Ceramic Arts Daily – The Dividing Web: A Handy Tool for Making Evenly Spaced Patterns All the Way Around a Piece of Pottery

How many times have you tried to eyeball making evenly spaced decorations around a piece of round pottery and misjudged the spacing? I have done this more times than I care to admit. So unnecessary, especially when potters like Sylvia Shirley share tips on handy devices like the one below. Sylvia’s dividing web will make all of my eyeballed disasters a thing of the past.

What’s more, we included a printer-friendly version of it in our latest free download: The 2010 Workshop Handbook: Pottery Tools and Studio Resources. So download your copy and enjoy the Dividing Web and all of the other great tips and tidbits packed inside. – Jennifer Harnetty, editor.

This handy guide makes it easy to divide the surface of any round pot into as many as twelve equal sections. Whether you’re decorating, darting, paddling or attaching handles and spouts, you’ll want to keep a few of these around the studio.
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click to enlarge	Making the Web Use a photocopier to enlarge this wheel to the desired size. Attach it to a wheel head-sized circle of cardboard. Cover with plastic wrap or have it laminated at an office supply store. The numbers refer to the number of divisions desired and are repeated at equal intervals around the circle
click to enlarge	The Pointer The pointer helps you transfer marks from the dividing web to the pot. Make sure the bottom of the pointer block is square and the front side is perpendicular. The arms can be made from Popsicle sticks.
click to enlarge	Using the Dividing Web Center a pot on the wheel. Draw circles on the pot using a red felt-tip pen. Align the pointer with the selected line and position the Popsicle sticks to touch the pot. Tighten the wing nuts. Make a tic mark on the pot at the end of the Popsicle stick using the red felt pen. Move the pointer to the next position and repeat.
click to enlarge	Ideas to Get Started Accurately marking off divisions on your form opens up a world of potential design work. Once the desired number of marks are made, decorate as desired, using sgrafitto, trailed slip, brushed oxides, etc.

This post was excerpted from the Ceramic Workshop Handbook: Pottery Tools and Ceramic Studio Resources, which is free to Ceramic Arts Daily Subscribers. Download your copy for printer-friendly versions of the illustrations here.

Jan July 7, 2011 at 4:50 pm -

I just use my Wilton Cake Decorating wheel. It is perfect. Washable and easy to store.
Trudy June 13, 2010 at 8:33 am -

It is quite likely that more than just Judi have seen this item before. This item is very similar to the decorating discs sold at http://www. mkmpotterytools.com. They come in odds and evens, and two sizes, 16″ and 4″. I have had my decorating discs for at least 5 years. They are hard plastic, and if you check out their website you will see what makes them different is that the lines are color coded, and all up and down the lines there are small holes.
Judi June 12, 2010 at 3:49 pm -

Thanks for the info. I’ve seen this before but did not recall where I saw it.
james June 11, 2010 at 1:43 pm -

Your dividing pointer is a nice little tool. One can easily generate and print a circle template with any number of divisions for use with your jig (or by itself) using any spreadsheet program. I have a free downloadable divided circle template generator on the “Resources” page of my website, http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources.html . It works with both Microsoft Excel and Open Office, and is very simple to use. There are also a few other interesting items on that page, so enjoy!
Carole June 9, 2010 at 4:00 pm -

I suppose it is a good idea. However a bit to mechanized for me, and I rather like the “less than perfect” pattern.
Tony June 8, 2010 at 2:09 pm -

Why don’t you just download the handbook, and print from the PDF? Then you can make it any size you need, and it prints nicely.
Christine June 8, 2010 at 11:36 am -

Thank you for this post! This will be helpful in many many applications! @Lynn: Here’s what I did to get the image… Highlight the picture of the grid. Left click on the picture while it’s highlighted. When the enlarged picture comes up, Right click on the picture. Then click on “Copy”. Open a word document. Open a text box onto the word doc. Right click in the text box. Click “Paste”. Then enlarge the image to the size you want. For me it came out a bit blurry, but readable enough that I can clarify it.
Kate June 8, 2010 at 11:17 am -

Why not add 9 segments? It’s a simple 40 degree shift for each segment. I just got one out of the bisk firing yesterday, and it looks great! Thanks for the wheel, I’ve printed it out for future projects :)
cristina June 8, 2010 at 6:36 am -

como puedo suscribirme a POTTERY MAKING estando en ARGENTINA?
lanyero June 8, 2010 at 3:49 am -

thank you ,i have learn what i do not know
Amarilis June 7, 2010 at 9:32 pm -

Excelente y práctica idea!
Lynn June 7, 2010 at 7:45 pm -

Could not get an image that I could copy. Looks like a neat tool, though.
Garecht June 7, 2010 at 3:08 pm -

Right on! This is just what I needed. Thank you for contributing to a couple A’s next semester :D
Carol June 7, 2010 at 2:07 pm -

It looks complicated to me…I always used a folded circle, divisions marked in ink and placed under the pot. Works really wel, cheap, too!!! CT
Anne June 7, 2010 at 12:35 pm -

Very cool….. thank you! I’ve gotten by with “eyeballing”, or using my Giffin Grip for dividing in threes, for too long.
Deb June 7, 2010 at 12:13 pm -

thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ve used the base plate alone (circles with dividing markers), but the addition of the pointer will speed things up and make marks so much more accurate.