Eleanor on fri 2 nov 01
Is the wedging wire out of style?
I learned to wedge (and center) 'way back in the 50's and I
duplicated the set-up when I put together my little home studio.
I bought a black concrete paving stone, heavy, smooth surface,
absorbent, about 20x20x1 3/4, placed it on top of a very sturdy
storage cabinet which is against a wall, and, with my husband's help,
installed the wire.
The wire--from the hardware store, labelled "stove wire"-- is
flexible and considerably heavier gauge than the wire used for wiring
off the wheel. It is placed immediately to the left (I'm left-handed)
of the paving block. One end of the wire is attached to the cabinet
with a heavy-duty screw-in thingee with an eyelet on the end; the
other end is attached to a turnbuckle assembly which is attached to a
heavy-duty hook screwed into a stud in the wall behind the paving
stone. The wire is at about a 45 degree angle to the stone and is
very taut.
A mass of clay about the size of a grapefruit is cut in half by the
wire and a half is SLAMMED down onto the block, cut side down; the
other half is SLAMMED down on top of it. The mass is then cut again,
at right angles to the first cut, SLAMMED onto the block, followed by
the other half. Air holes will show up on the cut surfaces; when they
stop showing, the clay is wedged. Larger masses of clay are wedged
the same way except that the clay is cut into slices which are
SLAMMED onto each other. It's the SLAMMING which gets rid of the
airholes (and is also good for the soul?).
I was never taught kneading techniques; I learned some of those from
books or recent classes and I incorporate them in my wedging process,
always cutting with the wire to check for holes.
Coning up on the wheel can also be used to eliminate holes and help
with centering. I find it tricky; the student would need to see this
demonstrated and try it with the help of an instructor. It would take
several more pages of text for me to try to describe it; there are
plenty of descriptions and pictures in claybooks.
In recent years I have taken clay classes, always in well-equipped
studios; none had the wire.
To paraphrase Martha Stewart: you learn something new every day from
Clayart. I hope the above counts as a contribution.
Eleanor Kohler
Centerport, NY---beautiful fall color here
| |
|
