<P> In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of round ceramic ware . The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming the excess body from dried ware, and for applying incised decoration or rings of colour . Use of the potter's wheel became widespread throughout the Old World but was unknown in the Pre-Columbian New World, where pottery was handmade by methods that included coiling and beating . </P> <P> A potter's wheel may occasionally be referred to as a "potter's lathe". However, that term is better used for another kind of machine that is used for a different shaping process, turning, similar to that used for shaping of metal and wooden articles . </P>

A piece of thrown pottery is created using this potter's tool