Snail Scott on fri 10 may 02
At 12:21 PM 5/10/02 -0500, you wrote:
>In college I learned how to roll the "perfect" coil, I wonder if anyone
else
>has similar tricks?
I gave up rolling perfect coils years ago. No reason to
have them perfect. I just grab a big 'ol lump of clay,
squeeze it between my fists until it's long, fold it
double and repeat twice. (If the clay got frozen over
the winter, repeat twice more.) This all the wedging,
or rolling, any of my coils get. Then I just stick it
onto the piece and lute it into place. If it's the
first coil of a new workday, I score and slip the
previous top edge. That's the only scoring I do. I
doubt many people get better results from their
'perfect' coils than I do from my lumpy, floppy snakes.
All the irregularities get worked out in the joining.
Why bother rolling perfect coils at all? IMHO, a waste
of time.
I can roll perfect coils. I don't really have a trick
for it, except to keep the pressure even, and don't
let them get too long. I teach my students to make good
coils, too. They don't yet have the skill which most
handbuilders (and throwers, too) acquire with time -
the ability to judge the thickness of a clay wall just
by touching both sides. Until then, having a building
unit - the coil - of consistent thickness will help them
avoid unpleasant surprises. I don't need that particular
crutch, though, and prefer not to spend my time on it.
It's like throwing off the hump - 'close enough' will
do for centering the whole lump. You will refine the part
you're actually working with when it becomes relevant.
No need to get fussy in advance. When you center the lump
that will actually become the pot of the moment, you'll
take care of those details - why do the effort twice?
(There is one other reason for actually rolling coils -
it's a form of wedging. It aligns the particles of clay
and helps eliminate air bubbles. I find that my 'double
it over a few times' method takes care of both factors
adequately, especially with my preferred clays - very
groggy and nonplastic. Students, though, may try coiling
with more fine-grained clays, and such clays benefit more
from thorough pre-working. The students can learn which
shortcuts are appropriate later on, when they can make
an informed choice. I try to teach them things that are
generally applicable, not just the methods that are
suitable to work like my own.)
"Good habits are held in common and may be taught; bad
habits are deeply personal, and must be acquired for
onesself."
-Snail
Dwiggins, Sandra (NCI) on mon 13 may 02
Thanks, Snail, for that great response to the "perfect coil".
After taking workshops with Magdelene Odundo and other coil enthusiasts, I
started thinking the way you apparently do...what matters is the compression
and smoothing after the coils have been built up. So now, I do exactly what
you described...take a hunk of clay and squeeze and roll it between my palms
to make a coil...works great!
Sandy
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