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perfect trimming

updated sat 30 sep 00

 

Ralph O. Robinson on thu 28 sep 00


Greetings,
I came across a discovery which I thought others would appreciate.
Years ago I constructed an igloo for our children. With a Bobcat, I
created a huge pile of snow and sprayed it with water. I bought a
package of fireplace kindling often sold at service stations throughout
Minnesota in the winter and pounded the kindling into the frozen dome so
the sticks were roughly equidistant from each other. As I carved out the
inside, removing the snow, I would reach the end of a piece of kindling
and would move on until eventually I had the interior completely
hollowed out, exposing the ends of all of the kindling, thus creating a
wall of consistent thickness throughout.
I started to replicate this in order to define the thickness of my pots
with 1 1/4" stainless nails pushed through wine corks that I had cut in
half and quickly realized that standard, ordinary push pins, available
at any drug store, would do quite nicely.
On the inside of the piece, I insert one in the very center of the
bottom, one where I want to define my foot and then two, three, or
whatever, all in a straight line, going up the interior wall of the
vessel. When I hear the faintest "click" of my tool making contact with
the push pin, I have defined the thickness and continue trimming until I
reach the next pin. Mending the minuscule holes is accomplished in a
heartbeat. This allows me to center one time, trim quickly with
certainty and end up with a consistent wall thickness of approximately a
1/4" throughout. I've dubbed it "the igloo technique!" Enjoy.
Ralph Robinson

Cindy Strnad on fri 29 sep 00


Hi, Ralph.

Pushing pins into the inside walls of your work in order to define the
thickness for trimming the outside walls is indeed a great idea. It's an
excellent way to teach yourself the "feel" of a well-trimmed pot.

In time, you will get this "feel" automaticly, not only during the trimming
process, but also during throwing. So, pull the pins once in a while. You'll
be amazed at how accurate you've become. To test, it's always helpful to cut
the pot in half and have a look at the wall thickness.

Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels Pottery
RR 1, Box 51
Custer, SD 57730
USA
earthenv@gwtc.net
www.earthenvesselssd.com