Kelly Savino on mon 22 mar 10
I've got this one! Here's the clue:
"Ali Shapiro Cudby" wrote:
> EVERYTHING is uneven - fat on one
> side, thin on the other; taller on one side, shorter on the other. No
> matter how much I compress, I can't get anything even.
Ali: if your initial ball of clay is centered, but the hole you make when y=
ou open the clay is off center, then no matter how skilled you are, the bes=
t you can throw is a) a pot with one thick wall and one thin wall, or b) a =
pot with one high side and one low side.
(Ditto for a perfectly centered hole in an off center ball of clay.)
If you are sure your clay is well centered, try this before you open:
Brace your left elbow or forearm on pan, leg, something that will not move.=
Make your forearm -- wrist, hands, knuckles -- into a straight horizontal =
line, and rest your fingertips on top of the spinning, centered clay.
Bending at the elbow only, move your positioning until you can feel the cen=
ter of that clay ball spinning around the finger-pad of your left middle fi=
nger. Be patient: feel it? Center!
Without lifting your left hand, now brace your right arm on leg/pan/whateve=
r, and reach over to touch the back of that left middle finger. You now hav=
e a very stable triangle formed by your forearms. Press down slightly so th=
at you make just a dent -- a guide hole.
Now you can go ahead and open the clay, in whatever way you normally use.
DON'T do what so many new students do, and center a ball and then and lift =
elbow/wrist and stab away at that spot! If you rush and miss, you're doomed=
to throw the thick/thin or high/low pot...
Hope that helps!
Yours
Kelly in Ohio
reading unsettling reports on other lists from beekeepers checking overwint=
ered hives...
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