Andie on wed 24 may 00
Mel -
when making plates, at least larger plates,drill a hole in the ring
foot and make that the top
>of the plate. a small 1/4 inch hole is fine.
>>this hole will let out water during drying, let out moisture/gases during
the firing.
>and makes a great place to put a small wire to hang the plate.
This sounds like a good idea, and I'd like to try this with a new batch of
platters I threw yesterday. However, (and I know this is a stupid question)
I'm having trouble picturing just what you mean. Don't I need two holes to
put a wire through? Otherwise, how do I attach the wire to the finished
platter?
Also, for those of you who wrote asking me to post any responses I got, here
goes:
- almost a dozen people wrote to say they just epoxy/liquid nails/crazy
glued their platters on to their walls/houses/porches/ceilings/etc. (I
thought this was a pretty cool idea - a whole house covered with
platters...God knows I have enough seconds...but my husband caught me
hovering around the toolbox and said NO NO NO...oh well...)
- I got this good idea:
we used wire coat hangers and regular picture wire ... cut the wire
coat
hangers into strips and using heavy duty combination pliers ( they cut
metal and are good grippers) bend the strips to the form you need to fit
the platter in 4 corners or 3 ( found 4 worked best ) and bend again in
the back so you have something to tie the picture wire too .. voila
- and another good idea:
Epoxy a light-ish board (Maybe beveled and
stained is good too) to the back with chiseled or
drilled places on the back of the board for screws to
be set in as hangers.. If the platter is real heavy
maybe for good measure use anchors on the screws...
- and another coat hanger one, which is probably brilliant but which I can't
figure out how to do:
I watched Steven Jepson make a hanger for a large platter in his collection
from wire coat hangers. It was shaped like a letter "H" with the arms and
legs splayed out a bit and hooked on the ends. Adjustable to the size you
need, of course, since it's home-made. The ends of the wire will show, but
it didn't look bad at all when he'd finished with it and hung the platter.
- another involving epoxy (what did we do before this stuff?):
You might try forming a bar of clay with holes in it through which can be
threaded a wire. Fire it to bisque. Grind a like spot through the glaze on
the back of your piece, or use acid to etch it. Glue the clay bar to the
prepared spot. Use a commercial epoxy or get some construction adhesive (We
stuck the interior walls of our house to the floor with the stuff. It's very
strong!) You should be able to string wire through the bisque bar and hang
your platter.
Alternately, though a bit more risky. Get a tiny rock bit for your drill and
drill a couple of holes through the foot to hang it. This has a higher
chance of breaking the piece, but might be a less involved solution.
- I also heard from several people who used commercial plate hangers, etc,
and had good luck with them.
: )
Andie Carpenter
Handful of Earth Pottery
Ocean Pines, MD (where the sun has finally returned)
EMAIL: andie@princessco.com
OFFICIAL HOMEPAGE: www.andie.net
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