Stuart Ridgway on sat 14 feb 98
THE TWIN ROLLER POTTER'S ASSISTANT
The potter working on a pot on the wheel uses water, or
slip to lubricate the contact between his hands and the clay
that he is working. He applies pressure forces in a highly
controlled way to shape the clay into the desired form.
However, as he continues the added water soaks into the clay,
and it gets softer and softer, and becomes so weak that the pot collapses
under gravity, or the fabricating forces. The master potter
is able to shape his pot quickly, and is more capable of
continuing to form and control the shape as the clay becomes
softer, but eventually he must stop and give the clay a chance
to dry out.
The novice has more trouble with the weakening clay, and
would be greatly helped by a means to apply fabricating forces
without the lubrication water. A solution is to use rollers.
Most anything works. Furniture casters with wheels about 1
1/2 inches diameter and 3/4 in wide are very satisfactory.
The twin roller is a pair of rollers, one that contacts
the interior of the pot, and the other the outside. The
rollers are mounted on the ends of two arms that are linked at
their other ends, and with mechanical means for limiting the
closeness of the two rollers. The separation of the rollers
is controlled by the potters pressure on the arms, or the
activation of the limit stop. A simple design consisted of
two parallel 24 inch 5/8 dia. wooden dowels connected at the
upper end by a strap hinge whose leaves were each bent through
about 45 degrees so that when the dowels were connected they
were about 2 inches apart and parallel. Hangar bolts (5/16")
were inserted into the other ends of the dowels and in line
roller skate wheels were mounted on the hangar bolts. A
simple limit stop was made by drilling 1/4 in holes in the
middle of each dowel and putting threaded 1/4 in rod through
the holes with a pair of nuts on the rod between the dowels to
make the adjustable limit stop.
With such a tool one can form the wall of a pot to a
uniform thickness, and has not needed to add lubricating
water. This gives much more working time with the clay in
optimum condition. The mechanical limit stop makes attaining
a uniform wall thickness much easier. A badly centered pot
turns out well centered after one or two pulls up. Since
water has not been added pot collapse under its own weight is
much less likely. Without this tool my thinnest pot walls
were 3/8 in; with the twin rollers I can prepare pots with
1/4 in walls easily. It is also remarkable to find that as
one works the pot it gets better centered almost
automatically!
************************************************************************
Two pictures of the twin roller tool in operation are on the
internet at:
http://www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~ser/dad.html
Stuart Ridgway
J Cullen on sun 15 feb 98
and I thought today was Valentine's Day...not April Fool's Day. This is the
product of a truly left-brained thinker. The web-site is appropos,
astro.physics. Instead of THROWING POTS WITHOUT WATER it should read THROWING
POTS WITHOUT THINKING, WITHOUT FEELING, WITHOUT PASSION. Thanks, but no
thanks, I'll stick to my fingers for better or for worse. This thread should
get more activity than the GRIFFIN GRIP.
CULLEN
Naperville, IL
jcullen845@aol.com
Cindy on sun 15 feb 98
Hmm . . . training wheels for potters. So when does one learn to ride
without them? I salute the ingenuity. Nevertheless, learning is often a
painful, laborious process. Putting it off might not help all that much
Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels
Custer, SD
USA
http://blackhills-info.com/a/cindys/menu.htm
Vince Pitelka on mon 16 feb 98
>and I thought today was Valentine's Day...not April Fool's Day. This is the
>product of a truly left-brained thinker. The web-site is appropos,
>astro.physics. Instead of THROWING POTS WITHOUT WATER it should read THROWING
>POTS WITHOUT THINKING, WITHOUT FEELING, WITHOUT PASSION. Thanks,
Cullen -
Wait a minute. Isn't this a bit harsh?? Granted, it's a very odd idea, but
I for one appreciate the fact that Stuart Ridgeway shared it with us.
Please don't discourage the clayart membership from sharing outlandish
ideas. Consider all the inventions which are initially ridiculed, only to
later become hugely successful. Better to wait and see. Impulsive,
reactionary critics usually end up eating crow.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
J Cullen on tue 17 feb 98
Pass the crow dip.
Sure, outrageous ideas have been shotdown by better people than I, but I feel
and Cindy apparently agrees, that part of getting into clay manipulation was
GETTING MY HANDS DIRTY for a good reason.
I hope you all realize that all this banter is in jest. As a matter of fact I
have an invention in the works, doing major market research currently, that
isn't in the art/craft field, but may be just as far-flung as TRAINING WHEELS
FOR POTTERS. The whole concept of clay-rollers just made me laugh out loud and
I couldn't resist.
Not meaning to offend anyone, just a wacky moment of misdirected humor. (ggg)
CULLEN
Naperville, IL
jcullen845@aol.com
Judith Enright on tue 17 feb 98
I am continually amazed at how innovative we as humans, and potters, can be
in solving problems! The concept of twin rollers is a great idea.
But (and isn't there always a 'but'?) the learning curve toward mastering
throwing is also altered. If one is to become proficient at 'throwing'
thin(ner) walls, I feel there really is no replacement for practicing until
that end is achieved. On the other hand, if one is strictly interesting in
'producing' thinner-walled pieces, then anything goes, including
handbuilding with thin slabs, using twin rollers at the wheel, and so on.
I believe there is value either way.
Even so, I feel a twinge at the inevitable separation of potter and clay
whenever another tool is introduced. After years of handbuilding I learned
how to throw so I could produce more, and felt like I was betraying
something (myself, my art?). Over time I learned to enjoy throwing and got
over the guilt. Now I split my time between the two methods. However, my
first love will always be handbuilding and when I feel the need to connect
anew with the clay, that's the method to which I return.
Judith Enright @ Black Leopard Clayware, in soggy San Jose, Calif.
email: BLeopard@ricochet.net
John Rodgers on tue 17 feb 98
-- [ From: John Rodgers * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
I'm with Vince. I find the twin roller tool very interesting. Without this
kind of sharing where would we all be. I for one really appreciate having
seen this. I have trouble with my hands. Wouldn't it be a shame if I or
anyone else had to stop throwing due to hand trouble, when in fact there
might be a tool that someone had come up with, ie, twin roller, that would
allow us to continue our work. I'm not so much a purist as to ignore new
things.
Bravo to the innovators and inventors among us.
John Rodgers
In Alabama where the wind blows and the rain falls.
-------- REPLY, Original message follows --------
Date: Monday, 16-Feb-98 11:07 AM
From: Vince Pitelka \ Internet: (vpitelka@dekalb.net)
To: Clayart \ Internet: (clayart@lsv.uky.edu)
Subject: Re: Twin Rollers for throwing pots without lubricating water
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>and I thought today was Valentine's Day...not April Fool's Day. This is the
>product of a truly left-brained thinker. The web-site is appropos,
>astro.physics. Instead of THROWING POTS WITHOUT WATER it should read
THROWING
>POTS WITHOUT THINKING, WITHOUT FEELING, WITHOUT PASSION. Thanks,
Cullen -
Wait a minute. Isn't this a bit harsh?? Granted, it's a very odd idea, but
I for one appreciate the fact that Stuart Ridgeway shared it with us. Please
don't discourage the clayart membership from sharing outlandish ideas.
Consider all the inventions which are initially ridiculed, only to later
become hugely successful. Better to wait and see. Impulsive, reactionary
critics usually end up eating crow. - Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
-------- REPLY, End of original message --------
Stuart Ridgway on wed 25 feb 98
Many thanks to Cindy, J Cullen, Vince Pitelka, Judith Enright, and
John Rodgers for their interest in and comments on the twin rollers.
Cullen suggests that making a pot becomes more mechanical, and that there is
less passion and soul involved. I have found that for me the tools
facilitate expression, passion and soul communication to the clay.
I started pottery on the wheel as an attempt at therapy. My blood
pressure was too high for a needed cataract operation. Two months at the
wheel brought it down 30 points (mm Hg) and I had the successful operation.
My pots would win no prizes, but my interest grew. The act of throwing a pot
invoked a total concentration of all facilities of mind and body, and the
subteranean anxiety demons that were pushing the pressure up were banished.
After the operation I continued. I was having lots of trouble with
pots getting too soft in the throwing, and s cracking in the bottom in the
drying. Piepenbergs instructional video told of the student who went
outdoors to get snow to cool the water so that it would soften less.
Elspeth Woody in her book Pottery on the Wheel advised doing without the
water if you are making a big pot. Ceramics Monthly showed a potter with a
blow torch drying her pots. With this in mind I looked at my pot and asked
if was there an alternative to water lubricant. Not expecting very much I
picked up a handy furniture caster and tried it on the spinning clay. The
clay replied yes! yes! yes! It worked very well. And so the twin rollers
idea and tool developed.
I have also called them skill amplifier. In the early stages of opening up
and raising a pot with fairly firm clay one needs fairly large forces highly
controlled. The twin rollers enable the larger muscles of the arm to do the
work. There are many maneuvers for which the rollers don't help; and thus
there are much improved opportunities for the fingers to do their part,
partly since the coarse work has been acomplished with less effort.
Stuart Ridgway in Santa Monica, CA
ridgway@gte.net
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