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newbies: a miscellaneous trilogy; slip; centering; repairing cracks

updated mon 22 sep 08

 

Lili Krakowski on fri 19 sep 08


Ok. There was, just now, on potterybasics or here, the story of
a woman who asked what kind of detergent "kiln wash" was---the
narrator of the story was waiting at the counter while the
shopkeeper explained that kiln wash is not a cleaning tool
but....etc.

So. It DOES matter and it IS important to understand clay lingo.
And it DOES matter and it IS important to learn the different
uses of the same word.

SLIP: is clay in liquid form. Slip can be just your basic clay
body as it gets dissolved in the throwing water. It can be the
product of your reclaiming dried trimmings in a bucket of water.
It can be the slop made when you dissolve powdered clay with
other materials in the preparation of a clay body.

Slip can be a concoction of bodyclay and other materials used as
"glue" when sticking pieces of clay together--as in handbuilding,
or attaching handles.

Slip can be a rather sophisticated concoction of clay and other
materials used for casting in molds.

AND slip can be liquid clay used for decorating pots. Now here,
as with glaze, you are DRESSING the pot. Think of your slip as
clothing. IT MUST FIT. Therefore: if you are going to apply
slip to a leatherhard pot you need a different recipe from the
one used on a greenware (dried but unfired) pot, or a bisqued
pot. Is this an earthshaking, life-changing difference? No.
But it is enough of one to make a difference. And I have found
that slips that work ok when simply brushed or poured on
leatherhard clay may need adjusting if used for
slip-trailing--where it is thicker.

"Slip" is not just any slip. As with wine, you must know which
is which and when to use what.

As to centering. I cannot watch videos on my computer so I
cannot watch the one of apparently endless centering. But
centering clay depends on several factors:

The consistency of the clay (most people work with clay that is
too hard) .

Wheel speed: this is NOT Daytona! The notion that the wheel must
spin at top speed is mistaken. Keep your wheel slow enough so
that it co-operates with your hands, rather than trying to break
your fingers. Yes, many potters throw on a fast wheel--after
years and years of throwing....

Your posture matters. Really move around till you feel
comfortable and no muscle or joint is fighting you. I throw
standing up because it is easier on my aged bod AND I can center
more easily.

Centering even a biggish lump of clay should not take even a
minute. I do not know how big 8lbs of clay is, as I do not weigh
my clay, but I can center a lump the size of my head one two
three. (Go ahead! Call me pinhead! I dare'ya!)

You must must must master centering before you move on to making
pots. If it takes you a week to master it, then it takes you a
week. When I taught throwing I had students make up lumps of
clay the size of tennis balls, center ten in a row--just
centering, nothing else--till they could do it "automatically".
Then moved up to grapefruit size, till we got to cantaloupe size.
Over and over and over.

As to repairing cracks! WHY? I have watched this for days now.
WHY? What is this all about? Whom are you impressing or
fooling? I can see that if you are making a layer cake, right
on deadline, and the demolition crew down the street clunks that
steel ball against a building, and everything shakes, and your
cake layers slip, and the birthday party guests are almost at
your door--you "pin" the cake together with skewers.
That is one thing. And in 90 minutes that cake will be gone, all
gone.

But clay is forever. You will have made a pot with a repaired
crack. It will never be more.
Sure you can take a photo of it, and show it off. You can make a
video. For all I care you can make a full length movie! BUT it
still will be a pot with a repaired crack. And for the rest of
your life you will know it, and feel bad.

Reclaim that pot. Make a new one! No one else has to live with
you! YOU DO!









Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage

John Rodgers on fri 19 sep 08


Lili.

Spot on!

Except basic slip is more a "suspension" of clay particles in water
rather than clay particles "dissolved" in water. There is a difference.
I know, I know...........picky, picky, picky. But that is me. ;-)

Regards,

John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL
Lili Krakowski wrote:
> Ok. There was, just now, on potterybasics or here, the story of
> a woman who asked what kind of detergent "kiln wash" was---the
> narrator of the story was waiting at the counter while the
> shopkeeper explained that kiln wash is not a cleaning tool
> but....etc.
>
> So. It DOES matter and it IS important to understand clay lingo.
> And it DOES matter and it IS important to learn the different
> uses of the same word.
>
> SLIP: is clay in liquid form. Slip can be just your basic clay
> body as it gets dissolved in the throwing water. It can be the
> product of your reclaiming dried trimmings in a bucket of water.
> It can be the slop made when you dissolve powdered clay with
> other materials in the preparation of a clay body.
>
> Slip can be a concoction of bodyclay and other materials used as
> "glue" when sticking pieces of clay together--as in handbuilding,
> or attaching handles.
>
> Slip can be a rather sophisticated concoction of clay and other
> materials used for casting in molds.
>
> AND slip can be liquid clay used for decorating pots. Now here,
> as with glaze, you are DRESSING the pot. Think of your slip as
> clothing. IT MUST FIT. Therefore: if you are going to apply
> slip to a leatherhard pot you need a different recipe from the
> one used on a greenware (dried but unfired) pot, or a bisqued
> pot. Is this an earthshaking, life-changing difference? No.
> But it is enough of one to make a difference. And I have found
> that slips that work ok when simply brushed or poured on
> leatherhard clay may need adjusting if used for
> slip-trailing--where it is thicker.
>
> "Slip" is not just any slip. As with wine, you must know which
> is which and when to use what.
>
> As to centering. I cannot watch videos on my computer so I
> cannot watch the one of apparently endless centering. But
> centering clay depends on several factors:
>
> The consistency of the clay (most people work with clay that is
> too hard) .
>
> Wheel speed: this is NOT Daytona! The notion that the wheel must
> spin at top speed is mistaken. Keep your wheel slow enough so
> that it co-operates with your hands, rather than trying to break
> your fingers. Yes, many potters throw on a fast wheel--after
> years and years of throwing....
>
> Your posture matters. Really move around till you feel
> comfortable and no muscle or joint is fighting you. I throw
> standing up because it is easier on my aged bod AND I can center
> more easily.
>
> Centering even a biggish lump of clay should not take even a
> minute. I do not know how big 8lbs of clay is, as I do not weigh
> my clay, but I can center a lump the size of my head one two
> three. (Go ahead! Call me pinhead! I dare'ya!)
>
> You must must must master centering before you move on to making
> pots. If it takes you a week to master it, then it takes you a
> week. When I taught throwing I had students make up lumps of
> clay the size of tennis balls, center ten in a row--just
> centering, nothing else--till they could do it "automatically".
> Then moved up to grapefruit size, till we got to cantaloupe size.
> Over and over and over.
>
> As to repairing cracks! WHY? I have watched this for days now.
> WHY? What is this all about? Whom are you impressing or
> fooling? I can see that if you are making a layer cake, right
> on deadline, and the demolition crew down the street clunks that
> steel ball against a building, and everything shakes, and your
> cake layers slip, and the birthday party guests are almost at
> your door--you "pin" the cake together with skewers.
> That is one thing. And in 90 minutes that cake will be gone, all
> gone.
>
> But clay is forever. You will have made a pot with a repaired
> crack. It will never be more.
> Sure you can take a photo of it, and show it off. You can make a
> video. For all I care you can make a full length movie! BUT it
> still will be a pot with a repaired crack. And for the rest of
> your life you will know it, and feel bad.
>
> Reclaim that pot. Make a new one! No one else has to live with
> you! YOU DO!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Lili Krakowski
> Be of good courage
>
>

Vince Pitelka on fri 19 sep 08


Lili wrote"
"Ok. There was, just now, on potterybasics or here, the story of
a woman who asked what kind of detergent "kiln wash" was---the
narrator of the story was waiting at the counter while the
shopkeeper explained that kiln wash is not a cleaning tool
but....etc.
So. It DOES matter and it IS important to understand clay lingo.
And it DOES matter and it IS important to learn the different
uses of the same word."

Dear Lili -
At the same time, it is important to acknowledge the existence of complete
imbeciles, total idiots, absolute morons. Anyone who would ask such a
question without first taking the time to Google "kiln wash" deserves to be
humiliated.

Here on Clayart, we welcome reasonable questions from novices, but we hope
that any novice would Google a subject like that first. It's so easy to do,
and it saves bandwidth on the Clayart list.
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka

KATHI LESUEUR on sat 20 sep 08


On Sep 19, 2008, at 6:26 PM, John Rodgers wrote:

> Lili.
>
> Spot on!
>
> Except basic slip is more a "suspension" of clay particles in water
> rather than clay particles "dissolved" in water. There is a
> difference.
> I know, I know...........picky, picky, picky. But that is me. ;-)
>
> Regards,
>
> John Rodgers
> Chelsea, AL
> Lili Krakowski wrote:
>>

When I was teaching clay Kool Aid was one of my favorite ways to get
my kids to understand things about glaze. Base Kool Aid: sugar and
water. To get the "color" add the flavoring. Base glaze: chemicals in
the recipe. To get the color add the colorant, i.e. cobalt, iron. The
difference between suspension and solution? If Kool Aid were a
suspension you would have to stir it everytime before you poured it
because the sugar and "color" would settle on the bottom. They always
got it.

Kathi

sacredclay on sun 21 sep 08


> Dear Lili -
> At the same time, it is important to acknowledge the existence of
complete
> imbeciles, total idiots, absolute morons. Anyone who would ask such a
> question without first taking the time to Google "kiln wash"
deserves to be
> humiliated.
>

>
> Vince Pitelka

Vince, As Ann Landers once said, "The only stupid question is the one
that doesn't get asked."
Yes, there are times when I want to grip my head and do exactly what
Elizabeth Priddy had suggested, refund their money and make them go
away (which I thought was the most hysterical thing anyone have
suggested in a long time). I've asked quite a few of those question on
Claycraft that were really a dozy and while I'm sure a few were
rolling on the floor laughing hysterically in private, I've been met
with nothing but a giant wave of warmth and intelligence and
friendship.An example of this is when Mike in Japan posted a link to
see his tea caddies on his blog site and my first thought was that it
was a tray to carry the tea and stuff and all I saw were beautiful
bowls. I'm reading everybody's response of how wonderful it was and
I'm thinking, "Huh?????What part of the brain neurons am I missing?" I
finally bit the bullet and asked and wow, I've never met a response
where he was fully considerate of my misunderstanding. Sometimes I'll
see a bunch of them potters muttering about the beauty of this one
particular pot and it's the most fugliest thing I've ever saw. I now
understand the idea behind it. It's still fugly, but at least it's an
interesting fugly pot with a historical perspective.
Yes, one should google these things first. But it's not the only
method of educating oneself. There's all of the clayart too. Peace!
Kathryn Hughes in NC

Lee Love on sun 21 sep 08


Kathryn,

There are no "stupid" questions. The thing about living
creatures is, if you ain't learning, you are dying.

The more you know, the more you realize just how much you have to learn.


--
--
Lee Love in Minneapolis
http://heartclay.blogspot.com/
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
http://claycraft.blogspot.com/

"Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." --Rumi