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rimas/hand building

updated tue 18 oct 11

 

mel jacobson on mon 17 oct 11


my take has always been that hand building and coiling/slabs
are much harder to do well then throwing.

kids making long necked animals and snake bowls
makes for `often` failure.

it takes a great deal of skill to make
hand built ceramics.

for me it is `higher order` ceramics. and skilled 3d sculpture
from clay is really hard to do well.

a monkey can be trained to throw.
and, kids love machines. they adore the wheel. can't wait.
so.
i start them with full go throwing.
they graduate to hand building.

just my take...and having taught thousands of kids...well
it worked for me.

and, if my skill set was better, i would only hand build.
but, my stuff looks like hell.

it was like having small girls make tiny pots. they loved it.
there is a certain sort of kid that likes small things.
like big boys and 50 lb pots. total idiots.

most quality clay kids will graduate and start hand building when
the wheel thrill gives out. then they develop many skills. they
become `full range` potters.
mel




from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html