Lili Krakowski on mon 12 nov 07
If you have wedging problems try wedging on a board on the floor. You may
not like it but you may find it the easiest way to wedge. Mainly--I
think--because it prevents one's making the errors in posture wedging at a
table allows.
Find some old carpeting,or burlap bags. Place on the floor to use as
kneeling pad. Make a wedging board by covering a piece of 3x4" outdoor
plywood with canvas. (Vide infra!) Place the board on the floor, and
arrange your kneeling pad so you actually are kneeling on the edge of the
board. Extra benefit? very easy to keep clean, very easy to store, and one
for every color clay.
This method lends itself both to spiral and ramshead wedging, and allows one
to use the muscles of the lower back as well as one's thigh muscles to apply
the pressure.
I find I can wedge much more clay at a time this way than any others. For
cut-and-slam I use a board attached to the wall...same idea as a table,
takes less room.
Clay cannot be too soft. Use clay just hard enough not to stick to your
hands. Yes, there will be times,etc etc when you want harder clay....but
for wedging and centering soft is better.
Deborah, I think it was, cannot throw very tall. Tall is an asset only in
basketball! Many splendid potters never threw tall pots, and I seem to
recall that about 12" is as high as can be managed on a Leach style
kickwheel. Learn to make two part pots.
The Cardew recipe for a blue (cobalt) stain is for a stain. I have used it
at c.6, and I am sure he used it at higher temps. As to Manganese oxide,
that is what the book says, but I expect dioxide was what was involved, and
that is what I use.
*The Infra you are supposed to vide. A board like that is about 24 x 30
inches--dumpster dived. The canvas is from a fabric store, though some
along the seacoast may be able to get leftovers from a sail maker. At store
about $6-7 a yard. Wash the sizing out of the canvas and while it still is
a bit damp, just a bit, drape over the board whose edges you have sanded
smooth. Take strips of molding, or lath,and use them to attach your
canvas. (Some use two, some use four.)The molding can be used as guides
for wire or roller when one makes slabs. I use flat-headed brass screws
and make sure they are a bit recessed in their holes, to permit the wire to
run smoothly. You can trim the canvas on the underside, glue
down--whatever. It is not a big botheration.
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
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