Alex Solla on thu 2 oct 03
Carole-
We all learn from our teachers. My first few teachers didnt even make pots. But the studio had pot lifters so I too distorted more than my share of pots.
Here's a simple remedy: if you use lifters, keep em clean and wet, wedge them gently into a groove/undercut on the foot of the pot, then wirecut UNDER both the pot and the lifters and gently move the pot to a board. A whole lot less distortion this way. I can move bowls up to about 10in wide pretty easily this way, though I have to admit, once I had a pile of bats, I quit using lifters.
For smaller stuff I found that throwing faster and drier, using a twisted cutoff string instead of the usual cutoff wires most studio have, and using dry hands to move the pot made all the difference.
Good luck
Alex Solla
Cold Springs Studio
4088 Cold Springs Road
Trumansburg, NY 14886-9175
Carole Fox wrote:
Sheesh. I can't figure out how to use those potlifter things without
distorting or nicking a pot. (Usually, the pot is lifted just fine, but then
you can't get the lifters back out!)
It's a little embarrassing when a student asks if I can show them how to use
the potlifters. I just tell them straight- hey, I really suck at that (well
maybe I word it a little better).
Then I show them how to slide their pot off the wheelhead. Get the wheelhead
very wet . Wire under the pot until enough water gets underneath to cause
the pot to slide. Hold a wet bat next to the wheel head and then just slide
the form off the wheel and onto the bat.
As Lisa might say...easy peasy, lemon squeezy!
Carole Fox
Elkton, MD
thesilverfox@dol.net
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Vince Pitelka on thu 2 oct 03
I have mentioned this before on Clayart, but I am not sure how many people
have tried it. The perfect solution is to throw things on canvas squares
adhered to the wheelhead (or to a bat if your wheelhead has bat pins). This
works for any pots up to covered jars, pitchers, vases as big as two or
three quarts, and you can remove them from the wheel without touching them
or distorting them in any way. The best material for this is the old
fashioned oilcloth canvas. You can still get it from canvas suppliers on
the Internet. It doesn't fray over time nearly as bad as regular canvas
duck.
Cut it into squares with a diagonal measurement at least twice the foot
diameter of the forms you are going to throw. It is important that they be
SQUARES, not circles, octagons, etc. If you are going to be using the
canvas squares for a variety of sizes of vessels, then make a variety of
canvas squares of appropriate sizes.
Go to your local cheapo hardware store (go to Big Lots if you have one
nearby) and get a standard triangular masonry trowell - the kind where the
shaft coming out of the handle drops down a few inches to the flat
triangular trowell. This is important. If they are cheap, and if they are
available in several sizes, then get one each of the different sizes. If
you have to pay more and can only afford one, get the larger one. It will
work for all sizes of pots.
Once you have your canvas squares cut to size, coat them on both sides with
a thin layer of gritless slip. I just use goldart and water. If you are
throwing porcelain, use a slip of your porcelain body. It must be a
gritless slip. Let the squares dry completely. This is importan to help
the squares absorb moisture from the slip on the wheelhead, essentially
"glueing" them down. Once you use them, the residual slip from the last use
will suffice for this purpose.
When working at your wheel, have a container of this gritless slip. Smear a
thin spiral of slip out from the center of the wheel, enough to fit the
square you are using. Put the canvas square down over the slip, immediately
squeegee out from the center in all directions with a Kemper black rubber
rib, and then turn on the wheel and squeegee out from the center in a
spiral. The rib will squeeze some slip out from under the canvas, and you
should use the rib to smear this across the top surface of the canvas,
sealing it down firmly. Squeegee off all excess slip.
Throw your pot as you would normally. When it is done, carefully run the
cutoff wire under the canvas (not under the pot on top of the canvas). Take
the mason's trowell, hold it flat against the wheelhead, and slip the edge
under one corner of the canvas, and pull the corner to drag the pot onto the
trowell. Lift the pot and set the trowell down on your ware board, and use
one corner of the square to drag the pot off the trowell onto the ware
board. The design of the trowell, with the "blade" at a level lower than
the handle, gives you excellent control as you are moving your pots.
When the pot has stiffened enough, pick it up, peel off the canvas, smooth
the burr around the edge, add a rolled edge if you want, and sign your name
or stamp your chop.
And of course this technique works equally well if you plan to trim the foot
of the pot. It is just a way of removing pots from the wheel without ever
touching the outside of the pot and wihtout using pot-lifters. With the
canvas squares of the appropriate size, you can fit as many pots on a
wareboard as you would if you were lifting them off by hand. And they cost
so little.
At http://tarps.com/canvas.htm they currently have an 8"x12" 12 oz.
waterproof oilcloth canvas tarp on sale for $28.80 - that's a lot of canvas
"bats."
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
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