Jeff Campana on tue 26 oct 99
Elizabeth,
Thanks for the outstanding idea. I just got back from my first session with
these bats, and can't beleive how much i love them. Mine are apperantly much
heavier, being the thickness of two bats, but work wonderfully. I recommend
that most people try this system. I would like to list quickly for everyone
the benefits of using unglazed terra cotta tiles for bats:
Price: My tiles are heavy quarry tiles, which cost 77 cents a peice, and the
two bats cost 11 bucks combined. for a total of 23 dollars, i have 18 bats.
can't even beat that with masonite cheapies!
Space: These store well, albeit a little heavy. I have enough room between my
water bucket and toolbox to fit the entire stack right on the table part of
the wheel. Also, they line up neatly on shelves.
Moisture: I know mature clay bodies aren't theoretically supposed to absorb
much water, but these do. Maybe due to it being a very open erthenware. They
suck water out of the bottoms of the pots, and clay sticks to them VERY well.
Kind of like plaster to a lesser degree
Speed: These tiles can be simply dropped into the hole. No need to tap to
center, like with woodbats and clay patties. No need to line up holes, like
plastic/masonite/wood. This seems to be the same amount of ease as the
Randall wheelhead plaster bats, but better, because it maintains the
versatility of a regular wheelhead. You can still use a giifin grip, gripping
rubber bat and anything else.
Once again, thank you so much for the wonderful bat idea.
Jeff Campana
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