Throwing a pot on a spinning wheel is no easy task. Stephen Sanders starts with the basics: "You need to decide how thick the bottom will be - half an inch or a quarter inch?"

Mr. Sanders then gently takes a student's palm in his clay-covered hands, bending the student's fingers just so. He shows her how to apply pressure to the clay and begin shaping the sides of what will be a small cup or bowl.

An eye for details helps many potters, but Mr. Sanders and his students must rely on touch and feel.

Mr. Sanders, 48, was blinded in an auto accident more than 25 years ago. Three times a year, he shares his pottery skills with blind or visually impaired children at the Craft Guild of Dallas.

Sunday was the last class in the summer session. The next will be in October.

"Sometimes children will ask me, 'What does green look like? What does blue look like?" he said. "And I can describe it."

Such questions make the work a pleasure for Mr. Sanders.

Pottery class gives blind youths a creative outlet

"I love teaching children, more than I like teaching people my age or senior citizens, because they ask questions," he said.

Questions often include this innocent query: "I understand you put this in an oven to fire. So why can't I do this at home?"

The answer is obvious to Mr. Sanders, but he doesn't mind explaining the difference between a pottery kiln and a cooking oven. In fact, he relishes it.

And the blind teens appreciate the answers they get from Mr. Sanders.

"I find that people who have vision....will say things like, 'It's the gray thing to the left of you." said Laura Nutt, who can see general outlines of figures of figures in gray. "Someone who is blind can relate to you and say,' On your left at 9 o'clock.

Laura, a Grand Prairie 14-year-old said people express surprise at a visually impaired girl's interest in pottery. "They are like, "Whoa, wow!"...I blow it off as them being curious."

On Sunday, Mr. Sanders' five students painted bowls they had molded a week ago and learned the rudiments of the pottery wheel as Chinese. African and other rhythms played on the stereo.

In fall and spring, there may be as many as 13 students, said Sharon Komorn, one of two other instructors, both sighted.

The class, in its fourth year, is supported by donations from charities and an art supplies store. Organizers say that they would like to add classes and serve more teens but money is often the problem. The program costs the Craft Guild about $4,000 a year, but students aren't charged.

Mary Sefzik, 15, of Garland said that the class has given her an outlet for her creative energy. "I like making different things." said Mary, who has experimented with bowls that have animal faces and shapes, rain sticks that rattle when turned over and chip-and-dip bowl.

Mr. Sanders, who was studying advertising art at the University of North Texas when he was blinded said pottery let him make art even after he lost his sight. He's happy to share that love with his students.

"I always know that the students are enjoying themselves by their laughter or the smiles on their faces, which I can still see." he said.