Antoinette Badenhorst on thu 31 mar 05
As I've said before, to me there is no right or wrong way, just a
comfortable and effective way. I prefer to make good pots rather than =
follow
text book rules and make bad clumsy pots. And that is the crux of =
sticking
my head into this subject. I do not know for how many years of my =
throwing
career I just worked by the book..literally, since I am a self-taught
potter. In my first years of throwing I made hundreds of pots, but I =
cannot
remember that I ever took any design elements in consideration except =
that I
wanted to throw a bottle, make a big bowl etc. just as long as it looked
like the piece in the book I saw. As long as it worked from the outside, =
I
was happy. I did not know about throwing from the inside, not even to
mention to tap on bottles and hear if they are even walled. It is scary =
to
think how many thick walled, uneven walled pots found its way into my =
kiln
and even worse; on people's tables and cabinets. The nice thing =
though..over
the years I threw off all my inhibitions, learned to throw properly =
AFTER
thinking about design and learned to trim properly to make my intended
design work. I learned that a piece of clay has no mama and no papa but =
me
and that I can control it as well as I intend to do. That is my basic
message..if you are a serious potter you will do all of that and improve
your work every day. Even if it means that you have to trim it on the
inside. Ribs are wonderful tools. I mostly make my own, because =
commercial
ones often times do not have shapes I want. I also use these ribs to =
trim on
the inside when necessary. Yes I agree that one should take one step in
throwing well rather than two steps in throwing and trimming on the =
inside.
It is time effective, but if you can not do that yet or you missed that
little ridge on the inside, no pottery police will come get you. Just =
make
sure you compact your clay on the inside like you would have done on the
outside and of cause...if you leave any crumbs behind, your trimming =
looses
its meaning. To me this is good stuff to think and talk about. It is =
stuff
you seldom find in books, but help all of us to think outside our box.
Keep the trimming going!
=20
Antoinette Badenhorst
105 Westwood Circle
Saltillo MS, 38866
www.clayandcanvas.com
=20
Gene & Dolita Dohrman on thu 31 mar 05
Just thought I would chime in here. I guess I am a serious potter, although
after reading Tony's post I figure I probably fit more into the "poser"
category. Don't really care, I pot, I love it. End of story. That being
said I have often stated that, while I may never be a 'Master' Potter, I am
sure as hell a Master Trimmer. I will trim anything, inside, outside,
whatever is needed to make me happy. As I improve my throwing skills, I
figure my trimming will be less and less. What matters to me the most is
what that pot looks like when it comes out of the glaze firing-I do whatever
it takes to get there.
Dolita
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Antoinette Badenhorst on thu 31 mar 05
Thanks for these examples. What one basically does is to "sculpture" the
piece further from the originally thrown piece. I often spend up to 90% =
of
my time on trimming and finishing off rather than throwing. It is an
approach that is often times overseen and not been taken advantage from.
Antoinette Badenhorst( loafing today since spring is in the air!)
105 Westwood Circle
Saltillo MS, 38866
www.clayandcanvas.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Lee Love
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 10:43 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: Trimming/ serious potter.
The best thrown forms ( every made, were Chinese Sung
porcelains. These were often thrown in sections, assembled, and
then were turned/trimmed from lip to foot. The trimming is what
explains how they were able to throw large, light pots, with short
clay. They were trimmed to be that way.
A German friend I met during the last months of my
apprenticeship did wet faceting He facted and then expanded the form
from the inside, like Hank M. does. He would trim on the inside to
get the weight he wanted.
I remembered this inside trimming just before Tony C's
visit. I remembered that Tony wanted to see a rope impression demo, 15
minutes before I was supposed go to pick him up at Furuki-sans. And I
didn't have any pots to do the impressions on. I went out to the
studio, threw three yunomi, torched them dry enough to trim and trimmed
the feet. I absentmindedly threw them all the same. I had not
done rope impression since leaving my teacher's studio. I do faceting
with a coiled wire instead, for inlay. You throw the pots thicker
for faceting I remembered how my German potter friend trimmed the
inside of his faceted pot, so I did that to two of the forms, leaving
the third for faceting. I was only a couple minutes late getting to
Furuki-san's..
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://potters.blogspot.com/ WEB LOG
http://claycraft.blogspot.com/ Photos!
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Lee Love on fri 1 apr 05
The best thrown forms ( every made, were Chinese Sung
porcelains. These were often thrown in sections, assembled, and
then were turned/trimmed from lip to foot. The trimming is what
explains how they were able to throw large, light pots, with short
clay. They were trimmed to be that way.
A German friend I met during the last months of my
apprenticeship did wet faceting He facted and then expanded the form
from the inside, like Hank M. does. He would trim on the inside to
get the weight he wanted.
I remembered this inside trimming just before Tony C's
visit. I remembered that Tony wanted to see a rope impression demo, 15
minutes before I was supposed go to pick him up at Furuki-sans. And I
didn't have any pots to do the impressions on. I went out to the
studio, threw three yunomi, torched them dry enough to trim and trimmed
the feet. I absentmindedly threw them all the same. I had not
done rope impression since leaving my teacher's studio. I do faceting
with a coiled wire instead, for inlay. You throw the pots thicker
for faceting I remembered how my German potter friend trimmed the
inside of his faceted pot, so I did that to two of the forms, leaving
the third for faceting. I was only a couple minutes late getting to
Furuki-san's..
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://potters.blogspot.com/ WEB LOG
http://claycraft.blogspot.com/ Photos!
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