Mark & Sylvia Mondloch on sat 28 feb 04
Last Monday I threw sinks and large vases and since Tuesday I've been =
out of commission with nasty hip pain- test shows that I have osteopena =
and Doc suspects a stress fracture in the left hip joint. So, like it or =
not , I have to face the fact that- yes indeedy I am growing older and =
have to make adjustments in how I work and play.=20
I've always centered with my left elbow braced in my thigh for leverage. =
I believe it was a contributing factor to the injury and I can see that =
isn't going to work anymore. I know this is the point where many decide =
to throw standing up, but I don't think that will work for the larger =
wide work that I throw. I'm thinking of trying to use a centering arm. =
Hubby could probably make anything I'd want -are there plans or pictures =
out there of these to look at? Any tips or advise on using them? =20
Any input is appreciated.=20
Thanks,
Sylvia
---
Mark & Sylvia Mondloch
Silver Creek Pottery & Forge
W6725 Hwy 144
Random Lake ,Wi 53075
HotArt@silvercreekpottery.com
http://www.silvercreekpottery.com
Leonard Smith on sun 29 feb 04
Here in Australia in the 80's a blind potter named Bill Reid (I think)
marketed a centering arm. It was pretty simple, an aluminum rod about
25mm (1") diam and long enough to be attached on one side of the wheel
and come past the center of the wheel and beyond. On the end was a
handle. The other end had a ball joint connection to an upright pillar
that attached to the wheel frame.
In the part that came into contact with the clay and effectively
centered it, was a piece of smooth wood about 100mm high by 200mm
wide. This was bolted to the rod.
Any competent engineer (and this list has more than its fair share)
should be able to make it. The principal it that by swinging the arm
against the spinning clay minimal pressure is required to center it.
Leonard Smith
Rosedale Street Gallery
2A Rosedale Street
Dulwich Hill NSW 2203
Australia
On Sunday, February 29, 2004, at 02:51 PM, Mark & Sylvia Mondloch wrote:
> Last Monday I threw sinks and large vases and since Tuesday I've been
> out of commission with nasty hip pain- test shows that I have
> osteopena and Doc suspects a stress fracture in the left hip joint.
> So, like it or not , I have to face the fact that- yes indeedy I am
> growing older and have to make adjustments in how I work and play.
>
> I've always centered with my left elbow braced in my thigh for
> leverage. I believe it was a contributing factor to the injury and I
> can see that isn't going to work anymore. I know this is the point
> where many decide to throw standing up, but I don't think that will
> work for the larger wide work that I throw. I'm thinking of trying to
> use a centering arm. Hubby could probably make anything I'd want -are
> there plans or pictures out there of these to look at? Any tips or
> advise on using them?
>
> Any input is appreciated.
> Thanks,
> Sylvia
>
> ---
> Mark & Sylvia Mondloch
> Silver Creek Pottery & Forge
> W6725 Hwy 144
> Random Lake ,Wi 53075
> HotArt@silvercreekpottery.com
> http://www.silvercreekpottery.com
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> _______
> 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.
>
>
Linda Ferzoco on sun 29 feb 04
In my first ceramics class in 1991, our teacher arranged a demonstration by a potter of traditional Chinese tea pots. He threw the pots off the 'top of the mountain', as he called it. It was an amazing, if daunting demonstration. His fingers danced and he created a wonderful pot as we watched mesmerized.
The potter was Ah Leon and I wish I'd bought one of his pots then, although I probably thought them too expensive.
Linda in California, returning student after a 13-year absence.
Lee love wrote:
I recommend this also for people who are having trouble with soreness
from centering.
This might be counter-intuitive, but try throwing off the hump. You
can pretty much center the hump by careful placement and patting, then,
you only center the very top of the hump for your work.
Ivor and Olive Lewis on sun 29 feb 04
Dear Sylvia,
I am very sorry to learn of your injury and hope that healing is rapid
and that you sustain no permanent injury.
This seems to be the second time someone has reported injury due to
using the inside of the thigh to increase leverage on clay as it is
being centred.
I am uncertain how common it is for instructors teach this technique
but it would seem that there should be serious reservations about its
use. There are certainly acceptable alternative ways of dealing with
large masses of clay which do not threaten to cause injury.
Perhaps serious thought needs to be given to researching the Potter's
Wheel, paying particular attention to anatomy and physics.
Perhaps this is one of the areas which might be considered by the
"Potter' Council". Is this something where the AcerS should be
applying its resources?
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis. Redhill, South Australia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark & Sylvia Mondloch"
To:
Sent: Sunday, 29 February 2004 2:21
Subject: centering arm advise wanted
Last Monday I threw sinks and large vases and since Tuesday I've been
out of commission with nasty hip pain- test shows that I have
osteopena and Doc suspects a stress fracture in the left hip joint.
So, like it or not , I have to face the fact that- yes indeedy I am
growing older and have to make adjustments in how I work and play.
I've always centered with my left elbow braced in my thigh for
leverage. I believe it was a contributing factor to the injury and I
can see that isn't going to work anymore. I know this is the point
where many decide to throw standing up, but I don't think that will
work for the larger wide work that I throw. I'm thinking of trying to
use a centering arm. Hubby could probably make anything I'd want -are
there plans or pictures out there of these to look at? Any tips or
advise on using them?
Any input is appreciated.
Thanks,
Sylvia
---
Mark & Sylvia Mondloch
Silver Creek Pottery & Forge
W6725 Hwy 144
Random Lake ,Wi 53075
HotArt@silvercreekpottery.com
http://www.silvercreekpottery.com
______________________________________________________________________
________
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.
clennell on mon 1 mar 04
Sour Cherry Pottery
> Last Monday I threw sinks and large vases and since Tuesday I've been out of
> commission with nasty hip pain- test shows that I have osteopena and Doc
> suspects a stress fracture in the left hip joint. So, like it or not , I have
> to face the fact that- yes indeedy I am growing older and have to make
> adjustments in how I work and play.
>
> I've always centered with my left elbow braced in my thigh for leverage. I
> believe it was a contributing factor to the injury and I can see that isn't
> going to work anymore. I know this is the point where many decide to throw
> standing up, but I don't think that will work for the larger wide work that I
> throw. I'm thinking of trying to use a centering arm. Hubby could probably
> make anything I'd want -are there plans or pictures out there of these to look
> at? Any tips or advise on using them?
>
> Any input is appreciated.
> Thanks,
> Sylvia
>
> ---
> Mark & Sylvia Mondloch
>
Sylvia: I made myself a baller for opening large amounts of clay . the
plans where in Clay Times i think. It called for a wheelbarrel handle, and
a wheel coaster. Be damned if I remember the issue. Axner is selling one
for jiggering. the funny thing about opening with this contaption is that
you move the arm to the left for opening which is the opposite direction
you'd think. My buddy is a sink maker and I introduced him to the baller and
he swears by it. His sinks are in the 30 lb range and he is over 50 like a
lot of us.
Maybe someone on clayart will remember the plans. It even seems to me it
was a Clayarter that orginally was selling the plans and then decided oh
hell give em away. People don't want to make things they want them already
made.
For a centering arm I made a board with a bunch of holes drilled in it and
fastened to the wall (very securely because you're going to be using some
force - big enough to fit a sharpened wheel barrel handle in. I put what
looks like a canoe paddle blade in the middle of the handle (at the center
of my wheelhead) and I pull this down on the lump of clay. It's using
leverage, i guess. I don't know if my words are any help here.
Cheers,
Tony
Lee love on mon 1 mar 04
Here are some ideas: try softer clay.
I recommend this also for people who are having trouble with soreness
from centering.
This might be counter-intuitive, but try throwing off the hump. You
can pretty much center the hump by careful placement and patting, then,
you only center the very top of the hump for your work.
Try coil and throw. When I visited Shiho Kanzaki in Shigaraki last
summer, I was surprised to learn that he did all his throwing, doing
coil and throw, even small things like yunomi. He said this is a
traditional method in Shigaraki. Hamada also used this method for
larger things. You don't need extruded or otherwise perfectly
uniformed coils for this. I make my coils for my larger work, by
rolling the clay between my two hands and letting the coil become
longer at the bottom of my upheld hands.
If you throw coil and throw, you really do very little centering
Good luck!
Lee In Mashiko
Lee@Mashiko.org
http://Mashiko.us
"With Humans it's what's here (he points to his heart) that makes
the difference. If you don't have it in the heart, nothing you make will
make a difference." ~~Bernard Leach~~ (As told to Dean Schwarz)
Lee love on mon 1 mar 04
Susan Setley wrote:
>I can't imagine throwing, for instance, a sink basin, off the hump, and if
>you could, I don't think you could center that much clay by patting it.
>
I said this would work for throwing small things. It is how Hamada used
a large hump of clay on his low momentum hand wheel.
Coil and throw would be my choice for something like a sink.
>might be a good solution for some things, but might fundamentally change the
>appearance of the sinks at first, since she would be new to that technique.
>
>
It doesn't need to. Maybe you have never seen or used this technique: I
can't remember if it is in a book or on a video, but there are images
showing Shoji Hamada's son Shinsaku, throwing large platters (bigger
than a sink) using the coil and throw method. It isn't done with tiny
coils, but ones more the size of your wrist. A cylinder is built from
these large coils, and then the walls are brought down to make a bowl.
So using this method, there is very little centering that has to be done.
Hamada used this technique for larger things on his hand wheel too. The
hand wheel looses momentum so quickly, that it is impossible to center
large amounts of clay (except in the hump method I mentioned earlier,
where you are really not centering the whole hump.) He made his larger
jars with this method.
Really, it is electric wheels that have given us the notion that we
should be centering "heroic" lumps of clay. Next to silica dust, it
would seem that the electric wheel is the modern potter's biggest hazard
to his health, found in his workshop. ;-)
>If I were in her shoes I would buy or build a centering device and not let
>this injury disrupt my established skills -- but that's just me. I can see some
>such situations being every bit as much an opportunity as they are a crisis. I
>think I would be able to see that more clearly if a simple tool could also
>let me keep moving forward from where I'd been, however. :)
>
>
Personally, I wouldn't limit myself to gadgets, I'd try some traditional
solutions too. Remember, the original post asked for ideas, right? It
really couldn't hurt, because if the change in technique doesn't work
for you, you are not out of anything and you don't have a gadget
collecting dust in the studio.
Another solution I just thought of, is that larger amounts of clay can
be centered in stages:center a manageable amount, put the next lump on
top and center that There is more than one way to lick a problem!
Good luck!
Lee In Mashiko
Lee@Mashiko.org
http://Mashiko.us
"With Humans it's what's here (he points to his heart) that makes the
difference. If you don't have it in the heart, nothing you make will
make a difference." ~~Bernard Leach~~ (As told to Dean Schwarz)
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