John Blossom Pottery on mon 15 jul 96
>Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 21:10:33 -0800
>To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
>From: magpots@silcom.com (John Blossom Pottery)
>Subject: Re: Batts
>Cc:
>Bcc:
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>
>
>The most effective method I have found to attach batts to a wheel head is
>by using a "pancake." Center a good snowball sized hunk of wedged clay
>(larger for larger batts), and throw an even plate about a quarter to a
>half inch thick. Take your wooden knife tool (Kemper Wt-6, I believe - I
>call it a "pointer tool") and make concentric channels in the plate down
>to the wheel head spaced about half an inch apart. Now the wheel head
>looks like a dartboard of sorts with circles of clay ridges and all these
>nice enclosed circular air spaces that act as suction cups when you place
>the batt on the top and gently tap it into place. It helps to slightly
>wet the concentric ridges on the pancake before applying the batt if you
>are using particle board or plywood. I use the same pancake all day long
>batt after batt and find this method works especially well for sectionals
>when the weight of a large mass of centering clay is enough to bend or
>lift any batt right off a conventional pin set up. The other very nice
>advantage of using a pancake is that you know your batts are on evenly
>because you have centered and thrown an even pancake.
>
Mel Jacobson on tue 30 sep 97
in a teaching situation batts can become a big head ahce...they take up so much space.....one batt can hold 6 pots....and that is what we used
them for most of the time.
turn over a five gallon pail next to the wheel and place a batt on the
upturned bottom....pluck the pots off the wheel and place on batt.
bad batts are thrown out.
make them from masonite, press board, or buy plastibatts.
we always ordered a few dozen new plastis each year.
when we threw pots in japan the wheel never stopped....just pluckthem off...(humping)
the only time we used batts was for very large platters or great big pots.
i totally agree that beginners should not use batts...they also fly off
the wheel and knock over the water pail. and that is fun.
mel
http://www.pclink.com/melpots
kinoko@junction.net on wed 1 oct 97
Mel, I must have given-up on plaster during myfirst year potting over 30 yrs
ago. A good flat wheelhead. A disk of 1/2"minimum thickness. A few dabs of
slip on the wheelhead. Place the batt gently....center...wring the batt on
the wheel and proceed. No hassle,and the batts last for many years. For very
large pieces,i raise the wheelhead with a 2" wooden batt surmounted by a 24"
5/8" batt. I could never understand the use of plaster with its attendant
disadvantages. I make lots of scrap...rework and reuse,after air-drying. Why
should I be in such a hurrey that I must>rush process? Thanks for your
comments. DonM----------------------------Original
message----------------------------
>in a teaching situation batts can become a big head ahce...they take >up so much space.....one batt can hold 6 pots....and that is what we used
>them for most of the time.
>
>turn over a five gallon pail next to the wheel and place a batt on the
>upturned bottom....pluck the pots off the wheel and place on batt.
>
>bad batts are thrown out.
>make them from masonite, press board, or buy plastibatts.
>we always ordered a few dozen new plastis each year.
>
>when we threw pots in japan the wheel never stopped....just pluck>them off...(humping)
>the only time we used batts was for very large platters or great big pots.
> i totally agree that beginners should not use batts...they also fly off
>the wheel and knock over the water pail. and that is fun.
>mel
>http://www.pclink.com/melpots
>
*****************************************
*****************************************
** Don and Isao Morrill **
** Falkland, B.C. **
** kinoko@junction.net **
*****************************************
*****************************************
Karen Mickler on thu 2 oct 97
I make batts out of formica sink cut outs - they can be drilled and pinned
right to the wheel head, though I use clay to attach the smaller ones. I
know others complain about difficulty of the ware releasing from a
non-porous surface, but its not a problem for me if I can run a wire (I
actually use fishing line) under the bottom again the next day.
I'm sure glad I was able to use batts when learning how to throw.
Karen
Yellow Branch Pottery
Robbinsville, NC
mel jacobson on sun 25 may 08
batts are like cars, people have favorites and will never
change. it is like plaster, many love it, use it forever.
some, like me, never have it within 80 yards of my studio.
i have plaster alarms....`whooop, whooop, plaster in the area`.
i love plasti-batts, and have used about 50 of them
for the last twenty years.
they bend when you remove platters.
things pop off.
they stay flat, and never disintegrate.
they are worth the price for me. and best of
all, the shine side works great for tap center, and the
pots don't pop off. they stick like glue. until you just
bend the batt, and off they come.
i use hardi board small batts, old time fiberboard,
even have some old old ones. masonite.
seems i have never thrown many away over 50 years
of making pots. i use them all from time to time.
but those plastic ones are dream boats.
mel
from minnetonka:
website http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart site:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
Doug Trott on tue 27 may 08
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I use 8" square tiles from Home Depot for smaller work. 47 cents apiece. =
I do have to cut off the piece and flip it at some point, but that seems li=
ke a small price to pay...
Doug
> Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 17:53:41 -0500
> From: melpots2@VISI.COM
> Subject: batts
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>=20
> batts are like cars, people have favorites and will never
> change. it is like plaster, many love it, use it forever.
> some, like me, never have it within 80 yards of my studio.
> i have plaster alarms....`whooop, whooop, plaster in the area`.
>=20
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Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
I use 8" square tiles from Home Depot for smaller work. 47 cents apie=
ce. I do have to cut off the piece and flip it at some point, but tha=
t seems like a small price to pay...
Doug
> Date: Sun, 25 =
May 2008 17:53:41 -0500
> From: melpots2@VISI.COM
> Subject: ba=
tts
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>
> batts are like ca=
rs, people have favorites and will never
> change. it is like plaste=
r, many love it, use it forever.
> some, like me, never have it withi=
n 80 yards of my studio.
> i have plaster alarms....`whooop, whooop, =
plaster in the area`.
>
=
--_3529c036-6fe7-46f6-a5f5-dbe705037488_--
mel jacobson on wed 16 sep 09
i have all kinds, plastic, big and small, wood, fiber, medex.
they all work and have a place in my studio.
for storing work i really like hardi type board. it takes in water.
i scrounge batts all the time.
cut them from anything that will work.
but, and here is the big butttt.
i do not use batts for general work. i pick off most of my
pots and place them on boards. i only use batts for
wide, plate like pots.
even fairly nice upright bowls can be picked off the wheel.
there is a small trick to it.
i use a 45 stick just before i remove the pot. right at the base.
i take off all the wetness at the bottom of the pot, and make a
deep 45 degree cut at the base of the pot. it is then, tacky dry.
i wipe my finger tips on a towel, and reach under the pot and pick it
up. it is sticky, and my fingers grip the pot at the base.
if the pot is well thrown, (aha, the rub.) you can carry it from
\minneapolis to chicago on your fingers and it will not distort.
set the pot on a very, very very flat surface and let it dry.
flat is the key word.
in my teaching, a student never needs a batt for the first months.
pick the pot off the wheel. set it on a flat surface. that could be
a masonite square, 18x18 inches. six pots on one square. cover with
very light plastic. store on a shelf. to me, lifters are just baby tools.
something made to make things easy, but yet, is a crutch.
(same for glazing tongs.)
your hands are your best tools. use them for everything. i make mugs
so fast you cannot see them being made...slap, shape, form, cut 45, off.
they all go on a long hardi board about four inches wide, four feet long.
make 40 an hour. no tools to speak off. hands, fingers, a stick and a
sponge...wire it off...pick it up.
very few people understand the japanese rack for drying.
it is horizontal racks, that boards slide on. i can dry three
hundred pots in a space 12x5 feet. i again will take a picture.
i have two of them.
i never put pots on shelves...against a wall. no space.
shelves are for nails and tools, not pots.
mel
pix in ten minutes, website below.
from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
new book: http://www.21stcenturykilns.com
Phoenix Rising Farm on thu 17 sep 09
Ah-HA! Sneaky sneaky, Mel-san!
What you didn't describe was the "feet" on the bottom of
the ware boards that, once in place, hold the shelves solid
to the frame of the rack.
(But that's ok, we can see it/them in the picture.)
Gee, if I built one of those racks, I'd lose all the fun of the cat walking
across the loose shelving, launching pots into space, bumping into pots on
every available horizontal surface, batting the pots off onto the floor.
Now where is the fun in that?...
Best,
Wayne Seidl
mel jacobson wrote:
> SNIP
> very few people understand the japanese rack for drying.
> it is horizontal racks, that boards slide on. i can dry three
> hundred pots in a space 12x5 feet. i again will take a picture.
> i have two of them.
> i never put pots on shelves...against a wall. no space.
> shelves are for nails and tools, not pots.
> mel
> pix in ten minutes, website below.
> from: minnetonka, mn
> website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
> clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
> new book: http://www.21stcenturykilns.com
>
Ric Swenson on fri 12 aug 11
Greetings from China,
Actually the throwing batts I use are made by hydralic press. The saggar cl=
ay is a bit rough at first...until slip smooths the surface...after some us=
e. I read my previous post and it made it sound like the batts were thrown.=
They are fired to cone 8...brownish /yellow in color.
Now waiting for bowls to dry enough to trim.....humidity is high here now.=
....this JDZ porcelain clay is smooth, very white and difficult to throw th=
innly. A bit thixotropic too. Cost is so low that few potters recycle clay.=
Most could never afford to buy a pug mill anyway.
Regards,
Ric
Richard H. ("Ric") Swenson, Teacher,
Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Jingdezhen Ceramic Inst=
itute,
TaoYang Road, Eastern Suburb, Jingdezhen City.
JiangXi Province, P.R. of China.
Postal code 333001.
Mobile/cellular phone : 86 13767818872
< RicSwenson0823@hotmail.com>
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