Vince Pitelka on mon 5 aug 96
At 05:50 PM 8/2/96 -0400, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>My goal is an 18" sphere. I can't see managing two 18" hemispheres and
>piecing them together in leather hard state. (Especially with bifocals).
>Off the wheel, I'd like to make a 20" sphere. Coiling seems to be the only
>option.
>Don Jones
Don -
You may not be able to envision managing two 18" hemispheres and piecing
them together in the leather-hard stage, but I hope that you will try it,
because it works so slick you can't believe it. That's why you can't
believe it. Part of the secret is to leave a fairly wide rim on both
"bowls" to give a good mating surface to score and slurry. The other part
of the secret is to put them together when they are stiff enough that you
can pick one up by the bat and invert it and place it on the other one, but
soft enough that you can still cut the bats free. In my experience this has
not been a problem.
It is certainly possible to coil-build an 18" or 20" sphere, but easier than
throwing two hemispheres and putting them together??? Not a chance.
Try both and let us know.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@Dekalb.Net
Phone - home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801
Appalachian Center for Crafts, Smithville TN 37166
June Perry on mon 5 aug 96
Another hint for joining two large pieces is to slant the rims on each piece
when you first throw them so that when you invert them the two slant make a
perfect fit. So one rim would slant in /, the other slant out. This make a
nice strong join as well as giving a nice clean undetectable join.
Regards,
June Perry
EMail: juneperry@wave.net
or: Gurushakti@aol.com
Patrick & Lynn Hilferty on tue 6 aug 96
When I was at San Fransisco St., I used to watch David Kuraoka throw
spheroids in one piece on the wheel. He was using IMCO 4-12 sculpture mix,
throwing unimaginably tall cylinders and opening them up incrimentaly over
the course of several days. I used to sneak into the studio after hours and
find that he and his assistant had taken over the entire wheel room with
these beasts, which would be spinning slowly on Brent B's, C's and CXC's.
As I recall, it was important not to push the pot too far (duh!), but to
let set up each time so that it could be opened up further later.
Does this make any sense?
Patrick Hilferty
**************************************
Patrick Hilferty
E-Mail: philferty@earthlink.net
Web: Http://home.earthlink.net/~philferty/
**************************************
Suvira McDonald on wed 7 aug 96
I back Patrick and Lynn's approach, in fact I just tried it, 18" or about
450cm. Start with a cylinder slightly higher than you aim for and, with the
wheel on a slow speed and the right hand steadying the neck, start bellying
with a flexible rib from the top. You can do it in several sessions and
keep bellying until paper-thin. The non-plastics in the body will determine
the surface.
Fred Olsen recently ran a kiln workshop at our National Ceramics Conference
in Canberra, Australia and while we were throwing pots to fire he
introduced this technique; Fred throws his into bottle forms. His new
exhibition opens in Sydney tomorrow night.
Good luck, Suvira
Thanks
Suvira McDonald
Faculty of Visual Arts
V Block
Email: smcdon12@scu.edu.au
Don Jones on wed 7 aug 96
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>When I was at San Fransisco St., I used to watch David Kuraoka throw
>spheroids in one piece on the wheel. He was using IMCO 4-12 sculpture mix,
>throwing unimaginably tall cylinders and opening them up incrimentaly over
>the course of several days. I used to sneak into the studio after hours and
>find that he and his assistant had taken over the entire wheel room with
>these beasts, which would be spinning slowly on Brent B's, C's and CXC's.
>As I recall, it was important not to push the pot too far (duh!), but to
>let set up each time so that it could be opened up further later.
>
>Does this make any sense?
>
>Patrick Hilferty
>
>**************************************
> Patrick Hilferty
> E-Mail: philferty@earthlink.net
> Web: Http://home.earthlink.net/~philferty/
>**************************************
Makes sense Patrick,
How much clay do you think he was using?
Don
Patrick & Lynn Hilferty on thu 8 aug 96
Don,
I don't think David was throwing more than 25 pounds at a time. During the
time I was watching, he was graced by the services of Brian Vansell, who
would assist by centering and pulling the cylinders. The net effect was not
unlike tag- team wreasling, only with beer breaks. Incidently, David used
these large, smooth shapes as "canvasses" for pit firing. Photos can be
found in one of Peter Lane's books, though I can't remember which one.
Brian went on to get his MFA from Clairmont and organize the Mission Clay
pipe workshops.
Patrick
**************************************
Patrick Hilferty
E-Mail: philferty@earthlink.net
Web: Http://home.earthlink.net/~philferty/
**************************************
Kelley M. Dean on sat 10 aug 96
Makes perfect sense my friend. I used to teach at the UCDavis Craft Center,
and a fellow teacher did alot of raku, all but an expert inside a year. His
approach was similar if a little extreme. He threw pots that had very
narrow necks and wide bellies, at one sitting by using a blowtorch on them
at various points to dry out some of the water. This allows the clay to take
more stretching by providing the support at the bottom in the way of harder
clay, a principle that has worked for thousands of years for handbuilders.
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>When I was at San Fransisco St., I used to watch David Kuraoka throw
>spheroids in one piece on the wheel. He was using IMCO 4-12 sculpture mix,
>throwing unimaginably tall cylinders and opening them up incrimentaly over
>the course of several days. I used to sneak into the studio after hours and
>find that he and his assistant had taken over the entire wheel room with
>these beasts, which would be spinning slowly on Brent B's, C's and CXC's.
>As I recall, it was important not to push the pot too far (duh!), but to
>let set up each time so that it could be opened up further later.
>
>Does this make any sense?
>
>Patrick Hilferty
>
>**************************************
> Patrick Hilferty
> E-Mail: philferty@earthlink.net
> Web: Http://home.earthlink.net/~philferty/
>**************************************
>
>
Kelley Dean
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