Janet H Walker on mon 3 feb 97
Sue Hintz asked us:
What do
the rest of you do to have nice looking bottoms
(of pots of coarse!)?
Yes, "coarse" is the word... Freudian slip perhaps?
I think the bottom is one of the most interesting parts of a pot. I
was told early on that you can always tell which customers are
potters because they look at the foot and the bottom of a pot first!
I make handbuilt pieces and so have to work pretty hard to make sure
my pieces really sit level. I use scrapers and a burnishing tool.
Awhile ago, I started carving out parts of the bottom so there would
be less area to worry about leveling and smoothing and then I got
very interested in making a design down there that relates in some
way to the shape of the pot itself. It often strikes me as nutso to
be spending time on something that no one knows is there but it is
important to me -- my signature signature, so to speak. I look at
it as a special secret that I share with the owner of the pot!
Jan Walker
Cambridge MA USA
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