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yes ! " leather-hard throwing"

updated tue 4 dec 01

 

dayton j grant on sat 1 dec 01


nope there was no misuse of terminology, you can throw leather hard clay
and i just said 'leather' hard so i wouldnt lose the begginers,you can
throw clay that is as hard as cold plastecene(grease clay) ,its my
specialty,it can be a 'very' efficient means of vessel production,and
just like any hard work its not neccessarily bad for your muscles or
joints if you take your time and you know what youre doing, as a matter
of fact its like thai chi or yoga in that you apply an infinitely gradual
iron grip which takes eveything youve got from head to toe ,each pull is
a transcendental breathing excercise,making it seem like magic if youve
neve done it before.
d.g.

Tommy Humphries on sun 2 dec 01


Dayton,

I have thrown clay that has been prepared for hydraulic, steel die
pressing, and while I agree that it is possible, it is in no way fun. Nor is
it a viable means of doing production ware. Throwing small items off the
hump would be the only method that this would be suitable for, and then only
for the masochistic among us. Centering could IMO only be done with a large
mass of clay, as anything under 10 pounds or so would not offer enough
surface area to work against


>its my specialty,it can be a 'very' efficient means of vessel
production
> you apply an infinitely gradual iron grip which takes everything
you've got from
>head to toe

If this method takes everything you've got for every pull, by the time you
have a couple of pots, you will be completely worn out...not a greatly
efficient production method.

If you have perfected this method as you say you have, I for one would be
greatly interested in some pictures...or a website.

A doubting Thomas,
Tommy Humphries

vince pitelka on sun 2 dec 01


> nope there was no misuse of terminology, you can throw leather hard clay
> and i just said 'leather' hard so i wouldnt lose the begginers,you can
> throw clay that is as hard as cold plastecene(grease clay) ,its my
> specialty,it can be a 'very' efficient means of vessel production,and
> just like any hard work its not neccessarily bad for your muscles or
> joints if you take your time and you know what youre doing, as a matter
> of fact its like thai chi or yoga in that you apply an infinitely gradual
> iron grip which takes eveything youve got from head to toe ,each pull is
> a transcendental breathing excercise,making it seem like magic if youve
> neve done it before.

Dayton -
I am sorry to be a skeptic, and I don't mean to belittle your claim, but
this makes no sense at all, and has no sensible basis in the rational logic
of ceramics. I have been intimately involved with clay for over thirty
years, and I have seen just about every imagineable approach to throwing.
Nothing I have ever seen and nothing I know corresponds even remotely to
what you describe. That by no means excludes the possiblity, because no
matter how much I learn, I am still just beginning to learn the
possibilities of clay. But in my opinion what you describe would not even
work at all, and furthermore, I cannot see any reason at all to even WANT to
throw such clay. And double furthermore, in my opinion there is no way you
could possibly throw such hard clay without it being very hard on your
muscles and joints.

So, I suggest you get that video of yours out there and write an article for
CM, and prove me wrong.
Best wishes -
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/

CMG on mon 3 dec 01


Just one question on this subject........................Why????

Millie on mon 3 dec 01


You sound almost like my son when he was describing how he broke boards during
Karate Class, but I have still seen enough badly bruised, sprained, broken hands
and feet in the learning curve. I think that my middle aged, pudgy fingers will
stay away from the constipated consistency clay, and stay with the "baby poo"
consistency clay.

Millie in Md. counting down to Chanukkah, Now I am making a new door wreath
decorated with dreidles.




> > nope there was no misuse of terminology, you can throw leather hard clay
> > and i just said 'leather' hard so i wouldnt lose the begginers,you can
> > throw clay that is as hard as cold plastecene(grease clay) ,its my
> > specialty,it can be a 'very' efficient means of vessel production,and
> > just like any hard work its not neccessarily bad for your muscles or
> > joints if you take your time and you know what youre doing, as a matter
> > of fact its like thai chi or yoga in that you apply an infinitely gradual
> > iron grip which takes eveything youve got from head to toe ,each pull is
> > a transcendental breathing excercise,making it seem like magic if youve
> > neve done it before.