May Luk on wed 1 jun 11
Hi Tony;
My experience as a student. I learned 4 techniques of handling plaster:
1- making mould with cottle - one part, two part and 3 part moulds -
this requires large work tables primarily and no special equipment.
2- make complex long plaster form from soft plaster with a metal
profile - require a electric table saw to cut the metal.
3- make complex round disk form from soft plaster with a metal profile
running on an axle - requires an electric table saw to cut the metal
sheeting - and a dedicated small table for this operation.
4- plaster turning on a lathe - it was a big lathe, do not know the power.
A separate room to store plaster and weigh out, large sinks to wash &
store the buckets.
Rack built on top of the kilns to dry out plaster moulds.
We always mix plaster with our hands. Only in the US, I see mixing
plaster with drill mixer.
The studio clean up is done efficiently with a heavy duty wet vac.
One visiting Japanese professor told us they have this plaster mixer
with vacuum suction to take out the bubbles when mixing. That is in
their pottery dept in Japan. That sounded very high-end. (They also
told us about the microwave kiln)
The plaster room is between the sculpture and pottery dept, I reckon
they share the facilities. I have seen huge complex moulds made by
sculpture students.
I miss my school, the main building is designed and built by C.R.
Macintosh. Imagine the Arts & Crafts history that we bathed in when we
receive our education. Sadly, the ceramic dept is now closed.
Best regards
May
On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:10 AM, tony clennell wro=
te:
> Thank you everyone for the thoughts on Blauuw clay. All taken under
> advisement and I sure have more to add to the Friday faculty meeting
> than I did a few days ago. Thank one and all!
> Now, they want a plaster room as we move into a degree granting design
> school. Yeah, I know this could spell trouble for an Applied Arts
> program.
> So what equipment would I need in this room? Lots of shelving, sink,
> tank and pump?. I got a price on a used jigger and jolley but I don't
> know anyone that uses one anymore or could cut the knives and make the
> plate/bowl moulds.
> Any advice you can give before Friday would be appreciated.
> Cheers,
> Tony
>
--
http://twitter.com/MayLuk
http://www.ceramicsbrooklyn.com/
tony clennell on wed 1 jun 11
Thank you everyone for the thoughts on Blauuw clay. All taken under
advisement and I sure have more to add to the Friday faculty meeting
than I did a few days ago. Thank one and all!
Now, they want a plaster room as we move into a degree granting design
school. Yeah, I know this could spell trouble for an Applied Arts
program.
So what equipment would I need in this room? Lots of shelving, sink,
tank and pump?. I got a price on a used jigger and jolley but I don't
know anyone that uses one anymore or could cut the knives and make the
plate/bowl moulds.
Any advice you can give before Friday would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Tony
John Rodgers on wed 1 jun 11
Tony,
There are a few on this list that still do that kind of work. I used to,
but now that I am in a studio potter mode, while I still do some of that
kind of work, it is minimal, and I use homemade equipment - not
something you would want if you are teaching production ceramics.
However, if you want to focus on studio pottery, and part of the goal is
to teach innovation and creativity in the supporting functions of studio
pottery, I may have something for you. I worked in a production house
that used commercial jigger/jolly equipment. I made many a mold and
profile plate for the jigger/jolly. It's not that difficult, once you
understand the process, and have a bit of experience with it, but to do
it proper you really must have the hardware for making the molds. This
consists of large machined aluminum castings and back plates to go with
them. Not inexpensive - some pieces over $1000 US each, and it takes
several pieces to do it right.
Try Axner. Though they don't sell it any more - Axner used to sell such
equipment and may be able to at least tell you what you really need. The
link below will show some profile tools and some of the hardware that is
needed for the profile tool. Axner used to make profile tools to the
customer's specifications. Don't know if they still do, but it's worth
asking.
http://www.axner.com/jollying-jiggering-accessories.aspx
I have a 20 year old copy of the old Axner jigger/jolly training tape
that shows every single step including all the hardware necessary and
how to use it - every step of the way, with examples of finished ware. I
can I think, copy it to a disk and send it to you if you wish. Might
take me a bit - certainly not in time for your Friday deadline - but I
do have it. I also have a tape about the RAM Press as well, if you are
interested. But this latter tape is prol'ly still available from RAM.
Just let me know.
John
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
On 6/1/2011 8:10 AM, tony clennell wrote:
> Thank you everyone for the thoughts on Blauuw clay. All taken under
> advisement and I sure have more to add to the Friday faculty meeting
> than I did a few days ago. Thank one and all!
> Now, they want a plaster room as we move into a degree granting design
> school. Yeah, I know this could spell trouble for an Applied Arts
> program.
> So what equipment would I need in this room? Lots of shelving, sink,
> tank and pump?. I got a price on a used jigger and jolley but I don't
> know anyone that uses one anymore or could cut the knives and make the
> plate/bowl moulds.
> Any advice you can give before Friday would be appreciated.
> Cheers,
> Tony
>
>
Vince Pitelka on wed 1 jun 11
Tony Clennell wrote:
Now, they want a plaster room as we move into a degree granting design
school. Yeah, I know this could spell trouble for an Applied Arts program.
So what equipment would I need in this room? Lots of shelving, sink,
tank and pump?. I got a price on a used jigger and jolley but I don't know
anyone that uses one anymore or could cut the knives and make the plate/bow=
l
moulds. Any advice you can give before Friday would be appreciated.
Hi Tony -
I think that good plaster facilities are very important in contemporary
clay, and a dedicated plaster room would be great. We have a very large
glaze room, and we keep the plaster supplies in there so that they remain
separate from clayworking, just to minimize the chances of contamination of
clay. We do not have much specific plaster equipment - just a
"Slip-O-Matic" blunger. Our mission statement specifies that we teach
"traditional craft in a contemporary context," and being a small department
we go with our strengths. Thus, I do not put very much attention into
assisted technologies such as ram, jigger, or slip-casting. My students al=
l
learn the basics of plaster molds, and I would say that the most common
application is repetitive forms for use in sculpture or architectural work
(like press-molded tiles). So, having a dedicated plaster facility is
wonderful, especially for a larger school like Sheridan, but what you do
with plaster in your curriculum is another question. I would hate for this
to get into another slip-casting debate, and I certainly have no problem
with people who choose to set up a mass-production studio/cottage-industry
and slip-cast functional ware, but I don't see that as part of the
curriculum of an art school.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
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