Make a Quick and Simple Pottery Wheel

Watching a potter throwing clay on the wheel is a magical performance.  Read on to find out how you can make a simple pottery wheel and begin throwing right away. If your aim as an artist is to create highly individual pieces this type of pottery wheel will be perfect for you.

Just grab a 360-degree rotating mop bucket and you'll be done in 10 minutes, using few items from around the house. It is inexpensive and works just as efficiently as any pottery wheel. I'm now able to centre, throw and turn quite well with this mop bucket pottery wheel. After fixing the wobbles, centering is now automatic thanks to the concentric circles on the pot plant tray.

Inexpensive, light-weight, portable and takes up little room. What's great it is there is no soldering involved and no heavy machinery and is run by foot-power.  The best part is no electricity necessary.  

Here is a short compilation of all my videos after learning to throw on the mop bucket pottery wheel after 50 throws in 14 days.

Here's my latest attempt throwing my found clay paperclay body

 

Step 1: Grab Your Materials

What you need is:

360 degree mop bucket
Plastic pots or bins to raise the height of your throwing wheel
Plastic pot drip tray
Strong glue such as polyurethane glue or hot glue gun
Spirit level 

Here's a video of the first day of construction and throwing attempts on the first design.
Everything was wild and wonky until I had some help with how to fix the wobbles.