Lili Krakowski on wed 1 jun 05
BETH: Your daughter is right. No one can tell you what the best wheel is.
I was given an old Shimpo RK2, now in pieces on my studio floor because to
get the head off you have to dismantle the whole thing, and I cannot, nor
intend, to reassemble (Life is too short) My Brent B got sick a few years
back (have since 1970 or so) no problem, phone call,new part. Done. I think
the fixing factor on a wheel is really important....Do they give you a
schematic? (If that is the right name)? Directions for fixing? An #800?
Bailey's is wonderfully supportive. They are a 5 hour drive from here and
worth every mile. Also the Kingston area is nice to visit. If you do not
have friends to stay with figure this: 5 hours at 60 miles at 20 m per
gallon=$80
Motel room=$100--you can skip that if you have a second driver.
Daughter?--dinner = $30. Is shipping cheaper? I mean for whatever wheel?
And at Bailey you can get all a year's supplies in one fell swoop. (No I am
not related, have no interest...Think of me as a friendless foundling...)
Big Bats: I assume your problem is that your big bats or your wrists catch
the edge of the splash pan. Well get rid of the splashpan. Years ago there
was a suggestion in CM to use a large wooden disk (I used a disk from a
cable spool) mount it on your wheel shaft, surround it with a rim of that
black plastic they use for flower bed edges. Mine has stood up the test of
time. Catches all the trimmings, allows for monster bats (many also cable
spool disks.) Or, as someone suggested, find one of those old formica
topped kitchen tables , that pulled in and out. Convert it to a "splash
pan.' One also can improvise a false wheelhead that works like an
"underbat"--but you thought of that.
MARY:
Forgive the bearer of bad news!
"I have gotten frustrated with the internet 'cause the same recipes keep
showing up. I would like to do raku tiles but feel that I need a clay that
won't crack on the edges (I have been told most raku clay recipes are prone
to this), so a clay recipe that solves this issue would help. Thanks."
The reason all recipes sound alike and the same appear constantly is
because the actual number of recipes out there is immense--and tiny. Every
time one of the morning shows has a cook on and a recipe for Whatever, my
husband says: "Are you getting this? Sounds terrific!" And I say, this is
plain old Whatever, which depends on cilantro for flavor, and you hate
cilantro", or " This is the same Whatever I make except she uses white wine
instead of red [or something like that.]
There is an elegant geographic move in cookery from wine to lemon from lemon
to lime, from citrus to tamarind to vinegar. ALL provide acid and an acidic
taste. Location determines which acid is used. Same idea with glazes.
In glazing the parameters are the firing temperature, the atmosphere,the
type of look desired, the materials at hand. Colemanite! Gerstley borate!
Frit This! Frit That! No one on Clayart could bear it if we got into WHY
YOU MUST LEARN GLAZE CALCULATION again, but you should learn. There will be
variations yes, of course, but the Leach 1,2,3,4 recipe has been transformed
inummerable times and still is pretty much the same. Every glaze is a
"retread"...unless a new material has entered the market.
So do not look for recipes. Learn what makes them up and why and head off
on your own. Same for bodies...I know zip about Raku but I do know a little
about glaze and clay bodies!
KATE: What wedging method do you use? Cutting and slamming, and the
method I described in a very recent post, what I spoke of as "fraisage", are
very wrist sparing. As is ramshead wedging. The Japanese method of
wedging is wonderful and all....but I find it a wrist buster. Try a
combination, or switch from method to method....
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
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