Technique -- Coil pot construction

Another one for the handbuilders out there.  I don't know about you but I am quite linear in my thinking so when you say "coil", I think horizontal.  Here's a video that shows you that coil does not have to be horizontal.  Enjoy!

Techniques -- Handbuilt "Slab" Tumblers by Charan Sachar

I know I post mostly wheel throwing techniques but here's one for you handbuilders out there.  My take away from this demonstration are:


1. Use templates for consistency in size and shape.

2. Use support for moving slabs -- I guess this is even more important when the slabs are softer.  Use anything at your disposal that is close to the shape or the size of what you are making.

3. Pre-decorate the slabs when they are still flat as much as possible and minimize fussing once they slab is "assembled" into their final shapes.  Give your work time to firm up before you have to handle it again.


Enjoy!

Inspiration -- Never Give Up

As anyone in a First Time Potter class would attest -- there are days when you just feel like giving up.  Especially when your teacher makes it looks so easy and you have trouble even just keeping the wheel going at a steady speed. This video will hopefully inspire you to keep going.  

Ceramics, to me, is something that you could get technically good at if you just keep doing it and practice, practice, practice.  Sometimes, you need the help of someone with more experience (teacher) to help you with certain techniques to get over a hurdle.

To me, a technically good pot means that a pot is well made and is of the appropriate thickness and weight for the intended use of the pot. But, making a technically sound pot is only one aspect of the challenge that is ceramics. The other aspect is the art or creativity of it all. What makes your pot different than the thousands of pots already out there.

Putting on your creative hat to make the pot your own.  There are so many options available when it comes to alterations and decorations.  How will you alter that cylinder to make it your own?  How will you decorate the surface? What glaze will you choose that fits the shape of the pot?  The two combined is what makes a handmade pot art.

P.S. Be it right or wrong, this is just my opinion and not a reflection of anyone else's opinions.  Comments welcomed.

Never Give Up

wheel lesson from apparatu on Vimeo.

Techniques -- Preventing "S" Crack When Throwing off the Hump

The title is a little bit of a misnomer.  This video is more about just preventing "S" crack in pots thrown off the hump. I wanted to share this because of the measurement technique shown.  Many of us have trimmed through the bottom of a pot.  The tapping technique works for some but it takes years of experience to know that the "thunk thunk thunk" to mean a certain thickness and it's a guess at best.  This method is sort of scientific and you can just measure the depth of your foot ring to know if you've hit your mark.  Enjoy the demo and leave your feedback in the comment section.

Techniques -- Stack and Slam Wire Wedging

Last week, I posted a video of the spiral wedging method where you can wedge a large amount of clay by concentrating on a small amount at a time. Be that as it may, it still requires some sort of wrist action to accomplish the task.  That is a tall task for someone with chronic wrist pain.

Today's post is another wedging method that doesn't really use the wrist. It requires cutting your piece of clay in half using a wire attached at 45 degrees to a vertical and horizontal support.  After cutting the clay, you rotate the individual pieces and slam one piece of top of each other.  The video is clearer than my explanation.

Techniques -- Wedging

Whether you're a handbuilder or a wheel thrower, some techniques are universal (in my humble opinion).  One such technique is wedging.  

Wedging your clay well removes a lot of potential issue that you may encounter later on.  Yes, I am talking about the proverbial "air bubble".  The air bubble expand when it is heated in the kiln and the air will have to escape somehow.  The point of escape (aka the size of the hole it creates) depends on the size of the air bubble.  Wedging also aligns the clay particles so that it is more workable.  

All First Time Potter students are taught the "rams head" method of wedging but as your skills improve and you start to use more and more clay, the "rams head" method becomes quite unwieldy due to the sheer volume of clay you have to manage.  

For hand builders/sculptors, you are often left with quite a bit of clay as you hollow out your work.  In order to reuse those clay, a good wedging would be in order.

Anyway, more details about wedging can be found here and here.

Today's video demonstration is the "Spiral" wedging method.  This method lets you wedge a large amount of clay while only concentration on a small lump at a time.  The Japanese word for spiral wedging is "Kikumomi" which roughly translates to "Chrysanthemum wrinkles".

Techniques -- Surface Decoration

For those of us who needs to be inspired, here's a collection of short clips from the masters on surface decoration (except the first one and a half minute).  This video is quite rare because most of the videos I've seen tend to showcase a single artist.  

These are Korean masters from the Incheo area in Seoul, Korea. Incheon is the ceramics center of Korea and is where the international airport in Seoul is located.

Clip 1 (to 1:35) -- check out how deep he has to go with opening the centered clay

Clip 2 (to 2:34) -- slip layering, incising and sgraffito.

Clip 3 (to 4:00 ) -- inlay (mishima), stamping and form alteration.

Clip 4 (to 5:10 ) -- incising (yes, still incising even though you don't cut through like in Clip 2) and form alteration.

Clip 5 -- This master showed a different/advance way of using slip application and incising.  Also shown is selected application of mishima (inlay) to targeted areas of the pot.  And finally a painting technique with slip.

Techniques -- Centering clay

Here's a rather lengthy video of a master Ceramist at the world famous Wedgwood in England.  The video sort of cuts out at the end but I think the most important part is the first 2 minutes plus of the video where the master thrower demonstrates various techniques for centering a lump of clay.  Enjoy and please leave feedback or comments. 

Techniques -- Porcelain Platter

I was making my rounds of the pottery blogs that I subscribed to and saw this video on an amazing technique for throwing porcelain platters.

The artist is Harlan House and he has a blog here.  Harlan House is potter who has been making porcelain pots for over forty years. Harlan’s works of art can be found in museum and art gallery collections throughout the world.

I've viewed the video at least a dozen time and is always fascinated by what I see in the last few minutes.  I think it is a technique worth at least trying out since you can potentially turn a cylinder with a twelve inch base and twelve inch walls into a 36 inch'ish platter. I think you could potentially adapt this technique for large bowls as well with some minor adjustment.  I also think that you can use this technique with other clay bodies.  Finally, this technique also gives you a lot of surface to decorate with.

The picture above is my first attempt at using the technique demonstrated.  I started with 3.5 lbs of porcelain clay and ended up with a 12" platter.  It is a lot of fun to try and quite thrilling as well.  How low can you go?  How big can you go?

Please try it out and leave comments about your successes or modifications to the technique. Good luck!