Greg T. Johnston on thu 27 jan 00
Man, I feel like I could write this list and ask a hundred questions. I'm so
glad I found this list. For about a year I have been sitting in a secluded
art room in small-town Colorado thinking I must be the only pottery lover in
the world!
Anyway, my current question is, is there any way to make big pieces on a
kick wheel? Lately I have been throwing bigger and bigger (2 1/2 foot
cylinder is big for me.) But I have a hard time keeping the wheel spinning,
even with a lot of water, especially while centering. Maybe it's because I
learned on a nice electric. I often end up getting frustrated and the piece
gets out of center. I even had a minor ankle sprain the other day. The
wheel I am using has a 150 lb. or so flywheel. Any suggestions?
Greg T. Johnston
Gunnison, CO
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Mark & Pauline Donaldson-Drzazga on fri 28 jan 00
----- Original Message -----
From: Greg T. Johnston
To:
Sent: 27 January 2000 19:52
Subject: Kick Wheels... Sore legs
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Man, I feel like I could write this list and ask a hundred questions. I'm
so
> glad I found this list. For about a year I have been sitting in a
secluded
> art room in small-town Colorado thinking I must be the only pottery lover
in
> the world!
>
> Anyway, my current question is, is there any way to make big pieces on a
> kick wheel? Lately I have been throwing bigger and bigger (2 1/2 foot
> cylinder is big for me.) But I have a hard time keeping the wheel
spinning,
> even with a lot of water, especially while centering. Maybe it's because I
> learned on a nice electric. I often end up getting frustrated and the
piece
> gets out of center. I even had a minor ankle sprain the other day. The
> wheel I am using has a 150 lb. or so flywheel. Any suggestions?
>
> Greg T. Johnston
> Gunnison, CO
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Dear Greg,
my first wheel was a momentum kick wheel that I built myself (plans adjusted
from Michael Cardew's Pioneer Pottery) with a similar weight of flywheel, I
have used this wheel all my potting life. I even did a 72 hour throwing
marathon ( with pee breaks) in my youth., I have since done two more (36 and
24 hours) recently. The art to using a momentum kick wheel is NOT SPEED of
the wheel but TORQUE ( the ability of the wheel to continue under pressure),
and using clay that is soft enough to easily throw (my show piece weight is
60 Kgs) large pieces. Make your clay (thoroughly wedged ) soft enough for
the job in hand, give it a rolypoly bottom and then onto the wheel head (or
bat), slap as it slowly rotates to give it a more central and even feel
(without water). You can even punch out a hollow form to facilitate
throwing. I dont bother trying to centre the clay as I feel that is a waste
of concentration and totally unecessary as the clay will go into the centre
if you are approaching it correctly. Too many people spend hours trying to
centre - I teach people NOT to centre, and they have no fear and do it
anyway as a matter of course.
The best way to throw on the momentum kickwheel is the right attitude -
RELAX. You don't need to bang down with your kicking leg - just a light
touch will do it (in a regular way), and you certainly don't need speed.
Ease up and you will benefit immediately.
Happy potting Marek http://www.moley.uk.com
John Rodgers on fri 28 jan 00
Give it up, man!!
If you really want to stick to a foot powered wheel for the sake of the ethic,
acquire or build a treadle machine and enjoy it's mechanical advantage.
Otherwise go electric!!
Been there, done that. With both kick and electric.
John Rodgers
Birmingham, AL
"Greg T. Johnston" wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Man, I feel like I could write this list and ask a hundred questions. I'm so
> glad I found this list. For about a year I have been sitting in a secluded
> art room in small-town Colorado thinking I must be the only pottery lover in
> the world!
>
> Anyway, my current question is, is there any way to make big pieces on a
> kick wheel? Lately I have been throwing bigger and bigger (2 1/2 foot
> cylinder is big for me.) But I have a hard time keeping the wheel spinning,
> even with a lot of water, especially while centering. Maybe it's because I
> learned on a nice electric. I often end up getting frustrated and the piece
> gets out of center. I even had a minor ankle sprain the other day. The
> wheel I am using has a 150 lb. or so flywheel. Any suggestions?
>
> Greg T. Johnston
> Gunnison, CO
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Cindy Strnad on fri 28 jan 00
Greg,
I've never done much with a kick wheel, but it sounds to me as if your large
pieces would work better if you make them in stages. To start with, center
only as much clay as your wheel can easily handle. Then add a bit more to
the top (scrape off the slime, first), and center the second bit.
You then proceed to make the pot in stages, adding rings to the top rim as
it stiffens enough. This puts much less stress on the wheel and on your
body. If you want more detailed instructions, get hold of a video by Stephen
Jepson on making large pieces, or write me and I'll go into more specifics.
Another thing that may help is a heavier fly wheel. If yours is a lighter
weight or home-made wheel, you may not have a massive enough fly wheel to
give you the momentum you need. You might want to check into that.
Cindy Strnad
earthenv@gwtc.net
Earthen Vessels Pottery
RR 1, Box 51
Custer, SD 57730
June Perry on fri 28 jan 00
You can do it a couple of way. When I was in Japan I watched them throw huge
pots on little wheels that they turn with a stick or the foot.
1. You can either center and throw a flat base, or I have seen them roughly
form a somewhat rough shaped circle, thicker than need and place that on top
of the wheel head and either throw it flat or what I've seen them do it hit
it with a flat, heavy wooden tool that looks something like this:
-------------------------------
/ / --------- It's about 4" wide at the bottom.
--------------------/
Then you build up the pot by attaching fat coils. One potter I saw had a
wedging board that slanted away from him, that he used to roll the coils. He
made the coils about 2" in diameter and joined them to the base on the wheel,
smooth the joins and using the side of his index finger to smooth them and
then pulled up the walls. He kept adding coils and throwing. He had another
tool that he used on the inside of the pot that was a domed circle about 4"
diameter, with a handle. He would hold the handle, and use the rounded, front
piece to push up against the clay from the inside of the pot, He used this to
put out the form. It was amazing hot fast he did all this and how incredible
the pots were.
I have also seen it done with slabs instead of coils. You would basically do
the first part the same way, but instead of adding at coil, you attach and
pre-formed thick slab and throw that and add as many as needed to get the
size pot you want.
Another option is to throw the bottom half of a pot and throw the top
separately and join them. To get a good join angle the rims on each' so that
when you join them you don't have flat rim to flat rim. This gives a nice
clean, strong join.
Good luck.
June
John Rodgers on fri 28 jan 00
Give it up, man!!
If you really want to stick to a foot powered wheel for the sake of the ethic,
acquire or build a treadle machine and enjoy it's mechanical advantage.
Otherwise go electric!!
Been there, done that. With both kick and electric.
John Rodgers
Birmingham, AL
"Greg T. Johnston" wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Man, I feel like I could write this list and ask a hundred questions. I'm so
> glad I found this list. For about a year I have been sitting in a secluded
> art room in small-town Colorado thinking I must be the only pottery lover in
> the world!
>
> Anyway, my current question is, is there any way to make big pieces on a
> kick wheel? Lately I have been throwing bigger and bigger (2 1/2 foot
> cylinder is big for me.) But I have a hard time keeping the wheel spinning,
> even with a lot of water, especially while centering. Maybe it's because I
> learned on a nice electric. I often end up getting frustrated and the piece
> gets out of center. I even had a minor ankle sprain the other day. The
> wheel I am using has a 150 lb. or so flywheel. Any suggestions?
>
> Greg T. Johnston
> Gunnison, CO
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
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