To create ceramic pieces with rounded profiles, the master potters like Franck Sherer at the Atelier Soleil in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie use a potter's wheel. This device, made up of a pivoting axis carrying horizontal circular plates at the bottom and the top, allows the craftsman to shape the clay before firing. The movement of the potter's feet on the bottom plate causes the axis to pivot rapidly and to communicate its gyratory movement to the top plate - called the girelle - on which the mass of clay to be shaped is placed.