potterybydai on mon 1 apr 02
Hi, Janet - Long time since I've seen you! I do birdbaths, and make them
fairly shallow (about an inch or so of water), with some means of the birds
getting in and out of the water, like a little piece of driftwood (collected
from Quadra Island's Rebecca Spit) or some rocks (either real or made of
clay), a clay leaf draped into the "well", etc. I also score the surface so
that, even with a glaze, it's not too slippery. Mostly I make them with
three holes around the rim, and string them with aircraft cable (wire). I
used to string them up with lovely clay-compatible leather thongs, but
squirrels love to dine on leather thongs, and the birdbaths don't fare well
crashing to the ground! I, too, have thought of pedestals (I love the look)
but wonder just how high the pedestal would have to be to eliminate leaping
cats from the bath (or buffet, depending on which animal you are). It may
have to be so high that it would be unstable.
Good luck with them---they're fun to make! Maybe we'll get a chance to get
over to your Island next time we're on the coast.
Dai in Kelowna, BC.
potterybydai@shaw.ca
Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you
respond to it.
Jeremy McLeod on mon 1 apr 02
Tommy Humphries wrote:
> As for the depth of the basin, anything up to 3" should
> suffice...deeper if you have larger birds visiting the baths. I like a more
> flat bottom on the basin, it gives more room for the birds.
A local Colorado wild bird maven recently gave me an extensive
"in-service" about birdbaths. Her biggest concern was that anything
much over 1" made for potential drownings for birds. When she gets
2-3" deep baths, she puts decorative rocks in the deepest part of the
bowl to prevent her visitors getting in too deep.
I offer this differing perspective because I'm NOT a wild bird maven
and am wondering what other opions are out there re: birdbath depth.
Making the 1"-deep versions has proven to be more difficult than I
thought they'd be... they're collapsing flat as the proverbial pancake
in the glaze firing. :-(
Jeremy McLeod
Paul Bailey / Janet Moe on mon 1 apr 02
I have been making some large outdoor planters and have been thinking about putting
some of them on top of pedestals. I am also interested in bird baths on pedestals.
My questions is how are these attached? Are they sometimes made all in one piece or
glued together after firing? Would it be practical to make them as two pieces so
that the planter could be removed for cleaning and potting up? Anyone with
experience?
Are there any specific requirements for bird baths? For example, depth of water and
surface of pot?
Thanks for any help and suggestions!
Janet, in beautiful BC, enjoying the sunshine and the daffodils!
Marcia Selsor on mon 1 apr 02
Dear Janet,
I have been making bird baths with a new approach since Linda Blossom's sink workshop
in Feb. in Paris, Texas.. She designed a method of removing a slab from a hump mold
without messing with the lip. I love it! Anyway, this is done by having a bat fit the
hump mold and another bat ring beyond the hump mold so the clay can be lifted off the
mold without any deforming the lip. The lips should be 2-3 or so inches for this to
work. Also the lip is then sandwiched with another bat ring and flipped over. The
entire thing is supported on a few bricks and the inside surface can be worked. Linda
uses this method on sinks. I adapted it to bird baths.
I have some 22" wide shallow forms I use for the bowl part. It gets no more than 2.5
inches deep. You could make a slump mold by tying a cloth over a garbage can and
pouring plaster into it. If you keep it tight you will get a shallow form.
The pedestals are made using a 28" slab around a 6" sonortubes wrapped with
newspaper. I put a thick extruded band on the top and bottom of the pedestal. On the
top I shave a recess to fit the bowl. It is not attached but sits in the pedestal.
This is good because the bowl must be cleaned regularly.
I think the planters could work the same way.
As for the surface, I have been playing with smooth crawl glaze surfaces. I think the
bumps give the birds some traction.
I have some digitals if you want to see them. Email me off list.
Marcia in Montana
Paul Bailey / Janet Moe wrote:
> I have been making some large outdoor planters and have been thinking about putting
> some of them on top of pedestals. I am also interested in bird baths on pedestals.
> My questions is how are these attached? Are they sometimes made all in one piece or
> glued together after firing? Would it be practical to make them as two pieces so
> that the planter could be removed for cleaning and potting up? Anyone with
> experience?
>
> Are there any specific requirements for bird baths? For example, depth of water and
> surface of pot?
> Thanks for any help and suggestions!
>
> Janet, in beautiful BC, enjoying the sunshine and the daffodils!
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Tommy Humphries on mon 1 apr 02
For garden pots it is not really practical to make the pot and pedestal one
piece...it makes for a really heavy pot when it comes to moving and dumping
out old dirt...plus if you standardize a bit you can get away with making a
standard size and shape pedestal to go with a variety of pots.
As for birdbaths, the old hand thrown ones I have seen all have a rim on the
bottom which fits into a gallery on the pedestal...often with a hole going
all the way through for a locking rod to go through. This makes for a more
stable birdbath basin. Concrete birdbaths have an indention on the base of
the basin for the pedestal to lock into... this will work with concrete
because of the additional weight of the concrete...the clay will be much
lighter. As for the depth of the basin, anything up to 3" should
suffice...deeper if you have larger birds visiting the baths. I like a more
flat bottom on the basin, it gives more room for the birds.
And leave the interior of the basin unglazed...it is a pitiful sight to see
a bird struggling to get out of a glazed birdbath.
Large birdbath pedestals would probably need to be made in sections unless
you have long enough arms to reach 35" down to the bottom of the
base...Large birdbath bases can easily take up 75 lb. of clay!
Tommy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Bailey / Janet Moe"
To:
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 4:57 PM
Subject: Garden Pots and Pedestals
> I have been making some large outdoor planters and have been thinking
about putting
> some of them on top of pedestals. I am also interested in bird baths on
pedestals.
> My questions is how are these attached? Are they sometimes made all in one
piece or
> glued together after firing? Would it be practical to make them as two
pieces so
> that the planter could be removed for cleaning and potting up? Anyone with
> experience?
>
> Are there any specific requirements for bird baths? For example, depth of
water and
> surface of pot?
> Thanks for any help and suggestions!
>
> Janet, in beautiful BC, enjoying the sunshine and the daffodils!
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
>
Tommy Humphries on tue 2 apr 02
> I just wonder how our fine feathered friends handle depths over 1" in the
> wild...I love watching the bluebirds around here fighting over a puddle in
> the yard, nearly 6" deep...jump into the middle and flap flap flap dunk
dunk
> and out the other side. Haven't found a drowned one yet.
>
> Tommy
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeremy McLeod"
> To:
> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 11:21 PM
> Subject: Re: Garden Pots and Pedestals
>
>
> > Tommy Humphries wrote:
> >
> > > As for the depth of the basin, anything up to 3" should
> > > suffice...deeper if you have larger birds visiting the baths. I like a
> more
> > > flat bottom on the basin, it gives more room for the birds.
> >
> > A local Colorado wild bird maven recently gave me an extensive
> > "in-service" about birdbaths. Her biggest concern was that anything
> > much over 1" made for potential drownings for birds. When she gets
> > 2-3" deep baths, she puts decorative rocks in the deepest part of the
> > bowl to prevent her visitors getting in too deep.
> >
> > I offer this differing perspective because I'm NOT a wild bird maven
> > and am wondering what other opions are out there re: birdbath depth.
> > Making the 1"-deep versions has proven to be more difficult than I
> > thought they'd be... they're collapsing flat as the proverbial pancake
> > in the glaze firing. :-(
> >
> > Jeremy McLeod
> >
> >
>
____________________________________________________________________________
> __
> > Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
> >
> > You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> > settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
> >
> > Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
> >
>
Martin Howard on tue 2 apr 02
IMHE the pedestal has a flattened top which sits inside the pot. The pot
rests on an external gallery of the pedestal. The pot has a hole in the
bottom for drainage which is continued through the pedestal, OR leads to
outlet valleys at the join.
We had one until a few years ago, made in Victorian times. A friend reversed
into it at Christmas!
So must make some replacements, sometime.
Martin Howard
Webbs Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
01371 850 423
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
Updated 3rd March 2002
Paul Bailey / Janet Moe on fri 5 apr 02
Thank you to everyone that sent me suggestions both on and off list!
There were lots of
good ideas! Special thanks to Marcia for her digitals of her lovely
birdbaths! I now
have many ideas dancing in my head and hopefully coming out of the
kiln soon!!! (I know
I can, I know I can...)
Janet, enjoying all the birds returning to the BC coast!
claybair on thu 2 may 02
Hi Marcia,
Thanks for the timely posting.
I decided yesterday that I am going to make some bird baths next week.
I'd love to see your digitals.
Not having a slab roller I will probably try my hand at throwing these
babies!
However if that fails I can always slap out some slabs the hard way..... 2
sticks and a roller!
BTW, I was in the Phila area last month...... icky..... hated it.....
suffice it to say I couldn't wait to get back here.
Best regards,
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
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