your clay not to slap it hard. A lot of people do a lot of slapping the clay and quota, not very close. A friend of mine years ago, Carlton Ball, told me that a lot of people do a lot of slapping to pound it into center and it can if you do it a lot, make your hands go numb. For a platter, that's not a good thing. Anyway, I don't really beat my clay much. You have to be gentle to your clay and it will be kind to you. Anyway, I'm going to put this in the middle of the wheel with a bit of attitude. If it's not centered, it's not a big deal. Just gently persuade it to be centered. Now to center this piece, I'm going to center it short and flat through a plate. As you sit at the wheel, make sure you're comfortable. Make sure you're on a chair that's the right height, that you're the right distance away. If you feel too close or too far, wiggle around until you feel comfortable. I keep saying if it doesn't feel right, it's not. Put your left elbow on your leg so your hand goes to the middle of the wheel and with the heel of your hand or the extension of this bone along here, you're going to push the clay up. And your pressure points will be right in the middle of the clay. If you go off to 1.30 to 2.30, you'll be pushing the clay off center and not on. The left hand pushes the clay up. And your right hand is going to push the clay down. Again, it goes on your leg where it feels comfortable for you. Some people like to stick it into their tummies or on their knees or whatever works for you is right for you. And it's going to push the clay down. And again, I'm in the middle of the clay. There's as much clay under my hand covered by my hand as showing on this side. And I'm going to push the clay up with the heel of my left and down with that pat thing below my little finger. You can see where the dirty spots are, where the pressure points are. And it's just a gentle transfer of pressures up and down. The left pushes up, slowly transfers the pressure to the right and then down. And don't be afraid to get some movement in your clay. Keeping your clay moist at all times, I do tend to throw very dry. I do throw a slip. Now, as I mentioned, this is going to be a plate. So I'm going to be pushing more with my right hand than my left. But my left is still supporting and keeping it on track. And you can see now, my pressures are still in the middle of the clay and still this way. And I'm going to push it down and flatten it out. This part of your clay is really hard to center. And so I don't even bother to worry about it. I cut it centered. It saves a lot of time. I make a lot of plates and I don't want to mess with taking the time to fight to center that. And I do have an air bubble to fire the ledger. And now I've got, after I flattened it into a pancake, I've got this nice flat centered piece to open up into either a lasagna plate or a lid or a bowl or anything. Any short-fat cylinder that you want. All plates are just a short-fat cylinder. But by cutting that excess off and blending it in, you cut your centering time down and you always get a nice centered piece. Let's look at this again from another angle. I'm going to center this ball of clay to throw a plate. Again, I'm at a place where I feel comfortable. My elbows are on my legs where they feel right. I put it with some attitude toward the middle. It's not exactly centered. I give it a wee nudge towards the middle. And it's, keep it nice, wet and slidey. My left hand is in the middle of the clay. Meaning the same on the clay on this side as that side. And it pushes the clay up. My right hand, again, is in the middle. And it pushes the clay down. And it's a slow transfer of pressure pushing the clay up. And then slowly releasing that pressure to push it down. And then up and down. And it's that transfer of pressure up and down with your pressures in the middle of the clay that makes your clay go in the middle of the wheel. If you have any bumpy bits, get rid of them. When you first start potting, sometimes it's hard to feel if it has what I call rhythm. The wheel head is always perfectly smooth and round. You close your eyes and feel the perfect roundness of the wheel head. And then bring your hands together to feel your clay. You'll be more in tune to the rhythms of your clay. Then you can begin with your pressure in the middle up and pressure in the middle down.