Lili Krakowski on mon 31 dec 07
Slip trailers divide into two families: those that require pressure to expel
the slip, and those that "feed" freely when an airhole is opened.
SQUEEZE : Hair dye and similar bottles, available free from hair
dressers,are excellent.
They do, generally, require some squeezing. Ketchup bottles and like that
also work, the thing is to find small ones that fit your hand.
Diverse syringes with or without "added" football or basketball blowup
needles do well. Rubber syringes work extremely well, and I like them.
Just hard to get these days.
Then there is the Mary Wondrausch slip trailer--a masterpiece. Found in her
book.
Take a piece of bicycle inner tube. About 12". Fit it with a cork at one
end. When you have a cork
the correct size, drill a hole lenghtwise through it. Cut an old cheap
ballpoint pen in half,
after removing the ink tube. Fit the lower, point, end into the cork. It
should stick
out about 1/2 inch at the end that goes into the inner tube piece. When
you fill the
rubber part with slip leave about 2 inches at the top,
to be folded over and closed with a bulldog clip. These trailers best are
held
with both hands, and are quite quite wonderful.
In many cases the hole in the ball point pen--the one the ink tip went
through
is big enough for a proper slip trail,. If not snip some extra off!
My own total preference are eye-droppers--I ask all
my friends who are "into" darling little bottles of extracts and oils from
the health food store for the eye droppers that come with the extracts; I
also have found good eyedropper tips for sale in specialty places that sell
to people who make these extracts. The "craft and hobby stores" have
plastic droppers or syringes not as good as the eyedroppers but ok.
I fit these tubes (tired of typing "eyedropper!) into diverse bottles,
syringes and such like.
Furthermore: Places like Radio Shack sell bags of fine tubing in different
diameters and
colors. I think they are called "shrink tubes" and they are supposed to be
go
onto something or other and then slightly heated which makes them shrink to
a tight
fit. Also: hobby stores sell similar tubes in soft metal..No idea what they
are used for
but short pieces glued into hairdye bottles make a nice extension where it
is needed.
FLOW. One: Make a small bottle with a little hole at the top of a side.
Add a quill or eye dropper to the top. I epoxy mine in. The hole at the
side is for a cork when the thing is not in use, and for your thumb when it
is in use. Opening and closing that hole is what starts the flow.
Balloons: I buy the "big" balloons at the dollar store. When not inflated
these balloons are about 4 inches long. I fit an eye dropper at the top,
tighten with a wire from the veggie store, and off I go. These are really
great for quick, direct, fluid work!
All these items are best filled through of a tiny funnel.
And by the way: Ask your friends for turkey and or big chicken feathers,
for authentic, organic quills!
Need I add that I did not "invent" any of these things, except the balloons,
but got the info
from pottery tip and suggestion columns and books over the decades!
Happy trails!
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
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