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throw it dry

updated mon 22 oct 01

 

Lee Love on sat 20 oct 01


----- Original Message -----
From: "Andra and Reid"

>
> Anyone in the Ibaraki area?

I'm in Mashiko, right next door. I get over to Kasama every now and then.
Have some potter friends on that side of the mountains. One is an english
potter named Roy Martin. Are you in Ibaraki?

One trick that helps you throw dryer is softer clay and "living clay",
not made of industrially prepared chemicals.

At the workshop, no body uses a splash pan, not on the deshi's
korean kickwheels, nor on the shimpos. No body goes home covered with clay.
In fact, the head thrower/forman wears slacks and a sport shirt and/or sweater
(depends on the weather), and if he gets a speck of mud on his slacks, he stops
and dabs it off.

--

Lee Love
Mashiko JAPAN Ikiru@kami.com
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Andra and Reid on sat 20 oct 01


A little dab`ll do it.

Hey Bud!


The trick, I`ve found in throwing dry, is all in how you use your hands.
That is to say each clay body has of course its own character and will react
uniquely to it`s own personality. I have practiced with porcelain and
groggy clays and both seem to whip up wonderfully without too much liquid.

I feel that the best wqy to practice the technique of throwing dryer is best
sought after by using sponges with a touch of liquid athe the top of the
sponge. If the sponges, both inside and out of your vessel, have a small
supply of water then it is easier to gauge, with slight squeezes to the
sponges, how much water makes it onto and into the pot.

What does this do? Well, chemically and physically? I haven`t a clue.
I`m sorry. But, what I have noticed is an improvement on the strength of
the pots and clay body forgiveness.

With minimum amounts of water the body off clay is stronger and perhaps more
stable. I believe that when you use more water, you wash away the smaller
particles in the clay which in turn makes the body less stable. Perhaps
this is one reason.

I have also found that while throwing larger, wider forms, the form itself
is already under some stress. The addition of water while throwing
increases the already unstable nature of a larger pot. Through practice I
have noticed with more water during the throwing stage, larger pots tend to
develop vertical cracks along the walls of the form. Almost immediately
after being thrown. Yuck.

Best advice I received from a great teacher of mine; use a tsp or two of
vegetable oil in your water dish.


Cheers,


Reid

Happy potting.


PS.


Anyone in the Ibaraki area?

dayton j grant on sun 21 oct 01


I finally made that throwing video that I was talkin about I have it on
one of those little camcorder tapes I just have to get it transferred to
a regular size videotape and make copies and then I'll send them to
anyone who wants one ,so its me wedging a 6lb. peice of soldate 60 thats
just about softer than leather hard, then I show a small assortment of my
throwing tools then I attatch the clay to the wheelhead and apply a gob
of slip for lubrication, then I throw a cup(which I'm going to send to my
mug exchange partner about a year late) and then a handle then I attatch
the handle to the cup
then I use the Japanese style throwing sticks ('igote')to throw a small
thin bottle with a lousy shape (I'm just trying to show how it really
goes )then I use the sticks again to throw a lid 'on the bubble', I leave
in the mistakes and everything just to be real.I know I said I was going
to show the use of 'throwing stones' but those are for use with much
harder clay and much bigger peices so I'll be doing that a little later
anyways as I said before I lost all my computer info like the list of
people that wanted a copy for the price of postage I see that some of the
list is in the archives but anyone else would have to send me their info
again but you can just wait until I send it to the people in the archives
and see what they think of it.later
d.g.

Andra and Reid on sun 21 oct 01


On 10/20/01 10:48 PM, "Lee Love" wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andra and Reid"
>
>>
>> Anyone in the Ibaraki area?
>
> I'm in Mashiko, right next door. I get over to Kasama every now and then.
> Have some potter friends on that side of the mountains. One is an english
> potter named Roy Martin. Are you in Ibaraki?
>

Yes, I live in Taga. Roughly 30 minutes by car out of Kasama. I`ve been
here for a relatively short period; one year. But I love it!

I have a studio outside of Tokai close to the Dentetsu line. Roy Martin.
Where in Kasama is he?

I was just there today actually!

Reid


> One trick that helps you throw dryer is softer clay and "living clay",
> not made of industrially prepared chemicals.
>
> At the workshop, no body uses a splash pan, not on the deshi's
> korean kickwheels, nor on the shimpos. No body goes home covered with
> clay.
> In fact, the head thrower/forman wears slacks and a sport shirt and/or sweater
> (depends on the weather), and if he gets a speck of mud on his slacks, he
> stops
> and dabs it off.
>
> --
>
> Lee Love
> Mashiko JAPAN Ikiru@kami.com
> Interested in Folkcraft? Signup:
> Subscribe: mingei-subscribe@egroups.com
> Or: http://www.egroups.com/group/mingei
> Help ET phone Earth: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
>
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>

John Baymore on sun 21 oct 01


I throw using slurry, and have for probably 25 years or so. =


It is simply based in strategy. What happens when you add water to clay=
? =

If gets softer and floppier. If the goal is to get clay to stand up
vertically in the air or to canteliever inward or outward....... why keep=

making it softer and softer by adding water? Leaves you fighting the
materials basic characteristics.

The use of water is basically for lubrication......... making the clay
slippery. Slurry gives the "slippery" factor with less water content pe=
r
unit of "slippery" .

Once you start throwing with slurry...... you'll find that over time you
use less and less of it. You get used to a dryer surface and learn the
sensitivity of touch it takes.

If you throw fast.... then slopping on lots of water doesn't have a chanc=
e
to penetrate into the surface of the clay and really wet it much. But if=

you are not throwing pretty fast...... every time you add water... the cl=
ay
is getting slightly softer.

When you first try this, good "starter slurry" is important. You don't
want lumps and unevenness. An old kitchen blender is great for making
slurry to start off with. Plop in little grape sized chunks of your clay=

body and some water.... hit "puree". Adjust as needed. Once you get goi=
ng
at throwing .... it is sort of self- generating . I prefer something
that is about the consistency of thick sour cream.

Best,

..............................john

John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA

603-654-2752 (s)
800-900-1110 (s)

JohnBaymore.com

JBaymore@compuserve.com
John.Baymore@GSD-CO.com

"Earth, Water, and Fire Noborigama Woodfiring Workshop 2002 Dates TBA"=

lela martens on sun 21 oct 01


A former member of our guild often threw a soft `difficult` clay
using Dippidy Doo.(hair jelly) Said it worked very well, allowed more
workable throwing time with that clay. I`ve never tried it.
Didn`t know it was still available, but her son uses it on his 50`s Elvis
style hair do. Lela


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