Sylvia See on wed 25 feb 98
Okay, so it's now 3:30am and I have just come in from trying to throw pots
with casters and no water. Interesting experiment. So now I have some
questions. When I first sat down at the wheel I wondered if they used water
to center the clay first. So I went back to the picture on the net and upon
careful inspection of the pictures it appears that the gent has taken a
block of clay, and started to work as the top appears to have been square
as it appears to have corners on his bowl. Also, I wondered if he opened
with his hands or does he start at the top with the rollers to open. I
decided to try to open with some ball casters and see what happened. I
wasn't too good at that so opened with surprising ease with my fingers and
no water. I then tried the round ball casters and had trouble finding the
right angle to get them spinning. I then turned to the old fashion wheel
casters. Holding them sideways they spun like mad, but I needed a large
enough opening for my hand and the angle of the casters. That answered my
question of why the wheels were on dowels. They allow a smaller opening. On
the first attempt I used way too much pressure and made fairly deep wheel
rings and of course forced it way off center but I could tell it would work
when I got it right. 2nd attempt, I used alot less pressure and I was
getting the hang of it. I used my hands to get to the bottom to get it thin
at the wheelhead. I finished shaping by hand and was surprised that I only
had to dampen my hands. I then wondered what would happen if I just used my
hands and no water. That also surprised me. I had no trouble at all,
opening, pulling and shaping with just damp hands and a damp sponge. On the
third attempt with the casters, I wanted to get lower to the wheelhead with
my pulls, but the casters I was using were not allowing me to get there. I
glanced up and there in front of me was a small paint roller. I grabbed it
and applied it to the outside of the pot to pull and it worked like a
charm. Since I have never mastered pulling pots with two ribs, I think I
was having trouble controlling the caster on the inside of the pot. This
problem would probably also be solved by having the wheels joined and on
dowels. However, using my hand on the inside of the pot and the wheel or
roller on the outside of the pot, worked really well. I threw pots of
unbelievable thinness with great control. I did find I would want to wet
the tops and sponge for smooth edged tops.
If there was anyone else out there too curious to sleep and out trying to
throw with wheels or casters, I'd sure like to hear how you made out. Also
anyone with answers to some of my questions on the subject, I'd be
grateful. Tomorrow, I'll try again, and am anxious to try this with a large
piece of clay. I was using Plainsman 570 clay tonight. Tomorrow, I will
test this with Raku clay. If I get the hang of it, it could really make a
difference on torn hands from heavily grogged clay.
The one thing that I am really curious about in this process is the
centering. The more I look at the pictures, the more it looks like he
started with a square block of clay. It reminds me of a home video I saw of
a friends, who attended a workshop at Whispering Pines where Al Tennant
gave a demonstration. He related a story of a fellow who made great pots
with interesting shapes on the outside as he threw from the inside out,
because he couldn't center the clay.
One thing for sure, from now on I will use alot less water to throw.
Almost none, wheels or no wheels.
Sylvia See Claresholm, Alberta where it finally decided to snow after weeks
of beautiful spring weather.
| |
|
