Jim Tabor on mon 28 apr 03
I believe cutting the form off may be of greatest concern to avoid
s-cracks..
I use two methods and don't ever get cracks regardless of the body
(porcelain to terra-cotta), drying conditions, or trimming. On small
lids, I usually use a wet pastry spatula to cut the thin stem under the
slow turning form (timing is important, don't be too slow inserting the
spatula) and support it to be moved off the hump. Other forms are cut
with wet kite string long enough to wrap around the bottoms and have
about 2" to overlap. It is placed on a ledge at the bottom of the form
near the center of the string. The string has one end with a large knot
to hold and as the clay turns slowly, it feeds itself onto the ledge
and is pulled from the knotted end and cuts through the clay for a very
flat level bottom. At times I leave enough clay to foot and other times
it is cut as needed for a suitable thickness and is finished without any
trimming. On warm days of throwing outside I invert stiff forms to slow
drying the rims and stiffen the bottoms so they can be footed within the
hour and fired the following day.
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