Helvi Abatiell on fri 28 jan 00
How hard is it to make a coil pot? I've never had a difficult time
making them or showing others how to make them. You make a coil, you wrap it
around the other coils pressing lightly, you make sure there are no holes,
smooth or not....Am I doing something wrong here? Seems I've suddenly begun
questioning my methods after reading these recent discussions.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
Confused in Vermont,
Helvi
Antoinette Badenhorst on sat 29 jan 00
No Helvi, The principle that you use is correct. I
think others mean the touch to create a coil. Some
people have difficulty in the beginning to make an
even coil or battle to keep it moist enough while
rolling. Others will battle to make a perfect round
pot.Others will have difficulty to judge the thickness
of the peace. I often stretch the clay to much and end
up with cracks. A lot of things can go wrong with a
coil pot. You will find it interesting to know what
happened to me. I always begin my students on
handbuilding. I taught since 1985. Many students made
good coilpots before moving on to something else.
I ended up in a class again under Ralph Johnsen,a
master in SA. Suddenly I had trouble with every thing
I done. We started with a coil pot. He wanted a
perfect round pot in a particular shape. We made it
with templates. There I realized how difficult it
should be sometimes for students. I often had students
that had classes before. When they tell you that,they
often think that you will think they should be good. I
suddenly knew how they felt.
Antoinette.
--- Helvi Abatiell wrote:
> ----------------------------Original
> message----------------------------
> How hard is it to make a coil pot? I've never
> had a difficult time
> making them or showing others how to make them. You
> make a coil, you wrap it
> around the other coils pressing lightly, you make
> sure there are no holes,
> smooth or not....Am I doing something wrong here?
> Seems I've suddenly begun
> questioning my methods after reading these recent
> discussions.
> Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
>
> Confused in Vermont,
> Helvi
>
=====
Antoinette Badenhorst
PO Box 552
Saltillo,Mississippi
38866
Telephone (601) 869-1651
timakia@yahoo.com
__________________________________________________
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Vince Pitelka on sat 29 jan 00
> How hard is it to make a coil pot? I've never had a difficult time
>making them or showing others how to make them. You make a coil, you wrap it
>around the other coils pressing lightly, you make sure there are no holes,
>smooth or not....Am I doing something wrong here? Seems I've suddenly begun
>questioning my methods after reading these recent discussions.
> Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
Helvi -
I don't want to come across as the handbuilding know-it-all, because I
consider myself but a beginner as compared to the handbulders in Africa,
South America, or the American Southwest. Coil construction is only as good
as the integrity of the joint between coils. If you lay the coils on top of
one another and smear the outsides, you have a weak pot which is only a
decorative piece. The only way to leave the coils exposed on the outside is
to score and slurry between every course of coils, and that is a royal pain
in the ass. Every culture through history which has ever practiced volume
coil construction has aggressively smeared the coils together inside and out
as they are joined, giving a very strong vessel wall. It is a mistake to
lay the coil in place and then join it. It is far more efficient to drape
the coil from one hand, and smear it in place as you feed it onto the wall
of the vessel. That way, the wall spreads upwards but not outwards. It is
easy to go back and expand the vessel with the paddle-and-anvil or the
rib-and-hand method. Whereas if the vessel expands too much, it is very
hard to bring it back in.
Accepting the above, construction of symmetrical coil vessels is a matter of
uniform technique and rythmic movements, usually conducted on a turntable or
banding wheel. Use coils much thicker than the desired walls, smear them in
place aggressively, and once they have stiffened up just a bit, go back and
work them to the thickness and shape you want.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Antoinette Badenhorst on sun 30 jan 00
Vince I try to understand what you mean by "drape the
coil from one hand , and smear it in place as you feed
it into the wall" Some people will make lose coils up
front and put them then on top of each other,but I
believe you see that as not the best method. Do you
talk of real soft coils that you put and smear in
place as you turn the piece around? Then, do you pinch
it to the right thickness? How do you control the
widening and narrowing of your pieces? Do you place
the coil more to the in or the outside as you carry
on?
Thanks.
Antoinette.
--- Vince Pitelka wrote:
> ----------------------------Original
> message----------------------------
> > How hard is it to make a coil pot? I've never
> had a difficult time
> >making them or showing others how to make them.
> You make a coil, you wrap it
> >around the other coils pressing lightly, you make
> sure there are no holes,
> >smooth or not....Am I doing something wrong here?
> Seems I've suddenly begun
> >questioning my methods after reading these recent
> discussions.
> > Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
>
> Helvi -
> I don't want to come across as the handbuilding
> know-it-all, because I
> consider myself but a beginner as compared to the
> handbulders in Africa,
> South America, or the American Southwest. Coil
> construction is only as good
> as the integrity of the joint between coils. If you
> lay the coils on top of
> one another and smear the outsides, you have a weak
> pot which is only a
> decorative piece. The only way to leave the coils
> exposed on the outside is
> to score and slurry between every course of coils,
> and that is a royal pain
> in the ass. Every culture through history which has
> ever practiced volume
> coil construction has aggressively smeared the coils
> together inside and out
> as they are joined, giving a very strong vessel
> wall. It is a mistake to
> lay the coil in place and then join it. It is far
> more efficient to drape
> the coil from one hand, and smear it in place as you
> feed it onto the wall
> of the vessel. That way, the wall spreads upwards
> but not outwards. It is
> easy to go back and expand the vessel with the
> paddle-and-anvil or the
> rib-and-hand method. Whereas if the vessel expands
> too much, it is very
> hard to bring it back in.
>
> Accepting the above, construction of symmetrical
> coil vessels is a matter of
> uniform technique and rythmic movements, usually
> conducted on a turntable or
> banding wheel. Use coils much thicker than the
> desired walls, smear them in
> place aggressively, and once they have stiffened up
> just a bit, go back and
> work them to the thickness and shape you want.
> - Vince
>
> Vince Pitelka
> Home - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
> 615/597-5376
> Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
> 615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
> Appalachian Center for Crafts
> Tennessee Technological University
> 1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
>
=====
Antoinette Badenhorst
PO Box 552
Saltillo,Mississippi
38866
Telephone (601) 869-1651
timakia@yahoo.com
__________________________________________________
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CHRISTINE LAGINESS on sun 30 jan 00
VINCE AND ALL
IN REGARDS TO WORKING A COIL POT, IF I UNDERSTAND WHAT
IS BEING SAID HERE, IN THE SHAPE OF A CYLINDER. AT
WHICH POINT DO YOU BEGIN TO SHAPE IT? DO YOU WAIT FOR
ALL THE COILS TO BE APPLIED AND THEN WORK THE SHAPE?
OR DO YOU ADD SECTION OF COILS, WAIT FOR THE CLAY TO
FIRM A BIT, AND THEN PADDLE THE SHAPE. THEN CONTINUE
TO ADD ANOTHER SECTION OF COILS, AND PADDLE THE SHAPE,
REPEATING THIS UNTIL YOU GET THE SIZE POT YOU DESIRE.
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Vince Pitelka on mon 31 jan 00
At 04:14 PM 1/30/00 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>VINCE AND ALL
>IN REGARDS TO WORKING A COIL POT, IF I UNDERSTAND WHAT
>IS BEING SAID HERE, IN THE SHAPE OF A CYLINDER. AT
>WHICH POINT DO YOU BEGIN TO SHAPE IT?
Christine -
It depends on the size of the pot. If it is less than 16" or 18" tall, I
coil the whole thing before shaping it. If it is larger than that, I do it
in stages.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Vince Pitelka on mon 31 jan 00
Antoinette -
>Do you
>talk of real soft coils that you put and smear in
>place as you turn the piece around?
Yes. In order to smear the coils together they must be soft. Start with
soft clay, and roll the coils out on a slightly damp (not wet) canvas, wood,
or plaster surface. Keep the coils covered with plastic until they are
used. If they dry at all they will not join aggressively. If you go and
leave the vessel midway so that the upper edge stiffens at all, you must
score and slurry before adding the next coil.
>Then, do you pinch
>it to the right thickness?
When I join the coils, I drape the coil slightly on the inside of the
previous coil, and on the far side of the pot I smear downwards on the
inside with my thumb, and upwards on the outside with the fingers, repeating
this motion move around the top of the pot, feeding the coil in place. This
does in effect pinch the wall thinner as I add the coils, but I still leave
it quite thick (see below).
>How do you control the
>widening and narrowing of your pieces?
It is always very easy to widen the piece (assuming it has been made thick
enough to begin with), but hard to narrow it once it is wide. I make the
initial form quite narrow and thick, and then I work it with a rounded rib
on the inside, and my hand in a corresponding location on the outside, using
rhythmic movements, rotating the pot as I go. This thins the pot and
resolves the shape. It is possible to make a tall thick cylinder, and work
it out into a broad thin sphere.
An alternative is to use the paddle-and-anvil method, with a wooden paddle
on the outside, holding a heavy rounded "anvil" on the inside in a
corresponding spot. The anvil is usually just a rounded river stone, or a
solid bisque-fired shape like a rounded river stone. Make them whatever
shape you want, poke holes deeply with a needle tool (so they do not blow up
in the firing), sand them to final shape and surface when bone-dry, and
bisque fire them. Make them in a variety shapes.
Closing in the rim is an easy matter. With your fingers under the rim on
the inside, work the outside with rib, in repeated strokes towards the
top-center, rotating the pot with each stroke. As soon as the rim starts to
get thin, add another coil before working it inwards more. You can easily
work it down to a very small opening, or even close it off completely.
Flaring out the rim is exactly the opposite. On the outside, support the
underside of the rim with the fingers of one hand, and on the inside work
the rim outwards with repeated strokes of a rib, constantly rotating the
pot. As above, as soon as it starts to get thin, add another coil before
proceeding.
Good luck -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
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