dayton j grant on fri 2 mar 01
Sometimes I throw large pots, like a bag(25lbs)or a half a bag (12.5)and
when I get the clay from the company sometimes I get it in round
bags(6x12) like if I order a custom ton, but when I buy less than a ton
at a time it comes in a long cube (6x6x12) and Ive found that clay that
comes out of the mixer at the company dosent need to be wedged because it
is all of uniform consistency and there are no bubbles, (mostly)so to get
the long cube ready to throw, I work it into a large nodule shape. (like
an egg shape but symmetrical, no big end no little end ,both pretty much
the same,an oval in profile )Fist I lift it up and let it fall on one of
the six inch edges ,evenly across, then I do the other three on that end
then I do all of the other six inch edges on the other end, then I do the
four twelve inch edges and I repeat this process ,without letting any of
the clay fold over itself (making a weak spot)about three times and
viola' its a 'node',if I want to throw a 25 pounder I just bang the bootm
of it on the floor and it becomes like a gumdrop shape, or if I want to
throw two 12 and a half pounders, I just cut it in half and theres two
ready made gumdrop shapes if ,I want to throw three eight and a third
pounders I just elongate the watermelon (node)shape and just cut it in
three and so on and so on ,it cuts down on alot of wedging and weighing
and measuring ....so anyways when you have clay that has been treated in
this way, (being right out of the bag) it is really strong and resiliant
but theres a catch ,..it has a 'memory' ,especially the bigger ones, so
there is the;' ghost 'of a square in the clay and so someone watching may
think "man thats not centered properly"when in actuality it is in better
condition to throw than something that has been squished around and
appears to be uniformly round so sometimes you can choose to have more
facilty while giving up the appearance of a perfectly centered body of
clay, like the person who posted about that guy who threw 20 pounders
that were 'off' ,they couldnt have been too far off or they just wouldnt
fly ,the way I throw my raku is in a way that I would call' loose'
because I pay much more attention to the details of the process,than the
appearance and sometimes even close my eyes to find out where I really
stand technically, I leave these pots as natural looking as possible and
I also leave them a little thicker because they wont be fired over 05 (I
also like to draw attention to my unusual method so I make sure my hand
marks are left clearly visible and I dont trim 'at all' as a little
lesson to any curious student who runs across any of my raku stuff)on the
other hand the stuff that I high fire ,shows 'no' signs of fingerprints
(and I dont trim those either ,I basically never trim) Ive been told that
I look really "spaztic" when I throw (like Joe Cocker ),I groan and my
head wiggles like have 'altzheimers' or something, but contrary to the
appearance, it is at these very times when I am as clear as a bell and
at real peace with the world .
"a study of artists in the Los Angeles area found that' 11 out of 9'
showed signs of schizophrenia "
D.G. "he kwaazy"
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