Baery Salihberry on sun 19 dec 99
Hi Paul Carlson,
Saw your post on Clayart about throwing. I too have just gone to throwing
standing up and am really enjoying the change and improved body health.
Several years ago while I was still throwing seated, I developed a tension
in my right hip area, and tried several methods to solve this.....raising
the other foot etc......I finally welded up an attatchment to my foot
pedal, so that a smooth flat piece of steel about 1/2 inch wide, 1/16 inch
thick and about 7 inches long is perpendicular to the flat surface on the
top of the foot pedal (where my foot used to rest). My attatchment is kind
of a hoop with a tightening nut on one side, so that the flat steel piece
which is welded to this hoop comes from the center of the pedal's face,
straight up. The
flat piece has a rounded tip. This rig is situated just to the right of my
slip bucket, within an easy reach.
It didn't really take very long to adapt to this hand pedal. I always had
imagined I needed to have both hands free, and my foot ready, in case I
needed to shut down immediately. But in reality, this has turned out to be
a myth. So far, I have been able to adapt all of the throwing,
trimming and decorating processes to the hand pedal method.
The ADVANTAGE was that I no longer had the tension in my right hip area,
and I also started to sit upright more easily and my spine and hip were
more balanced from right to left. I have since tried to incorporate into
the throwing process a few moves to the left side of the wheel, like
sponging off, to get my spine to flex in the opposite direction to the most
common lean over to the right we all do.
But now, with standing, it is even easier, and I really like how you can
move around while throwing, and especially to be able to step back and have
a look, instead of leaning over.
I use a couple of different sized platforms to step up onto to pull and
center from a higher position if necessary, and soon hope to get one of
those
hydraulic tables from Harbor Freight Tools. I find the height of the
wheel head relative to my center of body to be critical to the comfort work
zone.
ANYWAY, hope the suggestion of the hand control makes sense to you, and
that you might benefit from the suggestion. It would certainly take the
stress off of your left heel, and probably other areas of your back and
body you're not aware of yet.
Good luck to you,
Baery in Westbank, B.C.
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