Kate Johnson on tue 1 jan 02
Good morning again, list...
since the wheel's at school and school is both locked and barely heated
today, I'm going to make a New Year's pinchpot...love doing them, anyway, so
it's not great hardship.
I do have a question for those who are more familiar with the form than
I...I have done interesting things to the outside surfaces, paddling them
smooth, faceting them, scraping them, burnishing them, making a weathered
"old leather" effect, impressing things into the surface (particularly
successful with what I called my "Newgrange" mug--I have a nice pin with
spirals on it that made a wonderful texture in the surface.) Some of my
pinchpots have been quite complex on the outside...
But the INSIDES are more difficult...they want to look a little wavy and
amateurish. When I'm making crude raku tea bowls, that's not really a
problem, but some of the other things would look better if they were more
uniform (a bowl and a goblet were particularly strange-looking...)
I keep wanting a heavy-ish round ball on the end of a stick to use for
"bonking" inside--interior paddling, kind of. Anyone make anything like
that?? Or is there a way to scrape them inside so they're uniform--does
anyone know of a good tool for that? I don't make very large forms with
this method, so a metal rib is a bit large--I tend to gouge the opposite
side.
Any suggestions gratefully appreciated...there are technical tricks to
everything, aren't there!
Best--
Kate
Mike Gordon on tue 1 jan 02
Hi,
Try using a small rubber rib for the inside they make them smaller than
the metal kind.Then use a damp elephant ear sponge, that should do the
trick, good luck, Mike Gordon
Millie Carpenter on tue 1 jan 02
kate
take an empty laundry detergent container and draw the size and shape that you
want cut it out with an exacto or mat knife. use a nail file to smothe the tiny
jags
that you seem to get no matter how careful you are. the other suggestion is to
take
one of the free AOL CDs that you keep getting in the mail and run an embossing
tool
or very hot hair dryer on it until it is plyable to cut a wedge out of.
wonderful smooth
edge on it.
Millie
Kate Johnson wrote:
> pinchpot...
>
> I do have a question for those who are more familiar with the form than
> I...I have done interesting things to the outside surfaces, paddling them
> smooth, faceting them, scraping them, burnishing them, making a weathered
> "old leather" effect, impressing things into the surface (particularly
> successful with what I called my "Newgrange" mug--I have a nice pin with
> spirals on it that made a wonderful texture in the surface.) Some of my
> pinchpots have been quite complex on the outside...
>
> But the INSIDES are more difficult...they want to look a little wavy and
> amateurish. When I'm making crude raku tea bowls, that's not really a
> problem, but some of the other things would look better if they were more
> uniform (a bowl and a goblet were particularly strange-looking...)
Janet Price on wed 2 jan 02
Kate,
Try a tennis ball--might be a bit small, but it doesn't stick and
doesn't leave much of a texture behind.
Kate Johnson wrote:
>
> But the INSIDES are more difficult...they want to look a little wavy and
Janet
--
Janet Price
jkprice@amherst.edu
Ann Geiger on wed 2 jan 02
Hello Kate Johnson
I'm new and this is the first post I have made to the list. So if I do it
wrong, mea culpa.
I like the ideas you are using on the outside of your pots, I have done some
of them but I don;t know what you mean by making a "weathered 'old leather'
effect.
Regarding the inside of your pots, I have two suggestions. The first, from
Paulus Berensen in his book "Finding your way with clay", is to use your
thumb as a rib by sweeping it around the interior of the pot. I have found
it smooths the pot interior really well, so far as I can reach. On the
bottom I use my finger tips in a similar fashion which is fairly successful.
On a big pot, he suggests wrapping your fingers around your thumb to make a
fist which goes inside the pot and then slapping the outside of the pot.
I've tried to do it but not too successfully yet. Of course, with a larger
pot (fist sized) a rib will fit inside.
I also thought that the tool you want and described sounds a lot like my
grandmother's darning egg which was egg-shaped and about the same size and
had about a six inch handle. Probably any you found would be in an antique
shop and would cost a rediculous sum. But, using those wooden craft egg
shapes and a dowel I would think you could make one if you can get the hole
drilled into the egg right. Do you know anyone with a drill press?
The list is terrific, I am learning a lot. Still have to look and see what
a pipkin is. I thought it was some kind of bird at first.
Annie Geiger who calls herself anniethepotter in more grandiose moments
Fly Creek has a beautiful one inch snow fall with flakes slowly coming down
this morning.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Kate Johnson
Sent: January 01, 2002 12:33 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: pinch pot questions
Good morning again, list...
since the wheel's at school and school is both locked and barely heated
today, I'm going to make a New Year's pinchpot...love doing them, anyway, so
it's not great hardship.
I do have a question for those who are more familiar with the form than
I...Some of my
pinchpots have been quite complex on the outside...
But the INSIDES are more difficult...they want to look a little wavy and
amateurish.
I keep wanting a heavy-ish round ball on the end of a stick to use for
"bonking" inside--interior paddling, kind of. Anyone make anything like
that?? Or is there a way to scrape them inside so they're uniform--does
anyone know of a good tool for that? I don't make very large forms with
this method, so a metal rib is a bit large--I tend to gouge the opposite
side.
Any suggestions gratefully appreciated...there are technical tricks to
everything, aren't there!
Best--
Kate
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Timakia@AOL.COM on wed 2 jan 02
Kate, sounds as if you had fun with the pinch bowls.
As you already might have experienced, there are different times in the
process of drying, that clay respond better. Let the pinch pot sit for a
while and then start fidling with it again, helps with those bumps.This can
be repeated over a period of time.Use your damp thump and smear in one
direction(from deep downwards upwards). Use old plastic cards and cut them to
the perfect size and shape for your particular pinch bowl. Scrape the uneven
parts away from the inside. I go as far as cutting soda cans to shape the
inside of my pinch pots. Use spoons and teaspoons. Start looking for creative
tools. That, on it`s own can be exiting.
Enjoy!
Antoinette Badenhorst
http://hometown.aol.com/timakia
105 Westwood circle
Saltillo, MS
38866
Marianne Bornet on wed 2 jan 02
Hi Kate
I cut up old credit and telephone cards to the shape that I want and
sometimes attach them to a straight tool if the top of the pot is too narrow
for my hand.
Happy New Year to everyone
Marianne in the cold !! South of France - New Year's resolution to stop
lurking.
Kate Johnson on wed 2 jan 02
Hi, Ann--
my, it's nice to be able to ANSWER a question instead of always asking.
> I'm new and this is the first post I have made to the list. So if I do it
> wrong, mea culpa.
Looks right to me!
>
> I like the ideas you are using on the outside of your pots, I have done
some
> of them but I don;t know what you mean by making a "weathered 'old
leather'
> effect.
Well, it's partly a matter of the clay you use, and partly timing. This
particular series was a red midrange clay body that fires from ^5 to
^8--it's not TERRIBLY groggy, but somewhat. When you make a pinch pot,
sometimes crevices, wrinkles, and "stretch marks" appear in the outside of
the form as you open it, if you don't keep wetting it. I _like_ that, so I
allowed them to form, then paddled the outside of the pot with a smooth
piece of mahogany (actually it's the busk to my 18th c. stays, but that's a
whole other hobby/obsession) but didn't otherwise smooth it. (No
scraping, no sanding, no sponging, etc.)
Then because I am still a baby when it comes to glazes and not at ALL ready
to tackle all those gorgeous but mysterious recipes (yes, I AM going to
order the book, thank you John and Ron!!), I used a commercial glaze to
accentuate the glossy warm brown look of old leather. It was Duncan's
"Courtyard" glaze in Iron Ore, and it added just the right degree of gloss
to give the effect I was after. I used only one light layer because I just
wanted a bit of slight satiny shine, not a thick coverup.
> Regarding the inside of your pots, I have two suggestions. The first,
from
> Paulus Berensen in his book "Finding your way with clay", is to use your
> thumb as a rib by sweeping it around the interior of the pot. I have
found
> it smooths the pot interior really well, so far as I can reach.
Oh, yes...there's just still that bit of unevenness. Makes me crazy because
I'm used to the kind of smooth regularity you get with the centrifugal force
of a wheel. Especially since I can get the outsides as smooth as you could
possibly want them, if that's what I'm aiming for. Doesn't bother me on a
closed form like a vase, makes me nuts on a pot or bowl.
> I've tried to do it but not too successfully yet. Of course, with a
larger
> pot (fist sized) a rib will fit inside.
And as someone suggested, a rubber rib is at least smaller and softer and
can be bent to fit...
>
> I also thought that the tool you want and described sounds a lot like my
> grandmother's darning egg which was egg-shaped and about the same size and
> had about a six inch handle.
OOoooh, good idea! I was thinking in terms of the kind of wooden mallet
(forgive me, musicians, I know that's not the right term) that you might use
on a vibrophone--thinking back to my days as the wife of a jazz
musician...
Probably any you found would be in an antique
> shop and would cost a rediculous sum. But, using those wooden craft egg
> shapes and a dowel I would think you could make one if you can get the
hole
> drilled into the egg right. Do you know anyone with a drill press?
Nope. But I'll bet I can find something, or make one with a balloon and
plaster as someone suggested offlist, (and thank you. Fred!) or find a
Kemper tool next time I hit the city (thank you, Snail and Gwyn...)
>
> The list is terrific, I am learning a lot. Still have to look and see
what
> a pipkin is. I thought it was some kind of bird at first.
Three legged pot you cook over the coals with...basically. Though when I
looked online I found lots of things that WEREN'T that but that were still
called pipkins.
>
Best--
Kate
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