Joyce Lee, Jim Lee on mon 21 jul 97
Vince,
What about slabrollers and extruders, handheld or wall mounted? What
about commercial pre-mixed dry glazes? Mixing glazes has turned out to
be one of my joys, much to my surprise and I thank Robin Hopper for
that, but I've never created a glaze and probably never will since I
still have hundreds I want to test. Given my dwindling years, I'll be 90
before they're all tested (I hope).What about commercial clays? I have
a small pugmill and mixer but use them mostly for recycling. However,
even when I do mix my own clay, it's somebody else's recipe. What about
trying to copy a master potter's form? I do that all the time with the
understanding that if I ever get it right, I'll adapt it to my own
personal style - ha! - when I get a style. The only originals I've
produced are major blobs. Come to think of it, they look a bit like
Vuolkos' work. Ok with me. My best stuff has been the result of happy
accidents when a pot falls expressively/impressively. I'm not kidding,
an excellent master potter told me that my "genius" was
recognizing when the accident was a happy one and leaving it on the
wheel to dry a bit before removing. Something to aspire to? I don't
think so. However, such pots are definitely original and most certainly
handmade (except for the wheel, pugmill, glaze mixer, of course.).
I'm not being sarcastic. I'm just trying to make some sense of all this.
I thought I knew clearly where I stood in my wee bit worn newbie shoes
when the thread began: square on the side of handmade, not as an
"artist," which I'm not (you already know from where my "genius"
emanates), but as a consumer/appreciater of all things true and
beautiful (in my eyes, anyway. Keeping in mind that Vuolkos for me is
right smack in the midst of the "beautiful" range.) Fie on rampressers,
jiggers and all things contrived, I thought. Now, I'm not so sure.
Joyce
In the Mojave glad to hear that Francoise is back from Spain, and that a
search is on for Rose Dawn of the gorgeous lusters. Said "good morning"
to the roadrunner this morning as he peered through the bottom most part
of the glass sliding patio door. You all would just love him.
Vince Pitelka on tue 22 jul 97
>What about slabrollers and extruders, handheld or wall mounted? What
>about commercial pre-mixed dry glazes? Mixing glazes has turned out to
>be one of my joys, much to my surprise and I thank Robin Hopper for
Joyce -
I don't get it. What about all this stuff?? Of course we use tools and
equipment, and of course we use some commercially prepared materials. What
does this have to do with the "handmade" issue?? I am not being sarcastic
either. I'm just not sure what you are asking. Whether or not our stuff is
handmade depends on the degree to which it is made by hand, and the degree
to which it is different from every other piece we make. Even the finest
production potter cannot make multiples which are mechanical identical.
Each is an individual piece. To me, that is the distinction. As I said
before, there is some muddy water here, but at some point, in any move
towards increasing mechanical efficiency and even higher production, we may
get to the point where the individuality of the made-one-at-a-tme pot is
surrendered in favor of industrial mass production. That is the point at
which our work ceases to be handmade.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Lucille Harasti on wed 6 oct 99
I am planning a trip to London in a few weeks and was wondering if
anyone knew of any ceramics supply stores where I can purchase some
unique pottery tools that are not available here in the US?
Thanks,
Lucille
lucille@ms.com
Carrie or Peter Jacobson on mon 4 sep 00
Hello all, Just Sunday, the editor of the paper I work for wrote a nice
piece on old tools and a local man who collects them. There were lovely
photos of these tools, too, but they are not included in the web story. At
any rate, here is the URL:
http://www.sunjournal.com/story.asp?slg=090300Tools
Carrie Jacobson
Bolster's Mills, Maine
Joyce Lee on tue 13 nov 01
Whoever wrote the reminder about using broom straws of differing lenths =
for applying slip, thank you. I've only begun working with slips, which =
has led to more disasters than I'm willing to tolerate at this point.... =
I wandered into Slipland
innocently unaware that one could HAVE slip disasters ..... not as =
decimating as Runny Glazes but a tacky, globby, cruddy look, which to my =
mind is worse. At least the Runny Glazes looked lovely and dramatic on =
the Ruined Shelves. The broomstraw application, with a light hand, =
perhaps will suffice.
Don't you just love Clayart?
Joyce
in the Mojave where it rained for hours last night and the temp went =
down to 42 F necessitating turning the heat on for the first time since =
February ... and I have a kiln to unload ... one that had the 4 hour =
soak at 2000 F ..... had to delay the opening since for the last two =
days I've been zippin' up and down highways 14 and 395 .... will be =
doing the same the next couple of days .... great weather for driving =
..... no smog, no fog ... just clear blue and a puff or so of white =
right to the tiptops of the shinoed mountains....
gliders and ultralights overhead .... raptors, too, everywhere....... =
Queen of the World, that's I ....... from sea to shining sea .........
pammyam on wed 14 nov 01
Joyce, I mentioned something in a post, and if it was I, you
are welcome. I got the idea, of course, from Bernard
Leach's, "A Potter's Book."
Pam
-----
Subject: Tools
Whoever wrote the reminder about using broom straws of
differing lenths for applying slip, thank you. I've only
begun working with slips, which has led to more disasters
than I'm willing to tolerate at this point.... I wandered
into Slipland
innocently unaware that one could HAVE slip disasters .....
not as decimating as Runny Glazes but a tacky, globby,
cruddy look, which to my mind is worse. At least the Runny
Glazes looked lovely and dramatic on the Ruined Shelves.
The broomstraw application, with a light hand, perhaps will
suffice.
Don't you just love Clayart?
flyifr on sat 17 nov 01
As Mel said...my husband(Bob Fritz) is very ingenious at adapting and
constructing
tools for his studio. People are surprised that he likes to go to
garage sales...guess why...
lots of good clay tools for pennies!
Kay Fritz
New Earth Pottery
Cindy Griffis on mon 4 feb 02
Claybuds,
I've just had the time to use the beautiful tools Chris Henley made
for me. They are as beautiful to use as they are too look at.....I
was tempted to wear them as jewelry! Chris is great---he worked with
me to make new items as well. If you need tools, contact Chris
before you look anywhere else!
Cindy
=====
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
- Thomas Edison
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Lee Burningham on wed 13 feb 02
Howdy,
Where is my!@#$$%&*(_(&$#$%^&&*&^$## hammer/tool is the common cry of every
parent/adult with any tools that can be found and used in any conceivable
(and inconceivable) fashion by teenage and older male offspring. Maybe just
offspring in general. Been there, done that to my dad, and now my sins are
coming back to haunt me as my children have raided the tool boxes and left
me frustrated.
I especially appreciate Steph's accounting of the studio and the guys always
glad to share her tools. I have a brother, a potter/building contractor, and
a brother-in-law, an avowed handy man with power tools. They are always,
half-jokingly, encouraging me to move closer to the rest of the family. They
figure I have all the tools they want to play with and don't want to pay
for.
Lee Burningham
with no plans to move anywhere in the near or distant future.
Steve Duddy on mon 17 may 04
A tool is just an inanimate object when there is no person attached to =
it, regardless of how advanced or primitive they may be.=20
Some of the times I've enjoyed most is walking through the hardware =
store, searching for something that will fulfill some need (usually) or =
perhaps be the beginning of an experiment, or just "I need a little =
thingee with a hole and a hinge and I want it to do this". I usually =
optimistically believe it's there, although it most probably won't have =
the label I'm looking for. My usual explanation, if I'm approached by =
staff, is "just browsing". I've learnt long ago that trying to explain =
that I'm looking for a proverbial left-handed wing nut only serves to =
confuse people. (Ha, I sometimes say I'm looking for something that I'll =
know it, when I see it, "Thank you, very much". Mostly I just smiles and =
nods.). I may buy a brand new expensive tool and use it in a way that =
nobody anticipates. (I bought a table-top planer once to help scrape a =
large order of leather-hard encaustic tiles, after about 30 minutes, I'd =
realised I'd made a really bad choice. (Basically shredded tiles)
Cleaned that sucker right up, returned it, got my money back. Ended up =
hand scraping all 1500 tiles with a paper-guillotine-cutter blade. (It =
could have worked!))=20
So, what am I trying to say? There is no such thing as a bad tool.=20
Steve Duddy
Wilderness
South Africa
Jacob Runyan on mon 2 may 05
I am pretty young only 25...but I sure do understand
the value of a good tool.
I go to the local harbor freight to buy a few things.
One is chip brushes. Right now I am a machinist...I
buy the cheap flat brushes in boxes of 36. Work great
for spreading oil or wiping away chips from a cutter.
After about a week I throw it out, it's too ugly to
keep using. I also routinely buy my tape measures
there. Dont ask me why, but tape measures are a
consumable in my shop. I go through a 25 footer once
a month. They simply get lost...the walls absorb them
I think. HF usually sells stanley though, and that's
what I usually try to buy.
Other than that, I wont buy a single thing from there.
Like I said, I am a machinist. If you look in my box,
it is full of starrett, mitutoyo, lufkin, browne and
sharp, and a handful of others. I dont think I have a
single tool that is newer than five years old in that
box. They all get used almost daily, and 95% of them
were purchased from OLD machinists when they retired.
I send them out once a year to be calibrated, and they
come back ready to keep working for me. To buy new of
everything my inspection box I'd have to spend about
10 thousand dollars. This doesn't even include the
amount of homemade "specialty" tools I have gotten as
gifts for talking to a mentor or helping someone out.
They are simply priceless. All surfaces ground and
lapped to +/- .0005 inch. Made by true craftsmen who
took pride in their work. I am not yet to that point,
but I am constantly striving to improve.
I used the "I'll only use this tool once or twice"
excuse a couple times....then things changed. I found
new uses for that tool...why? Because I had it. Now
ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING I buy, I buy quality.
Another one I've used is, I'm going to wear this tool
out in a month. I'll buy the extended warranty and
replace it every month for the next two years. After
using the tool for a week I threw it in the garbage,
went and paid five times the HF for a nice piece of
equipment. Didn't even want to take it back...felt
like too much of a schmuck.
These are excerpts from a post on a metalworking forum
that I frequent, a person describing a recent vacation
to Japan:
"...they always buy Japanese first, if at all
possible- its more important to them to buy local than
to save money, which, of course, is the exact opposite
of our attitudes here. I dont know if they have Harbor
Freight there, but my guess is it would go broke if
they tried. Even in the small hardware stores, there
just arent any cheap shoddy tools from china."
and finally...
"Part of this is cultural superiority- the japanese
believe that their stuff is by and large, the best
there is. Part of it is just an innate respect for
quality. The knive stores, for example, which are
pretty common, dont carry any cheap chinese knives at
all- a decent kitchen knife starts at maybe $25, and
can easily go up to $200 or so. And it is important to
chefs there, even amateurs, to buy a really high
quality knife. They often buy a known maker- that is,
the chef knows the name of the man who made his knife.
Same thing with woodworking tools- the smallest corner
hardware store will carry a set of 4 wood chisels,
with sharkskin wrapped handles, that is hand forged,
and sells for more than $200. It is inconceivable to
them that you would want a 4 dollar chisel- everybody
knows they are crap."
Maybe if we were a bit more like the Japanese, our
economy wouldn't be in swirling around in the crapper
like it is right now. Why not buy what you know will
work 75 years from now when your child picks it up to
use it.
-Jacob
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Bryan Johnson on thu 9 nov 06
Hi Phil,
Did you ever get the package that I sent?
If not I'll start looking for the insured reciept.
Bryan Johnson
>
Randy McCall on mon 1 sep 08
Whenever I make a lot of larger vases or bowls I use a tool that I never see
sold anywhere by potters. As I got older I found that I needed a tool to
help me open larger pieces of clay. I cut about 12 inches off the top of a
shovel handle. Had to sand the round part some to make it smooth, but you
can grab it with two hands and plunge it into the middle of the clay ball
and make a nice wide even bottom. Takes alittle practice but it works and
it takes a lot of the stress off your hands. Make sure you brace yourself.
Helps us aging baby boomers some.
Randy
Cotton Patch Pottery
members.tripod.com/~McCallJ/index.html
Lee Love on mon 1 sep 08
On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 7:42 AM, Randy McCall wrote:
> shovel handle. Had to sand the round part some to make it smooth, but you
> can grab it with two hands and plunge it into the middle of the clay ball
> and make a nice wide even bottom.
This is a traditional tool in Asia, where tall forms are thrown
using an egote/ throwing stick.
I use a Korean method, coning up your hump of clay to the height
of the jar or vase you want. You then run the straight end of the
throwing stick down the middle of the hump (I use one much smaller
than a a shovel handle), making sure you leave enough at the bottom
for trimming or an untrimmed foot. Measure the stick on the outside
of the hump and and make a slip mark on the stick that measures the
correct depth.
After running the dowel through the hump, you can angle the top
back and forth, to make the opening larger, using a hand on the
outside, to keep the hump vertical. You can then either run your
hand down into the column, or the wide end of the egote.
The great advantage of this method, is that the clay has a nice
thick portion at the top to finished off the neck however you like.
You are not pulling the form up, but blowing it out from the inside,
so the form better gives you the feel of the inner volume of the form.
Also, this is good for forms that you texture on the outside before
opening, because you touch the inside to open it without disturbing
the outside.
--
Lee Love in Minneapolis
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
http://claycraft.blogspot.com/
"Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." --Rumi
Bill Merrill on wed 28 oct 09
Here's is a list of tools as explained by an engineer. Not serious,
perhaps a list could be made for the tools of the potter....
=3D20
Glaze....how our eyes look when listening to something we don't
understand. On and on..Let's be a little waggish here...
=3D20
=3D20
> DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat
> metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest=3D20
> and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted=3D20
> vertical stabilizer which you had carefully set in the corner where=3D20
> nothing could get to it.
>=3D20
> WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere=3D20
> under the workbench at the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints=3D20
> and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you=3D20
> to say, 'Oh shit**'
>=3D20
> ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their=3D20
> holes until you die of old age.
>=3D20
> SKILL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
>=3D20
> PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation=3D20
> of blood-blisters.
>=3D20
> BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor=3D20
> touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
>=3D20
> HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board=3D20
> principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable=3D20
> motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more=3D20
> dismal your future becomes.
>=3D20
> VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt=3D20
> heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer
> intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
>=3D20
> OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various=3D20
> flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the=3D20
> grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing
race.
>=3D20
> TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood=3D2=
0
> projectiles for testing wall integrity.
>=3D20
> HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground=3D20
> after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack=3D20
> handle firmly under the bumper.
>=3D20
> BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to
> cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into=3D2=
0
> the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the=3D20
> outside edge.
>=3D20
> TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength=3D2=
0
> of everything you forgot to disconnect.
>=3D20
> PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under=3D20
> lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil
> on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out
> Phillips screw heads.
>=3D20
> STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to
> convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.
>=3D20
> PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or=3D20
> bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50-cent part.
>=3D20
> HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.
>=3D20
> HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is
> used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts=3D20
> adjacent the object we are trying to hit.
>=3D20
> UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of=3D20
> cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly=3D20
> well on contents such as leather seats, vinyl records, liquids in=3D20
> plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or
plastic parts.
> Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
>=3D20
> DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage=3D2=
0
> while yelling 'DAMMIT' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most=3D20
> often, the next tool that you will need.
>=3D20
=3D20
=3D20
Mike Gordon on sun 15 nov 09
Back in the old days, 1960's, Viola Frey who grew up in Lodi, Ca, a
ranching area in Central California, used to tell us that our Kemper
trimming tool, $2.00 at the time were originally used as a peach pitter
in the fruit canning factories. They sold for 25 cents apiece! Mike
Gordon
Tom Eastburn on mon 16 nov 09
With all the discussion on tools I thought I'd throw in my opinion on a =3D
great tool.
It's called the Carbide MultiTrim Tool. =3D20
I am NOT affiliated with this company or anyone involved making this =3D
tool, I just
happen to really like it. =3D20
And yes, I do own a large Bison pear tool which I also like, but this is =
=3D
the one I use
the most often.
http://www.tools4clay.com/carbidemultitrim.htm
The solid tungsten carbide cutter is designed to offer a wide variety of =
=3D
trimming choices:=3D20
a 70 degree angle, a 90 degree angle, 2 small radius tips, 2 sharp tips, =
=3D
3 flats, and a nice=3D20
1.25" radius arc. Finding just the right cutting surface is a simple =3D
matter of rotating the tool=3D20
to the desired edge. The round handle can be gripped either in the palm =3D
of the hand or Japanese=3D20
style (like a pencil). There is no iron in this tool at all, so no rust.
=3D20
Tom Eastburn
"lurker"=3D
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