Kathi LeSueur on thu 16 jan 03
mlkrakowski@CITLINK.NET wrote:
>
>
> WEDGING: A great deal of damage can be done--I know--to shoulders,
> neck, by
> wedging on wrong height table. >>
I would say that a great deal of damage can be done, period. For the
person who is a full-time potter, who uses several tons of clay a year,
it is just too much wedging to remain healthly. I speak as a someone who
has been a production potter for over 20 years. I go through over 5 tons
of clay a year. I generate lots of scrap. I do minimal wedging and have
had a pugmill since 1977. I, also, have had two wrist surguries and one
shoulder surgery. Now, I may be predisposed to joint problems (not
saying I am, just a possibility) but unless you are a big boned person
with very large wrist bones, large hands, and the shoulders of a
linebacker, I'd suggest you keep wedging to a minimum or risk the
consequences. My surgeon is one of the best in the U.S. for shoulders.
He was appalled at the movement required to wedge clay and that potters
routinely subject their bodies to hours of this activity.
Kathi
Lily Krakowski on thu 16 jan 03
TEACHING BOOKS: I recommend THE COMPLETE POTTER'S COMPANION by Tony Birks
ISBN: 0-8212-2014-4. It is beautiful, detailed, inspiring, and tells you
lots and lots and lots....I recommend THE CRAFT OF THE POTTER by Michael
Casson as much.ISBN 0-8120-2028-6. It is not as gorgeous but just as
informative and the two books complement each other. Some info in one not
in other etc---but these are rich wonderful books. I listed Birks first and
Casson second not from preference, but because of the alphabet (for which I
am not responsible). For glazes only: Harry Fraser. Head for Potters Shop
and ORDER!
WEDGING: A great deal of damage can be done--I know--to shoulders, neck, by
wedging on wrong height table. As far as I have been able to determine the
best height for a wedging table is found by: standing straight, keeping
one's hands at one's side, raising one's hand (right angle if possible to
wrist) and having someone measure from palm to floor. That is proper height
give and take 1/2 inch. Every classroom should have wedging platforms--heavy
wooden platforms about 20"x 20" and made of 2"x4" for smaller people to
stand on while wedging--if no table is right height. One should not have to
hunch one's shoulders to wedge. ALSO; MANY PEOPLE FIND IT EASIER TO WEDGE
ON THE FLOOR--EITHER SPECIAL BARE AREA, OR CANVAS COVERED BOARD. Easy on
back and shoulders. Not on knees. (Get pillow or foded up canvas pad)
MISS MANNERS: some years ago gave a Commencement address to one of the Ivy
League college. Beautiful. Manners are to society what WD40 is to
machinery. She says it better, but that is my view.
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
Marcia Selsor on sat 18 jan 03
I participated in sessions at the American Anthropological Association
(AAA) on Contemporary recent of ceramics ecology.
I also presented there but I digress. One paper several years ago
documented when tribes in the Phillipines began using pots to cook. The
analysis of the teeth in excavated corps gave a full detail of the diet
and established when people switched to cooked foods.
Marcia
Gavin Stairs wrote:
> Anthropologists and archaeologists who study bones of the long dead often
> use injury and deformation syndromes to infer the occupation of the person.
> For instance, long use of a matate results in characteristic injuries to
> the lower spine and the big toe, which can be seen in many agricultural
> culture remains from the Americas. We all know about the many sports
> injuries that result from overstress and overuse. Stands to reason that
> potters would have similar syndromes. That would be: fill in the
> blank. Maybe wrist and shoulder scars. I suppose the exact list would
> depend on the posture of the potter, and the technology as well. So we
> might expect a low-wheel potter from India to have different injuries than
> a Korean or Japanese potter, or than a North American electric wheel
> potter. I expect that having an apprentice to make clay would be the
> approximate equivalent of having a de-airing pug mill, and would show as
> less severe or absent scars. MAybe a doctor and an anthropologist could
> come up with a definitive list for the potter's skeletal marks syndrome.
>
> Gavin
>
> At 08:26 PM 16/01/2003 -0500, Kathi wrote:
>
>> ...had a pugmill since 1977. I, also, have had two wrist surguries and one
>> shoulder surgery. Now, I may be predisposed to joint problems (not
>> saying I am, just a possibility) but unless you are a big boned person
>> with very large wrist bones, large hands, and the shoulders of a
>> linebacker, I'd suggest you keep wedging to a minimum or risk the
>> consequences. My surgeon is one of the best in the U.S. for shoulders.
>> He was appalled at the movement required to wedge clay and that potters
>> routinely subject their bodies to hours of this activity.
>
>
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>
--
Tuscany in 2003
http://home.attbi.com/~m.selsor/Tuscany2003.html
Gavin Stairs on sat 18 jan 03
Anthropologists and archaeologists who study bones of the long dead often
use injury and deformation syndromes to infer the occupation of the person.
For instance, long use of a matate results in characteristic injuries to
the lower spine and the big toe, which can be seen in many agricultural
culture remains from the Americas. We all know about the many sports
injuries that result from overstress and overuse. Stands to reason that
potters would have similar syndromes. That would be: fill in the
blank. Maybe wrist and shoulder scars. I suppose the exact list would
depend on the posture of the potter, and the technology as well. So we
might expect a low-wheel potter from India to have different injuries than
a Korean or Japanese potter, or than a North American electric wheel
potter. I expect that having an apprentice to make clay would be the
approximate equivalent of having a de-airing pug mill, and would show as
less severe or absent scars. MAybe a doctor and an anthropologist could
come up with a definitive list for the potter's skeletal marks syndrome.
Gavin
At 08:26 PM 16/01/2003 -0500, Kathi wrote:
>...had a pugmill since 1977. I, also, have had two wrist surguries and one
>shoulder surgery. Now, I may be predisposed to joint problems (not
>saying I am, just a possibility) but unless you are a big boned person
>with very large wrist bones, large hands, and the shoulders of a
>linebacker, I'd suggest you keep wedging to a minimum or risk the
>consequences. My surgeon is one of the best in the U.S. for shoulders.
>He was appalled at the movement required to wedge clay and that potters
>routinely subject their bodies to hours of this activity.
Working Potter on sun 19 jan 03
SPIRAL WEDGING?
Lee Love on tue 21 jan 03
----- Original Message -----
From: "Working Potter"
> SPIRAL WEDGING?
Looking at page 30 of "The Japanese Pottery Handbook", by Penny Simpson.
It is what she calls kikumomi (chrysanthemum wedging.)
--
Lee Love in Mashiko, Japan
Ikiru@hachiko.com
"The Universe is, at any time, what you say it is.". -James Burke.
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