Wedging your clay is a very important step. It homogenizes the clay and removes air pockets. One way of wedging clay is the cut and slap method. This method works best with five pounds or less of clay being worked at a time.
This is most easily accomplished with a plaster-topped wedging table with a cut wire stretched taut diagonally from the front table-top corner to the top of an upright post at the back of the same side of the table. It can also be done with a hand-held cutting wire or line, however, and working on a plaster or canvas surface.
The lump of clay in this photo has just been cut across for the first time. You can see some of the many small air pockets present. Each of those pockets can cause serious problems when forming the clay if they were allowed to remain.
