John Baymore on wed 19 nov 97
------------------
......clip......
Of course In the case of potters making unusual assymetrical
forms that can't be trimmed easily with the traditional methods,
the Grip may truly be indispensable.
.......snip.......
A good proportion of what I make is assymetrical. I trim using the more
traditional methods. They work fine. The Grip is completely dispensible.
I've tried the =22Grip=22. To me it's an interesting, expensive toy. Goes
right in there with the device that someone was selling that automatically
sprays water on the form you are throwing on the wheel. =3Cg=3E =
........don't
see either of these have ANY advantage for someone who has been using the
other methods for a long time.
One =22use=22 of the Grip is to allow someone who has not taken the time to
develop manual skills to recenter and fasten down a piece quickly. It is
no different than one =22use=22 of the plaster plate molds one attaches to a
wheelhead allows someone who has not taken the time to develop manual
skills to throw a plate well. There are other uses of BOTH, but that is
one possibility for use of the tool.
Sort of like guns. Guns can be used for good and guns can be used for bad.
It is not the tool, it is how it is used, and for what purposes. Sort of
like RAM presses and jiggers too... =3Cg=3E.
A really skilled potter can recenter and attach pots as quickly or quicker
without the Grip as with it. A skilled potter can throw plates faster than
=22hand jiggering=22 them on spinning plaster hump molds. A less skilled
person however, is another story.
For that less skilled person, use of the Grip would shortcut the
development of skills. Are these skills valuable or a waste of time? You
decide. I think they are.
To me, the time to explore devices like the Grip is AFTER a solid
development of skills. To me that =22solid development of skills=22 is
probably going to mean many, many years of working with clay..... unless
the person is a great exception to the norm. Someone who has been working
with clay even FT for only a couple of years probably is shortchanging
themselves by using something like the Grip. A PT'er would be much longer.
Best,
....................john
John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA
603-654-2752
JBaymore=40Compuserve.com
Sandra Dwiggins on thu 20 nov 97
I'm a part-timer with a lot of clay experience and skills, but trimming, I find,
is one of the hardest skills to develop and do really well. I make a line of
very assymetrical pots which required a great deal of special trimming. I
found the Grip very useful for very tall thin forms. For more vessel
shaped forms, trimming on a bat with thick foam worked just as well.
Or, just doing the trimming by hand on a banding wheel.
What I find to be the crucial element in trimming for part-timers is the
condition of the clay. It's sometimes very difficult to get back to a pot at
just the right time to trim it easily. I still haven't solved that problem,
especially when it's difficult to control the atmosphere in the room in
which you keep your stuff. I have thought of making a series of boxes
out of styrofoam or insulation foam to accommodate different groups of
items, but it seems like such a pain to do this when I have so little time to
work in clay as it is.
Any suggestions out there?
Sandy
Carolynn Palmer on fri 21 nov 97
If you don't have the space for an old, non-running refridgerator in which to
store work-in-progress, you can get somewhat the same results using a cooler.
Many years ago, when I was a student and couldn't get back to my work to trim
it or complete it - I stored it in old coolers picked up at yard sales - and
it stayed in a leather hard state for a long time.
If I knew it would be a long period of time before I could get back to trim
my work, I would place a water saturated sponge in the cooler with my work.
Carolynn Palmer, Somerset Center, Michigan
David W Gordon on sat 22 nov 97
Sandy,
Thin plastic bags from the dry cleaners are an easy low tech way to slow
down the drying process. After a while you develop some awareness of how
tightly or loosely to drape them over your pieces--depending on how many
days you'll need to leave them before trimming.
David
David W. Gordon dwgordon@tenet.edu
Director of Special Programs (210) 648-7861
East Central Independent School District FAX(210) 648-0034
San Antonio, Tx. 78263
On Thu, 20 Nov 1997, Sandra Dwiggins wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I'm a part-timer with a lot of clay experience and skills, but trimming, I fin
> is one of the hardest skills to develop and do really well. I make a line of
> very assymetrical pots which required a great deal of special trimming. I
> found the Grip very useful for very tall thin forms. For more vessel
> shaped forms, trimming on a bat with thick foam worked just as well.
> Or, just doing the trimming by hand on a banding wheel.
>
> What I find to be the crucial element in trimming for part-timers is the
> condition of the clay. It's sometimes very difficult to get back to a pot at
> just the right time to trim it easily. I still haven't solved that problem,
> especially when it's difficult to control the atmosphere in the room in
> which you keep your stuff. I have thought of making a series of boxes
> out of styrofoam or insulation foam to accommodate different groups of
> items, but it seems like such a pain to do this when I have so little time to
> work in clay as it is.
>
> Any suggestions out there?
> Sandy
>
TMartens on sun 23 nov 97
>> What I find to be the crucial element in trimming for part-timers is
the
condition of the clay. It's sometimes very difficult to get back to a
pot at just the right time to trim it easily. I still haven't solved
that problem, especially when it's difficult to control the atmosphere
in the room in which you keep your stuff. I have thought of making a
series of boxes(snip)<<
A cooler box works well but if you don't have one to hand, I used to
keep some boards (just plywood) when I worked out of a studio.
If I needed to put something away, I put 2 or 3 layers of newspaper
on the board, put my work on that and carefully covered it with
slightly damp cheesecloth. Then I would put the whole thing into a large plastic
bag, tuck the open end of the bag under the board and store on a ware
shelf. It kept the work remarkably well even for a couple of weeks.
BTW the cheesecloth prevented the droplets of water that condensed
onto the plastic from falling back onto the pot and making it wet in
spots but helped to keep the cloth damp and so kept the work from
drying out.
Hope this helps,
Toni M
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