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foam and trimming thoughts

updated tue 30 apr 96

 

Ken Stevens on sun 14 apr 96

We have had foam covered trimming bats around our studio since the very
early 1970s when a graduate student named Bob Gee seemed to come up with the
idea on his own (I am not claiming he thought of it first, just that he
thought of it independently and none of us had ever heard of it before-so if
somebody on the list invented, it stay calm). Anyhow, thinner is usually
better than thicker, so the pots don't sink down into the foam as they go
around; i.e., where you are putting pressure with the trimming act pushes
that part down. For the same reason, somewhat firmer is better than softer.
I have never had any trouble tapping 20" porcelain platters onto center when
on foam. Takes some experimenting. Recently I asked someone in Tacoma to
send me some foam while I was in Japan, and what showed up was a fairly
stiff foam that was black and had a skin on one side (it may have been the
outside of the "block" these things are sliced off of with a hot wire). I
hated it. Then I made an accomodation with it. Now I am becomming rather
enamored with it. This past week I cut a pattern and glued a piece of it to
the inside of a chuck used for bottles/vases. Worked nicely, except a
different glue would have been better. I will try contact cement at home.

With respect to sticking chucks down:
After a few years or so, I just never bother any more, as it can be tapped
back in seconds. If you want it stuck down, instead of messing with wax,
just damper the bottom a bit and dip it in slip and tap to center. This is
what I used in Japan, with a large coil of wet clay on the top that had been
trimmed carefully to be centered and round. Worked fine after working with
that system for a while. My friend almost flipped when a piece of loose
foam was put on the wheel and used to trim a bowl; "that was not the way it
was done" I think was the main problem. It is fairly easy to crack a
somewhat dry rim, especially directly on the wheelhead.

Ken Stevens

GURUSHAKTI@aol.com on mon 15 apr 96

I too use a foam covered bat for trimming. I don't bother tapping to center.
I let the wheel slowly rotate and used a very fine magic marker pen to make
concentric circles . Saves a lot of time.

June Perry