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fwd: re: wall mounted wire for wire wedging

updated sun 13 nov 11

 

Fredrick Paget on fri 11 nov 11


Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:58:00 -0800
To: Notime Forspam
From: Fredrick Paget
Subject: Re: Wall mounted wire for wire wedging
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Soj,

The wire I am using right now is the inner stranded wire from a
bicycle rear
brake cable that I bought at a bike shop.

It works very well.I have used cut and slam wedging for 25 years
and it is so much easier than kneading.

I was taught by Steven Jepson and he was taught by Marguerite Wildenhain.

If you take the clay mass and cut it by bringing it upward from
under the wire, the wire won't flip clay particles up at you as it
will if you cut downward, then you take the piece cut off in the hand
that is away from the wire.

That is the left hand in my case as the wire is on the right side of
the wedging table.
Now fling the clay down with a sort of flip so it hits the table
after a slight rotation and is on the table surface with a triangular
profile. Then with the other hand throw the other piece down on the
sharp edge and that way no air bubbles are trapped.

This is repeated about a dozen or so times and when you get the
rhythm it goes very fast. It cuts air bubbles open and deairs and
mixes the clay too.

Jepson built his wedging tables with a slight backward angle of
about 10 degrees so when you do the final kneading or rolling up the
clay, it is going down hill as you push it away from yourself.

Mel posted a way to mount the wire with a post, a spring and
turnbuckle so it stays tight which is the same as I use. That way you
don't have to be up against a wall.

Fred Paget

Twin Dragon Studio
Mill Valley, CA, USA


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Twin Dragon Studio
Mill Valley, CA, USA