David Hendley on tue 12 aug 97
I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the wheel:
1) When using coil-and-throw for large pots to stiffen the just-thrown
section so another coil can be added. 2) When "laying down" the rim to
near-horizontal on large bowls. 3) When closing in the top of large sphere
shapes.
Any suggestions as to what to use? I can think of three possible tools:
Small propane torch
Industrial heat gun
hairdryer
Anyone with experience care to comment?
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
Dannon Rhudy on tue 12 aug 97
Hi, David. I seldom use heat devices myself, but know people who
do. Their choices: #1 - propane torch, #2 heat gun. Hair dryers
are very slow, don't seem to work too well.
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
----------------------------Original
message----------------------------
Any suggestions as to what to use? I can think of three possible
tools:
Small propane torch
Industrial heat gun
hairdryer
Anyone with experience care to comment?
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
Millspaugh KC (Kim) at MSXWHWTC on wed 13 aug 97
Standard tools in Univ. of Houston studios were blow dryers. A lot of
times you can pick them up at garage sales. We found them
indispensible. It's a mainstay in my studio now.
Kim Millspaughh
kcmillspaugh@shellus.com
>----------
>From: David Hendley[SMTP:hendley@ns.sosis.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 1997 6:57 AM
>To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
>Subject: Quick-drying big pots in progress
>
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the wheel:
>1) When using coil-and-throw for large pots to stiffen the just-thrown
>section so another coil can be added. 2) When "laying down" the rim to
>near-horizontal on large bowls. 3) When closing in the top of large sphere
>shapes.
>
>Any suggestions as to what to use? I can think of three possible tools:
>Small propane torch
>Industrial heat gun
>hairdryer
>Anyone with experience care to comment?
>
>David Hendley
>Maydelle, Texas
>
the Gallagher's on wed 13 aug 97
David,
I have used a hair dryer for getting just enough moisture out to set another
row of coils. The other two things you mentioned seem a bit extreme. Seems
to work ok. Be careful not to stay on any one area long, this might make the
pieces dry unevenly and you could get cracking.
Hope this helps.
Michelle Gallagher
(still new at this myself, even though it's been in the background for 25
years!)
----------
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List on behalf of David Hendley
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 1997 6:57 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
Subject: Quick-drying big pots in progress
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the wheel:
1) When using coil-and-throw for large pots to stiffen the just-thrown
section so another coil can be added. 2) When "laying down" the rim to
near-horizontal on large bowls. 3) When closing in the top of large sphere
shapes.
Any suggestions as to what to use? I can think of three possible tools:
Small propane torch
Industrial heat gun
hairdryer
Anyone with experience care to comment?
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
Robert Compton on wed 13 aug 97
> ----------------------------Original
> I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the wheel, exp
> Any suggestions as to what to use? I can think of three possible tools:
> Small propane torch
> Industrial heat gun
> hairdryer
David,
All the above ideas work depending on your patience and size of
vessel. We offer a workshop here on throwing giant pots and since
participants cannot wait hours to add sections to their pots we have
gone for the fast approach.
Hairdryers are really slow and like the hotter faster heat guns
(used as paint strippers, melting glue etc) they are noisy. The little
fan (blower) in the heat gun or hair dryer can be very annoying.
A propane soldering torch is nice, expecially if you get a
spreader head, rather than the pencil point tip they come with, but they
only heat a small area, Ok for small forms that need site hardening.
While giving a workshop on Throwing Oversized Pots, in New
Zealand, the potters club did not have any of the heating methods just
mentioned, so they presented me with a small raku burner . When I first
saw it I was not so sure this was such a good idea. Seemed like killing
a fly with a sledgehammer, but to the surprise of us all, it turned out
to be one of the best heaters I had used up till then for large pots (
2 -4 ft height).
When I returned to Vermont I modifired this approach by
using a glassblowers torch. It is smaller than a raku burner, puts out a
quite, controlled flame, has a plastic (cool to touch handle) and nice
needle valve for beautiful control. We have several of these in use
here, along with the hardware store variety soldering torches, raku
burner and heat guns, but no question these glassblower torches have
been the best for our uses.
If your interested in getting one Harry Dedell 802-365-4575
sells them, I am using the hand held torch #2-81 neddle valve torch with
a RHT torch head ( it is an oversized head) cost about $130. Worth every
penny if you do any quanity of large pots.
One last tip on using big flames to harden pots for receiving
the next coil on a throw and coil process. I believe heating the soaking
wet pots with this intense heat promotes even drying of the coil and
I've had less problems then when using air (as in a hair dryer). The pot
is steaming when we finish with the torch ( way too hot to touch the
pot) by the time a coil is prepared the pot is cool enough to add to and
the throwing process can proceed almost non stop. I can start and finish
a large storage jar 2ft diam by 4.5 ft ht in half a day using this
method, and I tend to work with very soft clay ( makes easy going on
the wrist and back). One last benifit, to all those potters who love
fire, the flaming of the pots is great fun.
--
Robert Compton Phone: 802-453-3778
3600 Rt 116 http://homepages.together.net/~rcompton
Bristol, Vermont 05443 rcompton@together.net
Jack Troy on wed 13 aug 97
I use an industrial heat gun that I bought out of the Grainger catalogue.
It looks like a wooly mammoth hair-dryer, and I have it mounted on a sliding
bracket attached to a pipe with 3 feet on it (like a tripod), so it can be moved
about, raised and lowered easily, while the wheel turns slowly. I believe it's
also used for shrink-wrapping plastics; it gets dangerously hot!
Hanging a 100 watt bulb inside large pots dries them out nicely - almost over
night, sometimes. I cut under the pot with a twisted string, put the bulb in,
and in a couple of hours the pot is ready to be lifted from the bat, then it's
smacked a bit until the bottom is concave, and it's set on a couple of sticks
about 1/2" thick, so air can circulate under the piece while it resumes drying
with the bulb inside. For some reason, pots dried this way rarely, if ever,
develop cracks in the bottom.
Jack Troy
Ric Swenson on wed 13 aug 97
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the wheel:
>1) When using coil-and-throw for large pots to stiffen the just-thrown
>section so another coil can be added. 2) When "laying down" the rim to
>near-horizontal on large bowls. 3) When closing in the top of large sphere
>shapes.
>
>Any suggestions as to what to use? I can think of three possible tools:
>Small propane torch
>Industrial heat gun
>hairdryer
>Anyone with experience care to comment?
>
>David Hendley
>Maydelle, Texas
-------reply-----------
David,
I have tried all of the above:
1.) small propane torch......works very fast to dry the surface, control a
problem....keep the torch moving or the pot rotating or very quickly you
will have an area tooooo dry. Did you ever se the video where the woman
wanted to dry the large thrown (almost closed at the top) piece a bit and
just lit newspaper and tosses it in the pot?....viola! drying from the
inside...and air pollution too!
2.) Heat gun....they are expensive to buy...so I borrowed one to try out.
Again it develops a lot of heat...better and more control than the propane
torch.......but not as good as...
3.) Hairdryer...my personal favorite. They are available, new and used,
cheeeep, have several selections for how much heat you want to
apply......they are slower....but I found I needed to control the
drying....carefully. I went to the extent of making a holder and could set
the handheld CONAIR blower/dryer up on the table of my Brent CXC...aim
it...turn the wheel on slow and go knead clay for a while as the hairdryer
did it's thing. I make a lot of covered jars and as I would get to the
shoulder/lid rim area sometimes I needed to control the moisture content of
the clay...by drying it a bit...before I went to the horizontal rim area.
I found the technique good for thrown and coil built lamp bases and for big
thrown closed top vases, and for large bowls (base area) etc.
HTH
Ric
############################################################################
FROM: Ric Swenson, Bennington College, Route 67-A, Bennington Vermont
05201-6001. (802) 442-5401 ext. 262 (fax ext. 237) or
fax direct to: (802) 442-6164
rswenson@bennington.edu "Opinions expressed are mine and may not
reflect my employer's."
############################################################################
Norman R. Czuchra on wed 13 aug 97
David, I use a paint stripping heat gun to stiffen large pieces and I'm very
pleased with the results. I put the gun about 16" away from the pot and get
the wheel going slowly. I generally do other studio stuff while keeping an
eye on the drying. I haven't had any cracking even when I join two sections
together. I've seen other folks use a propane torch and it seems to work
well for them.
Candace Young
>I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the wheel:
>David Hendley
>Maydelle, Texas
>
>
Sally Larson on wed 13 aug 97
Hi David,
I took a class with Bob Compton this summer in Vermont on throwing large
pots in the way you described. He uses propane with a weed burner attached.
It works really great and fast. You can contact him at rcompton@together.
net
Sally Larson
Unruly JuliE on wed 13 aug 97
I use an industrial heat gun. I works faster (and MUCH hotter) than a
comercial hairdryer. You do need to be careful to keep the piece moving
or moving the heat gun as the clay will crack if dried un-evenly or too
fast. Be careful of the metal tip also. I have a few nice burn scars
from the metal tip being EXTREMELY HOT!! and not paying enough attention
to where it is.
A small propane torch, in my opinion, would not have a big enough "heat
zone". Only good for small spot drying???
JuliE in Michigan where it has rained all day.
Bob Reiberg on wed 13 aug 97
Try taping a hair drier to the flexible shaft of an old goose-neck lamp. Then
aim it toward the back section of the shoulder of a large pot you are closing
in. You will have to wet your hands more frequently. Coating them with
vaseline before I throw helps.
A propane torch also works well on shoulders.
Bob Reiberg
James Dapogny on wed 13 aug 97
At a workshop, Byron Temple threw a number of pots, setting them on a table
with a rotating fan directed at them. Later that day (a damp day, at
that), he trimmed them!
--Gail Dapogny in Ann Arbor
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the wheel:
>1) When using coil-and-throw for large pots to stiffen the just-thrown
>section so another coil can be added. 2) When "laying down" the rim to
>near-horizontal on large bowls. 3) When closing in the top of large sphere
>shapes.
>
>Any suggestions as to what to use? I can think of three possible tools:
>Small propane torch
>Industrial heat gun
>hairdryer
>Anyone with experience care to comment?
>
>David Hendley
>Maydelle, Texas
Akitajin \"Lee Love\" on thu 14 aug 97
I've just started making some larger coil pots. I bought an
electric paint stripper at Goodwill that acts like a high powered
hairdryer (it is hot enough to bisque what you are pointing at. It will
pop off clay if you are not careful.) Some folks use torches for the
same thing.
Lee
~
Lee in St. Paul, Minnesota U.S.A.
http://www.millcomm.com/~leelove/ikiru.html Come see my pottery.
!NEW! http://www.millcomm.com/~leelove/hachi.jpg Come see pictures
of Faithful Akita Hachiko.
Barbara Lewis on thu 14 aug 97
David: I was at a workshop where the artist used a raku-style propane
burner. Very effective and the pot was able to be added to in short order.
Barbara
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the wheel:
>1) When using coil-and-throw for large pots to stiffen the just-thrown
>section so another coil can be added. 2) When "laying down" the rim to
>near-horizontal on large bowls. 3) When closing in the top of large sphere
>shapes.
>
>Any suggestions as to what to use? I can think of three possible tools:
>Small propane torch
>Industrial heat gun
>hairdryer
>Anyone with experience care to comment?
>
>David Hendley
>Maydelle, Texas
>
Fay & Ralph Loewenthal on thu 14 aug 97
David there is a potter here in South Africa, also a David,
who throws pots up to 70 kilograms (over 150 Lbs). He
uses a propane torch to stiffen up between sausages.
He first centres a 5 Kg lump, then a second on top of that. He uses that as base
sausages. He spins the wheel while torching the pot to
have even heating of the clay.
He and his partner, who does the decorating are two of
the best potters if not the best here in SA. They sell their
large pots for $2000 upwards. As far as I know they only
work on commisions, with a little on the side for their
gallery. Hope this helps Ralph in PE SA
Paula Pederson on thu 14 aug 97
David, I attended a Robin Hopper workshop a number of years ago where he used
a lit tin of sterno suspended on wires and lowered down into large pots to
help dry them faster. This was for more closed in forms, of course. I
haven't tried it myself but it seemed to work.
Paula Jean
ppederson@aol.com
Cindy on thu 14 aug 97
David,
When making big pots at Stephen Jepson's studio, we used a "blow dryer"
made for grooming horses. Gentle heat, sufficient air flow, and it has a
stand so you don't have to sit there and hold it. (The wheel needs to be
spinning, of course.) Not sure where you'd get one, or how much it would
cost. Maybe ask your local large-animal vet.
Cindy
> I would like to quickly stiffen up areas of pots in progress on the
wheel:
> 1) When using coil-and-throw for large pots to stiffen the just-thrown
> section so another coil can be added. 2) When "laying down" the rim to
> near-horizontal on large bowls. 3) When closing in the top of large
sphere
> shapes.
Jim Horvitz on thu 14 aug 97
Try a farm weed burner they are like an industrial heat gun but cost a lot
less.
Terrie Lambert on fri 15 aug 97
At 11:51 AM 8/13/97 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>At a workshop, Byron Temple threw a number of pots, setting them on a table
>with a rotating fan directed at them. Later that day (a damp day, at
>that), he trimmed them!
>--Gail Dapogny in Ann Arbor
>
>
>>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
This is very close to how I dry if I need it done quickly. I have shelves
that were originally built to house a compressor and heavy tools above that.
Very deep and taller than usual. Looks like a bookcase only bigger. I put my
ware on these shelves and put a box fan about 3' away. The wind hits the
ware and then the back of the case. Since there is a shelf above it the wind
moves around the piece. The drying has been very quick and even.
Terrie
Rick Mace on fri 15 aug 97
There is a potter here at the Business of Art Center, in Manitou Springs,
who uses small room heaters, not just for quick drying, but for the whole
(almost) throwing process.
He makes, for example, a 26 inch platter (20 lbs. of clay), by centering
down and out on a large bat and then pulling up a straight wall at a
diameter of about 16 to 18 inches and 6 or 7 inches high. At that point he
stops using water altogether, turns on the "space" heater, and removes all
water from the surface of the piece with a 6x1.5 inch super thin metal rib
- one side of which is curved (Laguna Clay Co's S12 Steel 6"). Then, by
alternating the ribs use on the inside and out, he lays that sucker out
more and more, with never another drop of water, save for the very rim
which he is careful to keep wet and compressed. The hand opposite the rib
touches the piece with finger tips only.
I've started to try the technique for large vases - with a slight
variation. I'll throw a cylinder (did I spell that right?) and then dry it
out with the same rib and remove the piece from my pegged wheel head. After
doing about five of those I'll put the first piece back on and it's dried
enough to start expanding it (I'm lazy and like to use soft clay, you see).
But this way I can re-wet the entire piece and therefore have the added
control you get from a fully wet surface. You've got to work quickly,
however, which the wet surface allows for. After expanding it that way,
I'll again dry the surface with the rib and take it off the wheel and go on
to the second piece. So while I'm not using a heater for drying, I am using
"drying."
This is helping to reduce my trimming time (something I've taken a lot of -
often trimming a piece from top to bottom - see:
http://shell.rmi.net/~rmace/07a.html).
I like the air dryed method I've discribed more than the heater on a vase
as is seems to dry the piece more evenly. But make sure that you have no
cross draft or you will have nothing (as in, uneven drying = a mess).
Rick mace
http://shell.rmi.net/~rmace/
Rick mace
http://shell.rmi.net/~rmace/
Hluch - Kevin A. on fri 15 aug 97
With newfound assurance based upon days of experience, the AEI Corp.
worker drone was busy electonically issuing his instructions to the
cyberopticon worker- slaves. Before his magnificent creations could be
submitted to the fires of the Insta-Ovens they must first be perfectly
dried. He was thrilled to be using the new Infra-Red Lamp stations that
were first utilized way back in the twentieth century. He knew his
training. The work must first be perfectly dried in the shortest time
possible since his customers would not tolerate hours of waiting for their
finished products. Way back when, at Lake Chautauqua, New York (before
the break-up of the U.S. into cleansed, pure and non-hostilic ethnic
regions) this technique was first used and it has proved beneficial even
to present day artitrons. This is the procedure: create the design,
send to the cyberopticon worker slaves where they 3-D model the design in
clay and it's instantly put into the foil lined cylinders under the
high-intensity Infra-Reds. Dried from the INSIDE OUT. Before you know it,
these creations are on their way to the Insta-Ovens. "Can you imagine",
he absent mindedly said to no one in particular (he was, after all in his
perceptually shielded honeycomb cell) "Ceramic artists used to dry their
work with air blowers! How primitive!!!" He chuckled to himself with the
thought.
Kevin A. Hluch
102 E. 8th St.
Frederick, MD 21701
USA
e-mail: kahluch@umd5.umd.edu
http://www.erols.com/mhluch/mudslinger.html
On Wed, 13 Aug 1997, Unruly JuliE wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I use an industrial heat gun. I works faster (and MUCH hotter) than a
> comercial hairdryer. You do need to be careful to keep the piece moving
> or moving the heat gun as the clay will crack if dried un-evenly or too
> fast. Be careful of the metal tip also. I have a few nice burn scars
> from the metal tip being EXTREMELY HOT!! and not paying enough attention
> to where it is.
>
> A small propane torch, in my opinion, would not have a big enough "heat
> zone". Only good for small spot drying???
>
> JuliE in Michigan where it has rained all day.
>
dick on sat 23 aug 97
On Thu, 14 Aug 1997 10:47:11 EDT, Paula Pederson
wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>David, I attended a Robin Hopper workshop a number of years ago where he used
>a lit tin of sterno suspended on wires and lowered down into large pots to
>help dry them faster. This was for more closed in forms, of course. I
>haven't tried it myself but it seemed to work.
>
>Paula Jean
>ppederson@aol.com
Tray a lightbulb on a cord and hang this in a tall vase.
Louis Katz on tue 9 sep 97
Observation: Pots Dried when hot rarely crack.
Theory: water in hot pots moves through the clay more quickly keeping the
drying through out the pot more even.
Supporting Data: 1. Industry dries bricks in hot rooms.
2. Louis did a test of 1'x1'x3" leather hard blocks. Those dried in a
kiln to bone dry overnight packed tight into a kiln held at 180 degrees
dried without cracks, those left on a table uncovered all cracked.
3. fewer cracks down here in humid hot Texas than anywhere else I have
lived
Conclusion, the theory might be wrong, but hot seems good for drying pots.
Louis
Louis Katz
Texas A&M University Corpus Campus
lkatz@falcon.tamucc.edu
NEW WEBSITE:http://maclab.tamucc.edu/lkatz/lkatz/index.html
VICTOR JOHNSTON on wed 10 sep 97
I concur with Lewis.
As I mentioned in a message yesterday, the local brickyard runs their
brick right from the extruder into the drying room (very warm - on a cart
and up to 600 degrees F by the time they move on). I have also dried
clay brick over night in the oven at as much as 250 (never tried hotter)
without a cracking problem. I can't say that's true when dried more
slowly on my brick easel.
>>> Louis Katz 09/09/97 03:46am >>>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Observation: Pots Dried when hot rarely crack.
Theory: water in hot pots moves through the clay more quickly keeping
the
drying through out the pot more even.
Supporting Data: 1. Industry dries bricks in hot rooms.
2. Louis did a test of 1'x1'x3" leather hard blocks. Those dried in a
kiln to bone dry overnight packed tight into a kiln held at 180 degrees
dried without cracks, those left on a table uncovered all cracked.
3. fewer cracks down here in humid hot Texas than anywhere else I
have
lived
Conclusion, the theory might be wrong, but hot seems good for drying
pots.
Louis
Louis Katz
Texas A&M University Corpus Campus
lkatz@falcon.tamucc.edu
NEW WEBSITE:http://maclab.tamucc.edu/lkatz/lkatz/index.html
Laura Hershey on wed 10 sep 97
When I went to buy sewer pipe clay in Corona California, I was astounded
to see that the manufacturer dried the damp pipes in a heated room. One
inch thick, six foot lengths of pipe, some of them 24 inches in diameter
calmly losing their water in a sultry hot holding room.
It's true,
Laura
in arid San Diego
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