How to Hold a Pitcher for Latte Art

Techniques for better control in latte art

In this lesson, we'll talk about holding a pitcher. About how important it is to train yourself to hold a pitcher right away? What is the important role of the little finger? Where to put your fingers, how to use them? How important is it that the index finger and thumb are not holding the pitcher, but are free? And how much does all this affect the position of the brush?

First, as mentioned in the previous article, you need to keep the pitcher parallel to yourself.

Holding the pen

‍Pitcher handles are different. There are three main styles of holding a pitcher. The first one is very unusual at the beginning, but if you get used to it, it will seem extremely convenient to you. The handle is held only on three fingers: the little finger, ring finger and middle finger and slightly adheres to the upper handle handle with the thumb and index finger. 

The second one is similar to the first one, but the thumb and index fingers now hold the pitcher. It's not unusual for you to have long fingers or feel like you have better control of the pitcher.

The third style is to hold the pitcher's body from the bottom of the handle. In drawing, this may be convenient, but in practice, if you have a pitcher without a pen at all, or you draw holding the pitcher not by the handle and you are asked to make a hot drink - write lost.

Technique of holding the pitcher on the little finger

‍The first style. As mentioned earlier, it will be inconvenient, but you need to get used to it. Basically, this method is suitable for rosettes or several rosettes and for greater control of them. To draw a heart or a tulip, you can hold it as you like. Because in such patterns, there is only one movement by the pitcher - a tilt. However, even here there are problems when the barista is tense or his pitcher is too static. During the tilt, the pitcher can scroll, the spout will not be exactly at the bottom, and our heart or tulip will be drawn somewhere on the side, crooked and oblique. This is a very common problem that is very difficult to detect, because when you look down at the pitcher, everything is fine.

Such things can only be seen by looking at them from a different angle. 

The first technique, the essence of which is to hold the pitcher on the second phalanx of the little finger. Almost all pitcher handles have a bend at the bottom of the handle, and it is with this bend that we set the handle so that it seems to stand on the little finger.

We insert the ring and middle fingers inside the handle and hold the pitcher on the upper phalanges. And, at the last moment, the index and thumb only hold the upper bend of the handle. At any point in the drawing, you should be able to pull them away from the pitcher without affecting the drawing. The pitcher is held only on the first three fingers.

Since the upper two fingers are set as a kind of pitcher lock, it becomes very easy to control the pitcher's vibrations while drawing the rosetta. Holding the pitcher on your middle and ring fingers is important because it makes it hang like it's on hooks. And if there is some strain on the arm, the pitcher will still walk freely, the hand will not restrict his movement. And the freer our grip, the more convenient it will be to draw rosetta, because it is in this drawing that vibrations are extremely important to us.

The main advantage of this method is that the pitcher will always be positioned parallel to your shoulders, and this is exactly what we need to achieve for a beautiful latte art. 

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