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tips on throwing globe and elliptical forms

updated sat 26 jan 02

 

Marcia Selsor on mon 21 jan 02


I just did some globe shapes about the size you are taling about. I pull a
cylinder up about 4 Inches in diameter leaving the inside bottom with a thick wall
to be trimmed later.
After I get the height I want, I start to use a round rib to push out the form. I
leave the top 4" about a inch or two down. Then I start to neck it in. Push out
some more and neck in until i can't get my arm/hand back in. Then I use a chamois
wrapped over my finger and throw the top in over my index finger.
You can see this shape if you scroll down my home page www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Marci
It is the horse hair pot down the page.
Hope this helps. I don't use a throwing stick for a global shape. I have used them
in the past for taller thin necked pieces.
Best wishes,
marci


Lalitha Kommajosyula wrote:

> Hi,
> I have been throwing pots for a couple of years now.
> I am now trying to learn how to throw round forms.
> i'm using about 8 pounds of clay (lag B mix), and my
> objective is to make a very round/elliptical form
> that is wider than it is tall(approx. 10" high and 12"
> wide) with a very small neck (2-3 inches).
> I do not have a problem expanding the form to the
> width I want, thanks to my handy blow torch :). But
> when I try to collar in the neck, I am losing the flow
> of the curve leading up to the neck. The minute i get
> my hand back inside to push out the clay to fix the
> curve, I just lost the collaring. Do I need to use a
> throwing stick
> of some kind?
> Also, if the opening at the top is 2-3 inches wide, I
> want the base to be about the same width so the shape
> looks symmetrical. So how wide should I be opening the
> clay after i center it?
> Any tips are greatly appreciated.
> Cheers!
> Lalitha
>
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Lalitha Kommajosyula on mon 21 jan 02


Hi,
I have been throwing pots for a couple of years now.
I am now trying to learn how to throw round forms.
i'm using about 8 pounds of clay (lag B mix), and my
objective is to make a very round/elliptical form
that is wider than it is tall(approx. 10" high and 12"
wide) with a very small neck (2-3 inches).
I do not have a problem expanding the form to the
width I want, thanks to my handy blow torch :). But
when I try to collar in the neck, I am losing the flow
of the curve leading up to the neck. The minute i get
my hand back inside to push out the clay to fix the
curve, I just lost the collaring. Do I need to use a
throwing stick
of some kind?
Also, if the opening at the top is 2-3 inches wide, I
want the base to be about the same width so the shape
looks symmetrical. So how wide should I be opening the
clay after i center it?
Any tips are greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
Lalitha

Dale Neese on tue 22 jan 02


There are two things that you can do for keeping the neck collared. One
would be to go and shape your spherical form and then add an additional
thrown neck or collar to the form after it dries some. Just throw upside
down flared cylinder matching the size you need, dry it some with the torch,
center it on the spherical form and throw the two together. It is easier
this way than trying to throw the form all in one piece. You will need two
wheels or start throwing with a bat so that you can remove the spherical
form while you throw the flared cylinder.
Another way is to cut from stiff plastic or a smooth sided piece of masonite
a ring about 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide, 5 or 6 inches in diameter. Then when
you start to expand the form attach the ring firmly to the rim of the form.
You may only need to press the ring down slightly to get it to adhere to the
rim. Then the rim will remain the same size of the attached ring. When you
finish the spherical form, expanding it from the inside with a small rib,
remove the ring with a needle tool, reshape the neck. I have several smooth
masonite "rings" of various sizes that I can get my hand through. "Lord of
the Masonite Rings'??.. 52 years young today.
On opening the clay, open it as far as you need to, then either trim the
foot down to the size you want while still attached to the wheel or when the
form is leather hard put it in a chuck upside down and trim the foot or trim
the bottom spherical and add a thrown foot.
Dale Tex

Lee Love on tue 22 jan 02


Hi Lalitha,

A stick could help, or: you can do like the Korean Yi potters and
make your sphere by connecting two bowl shapes at the lips. I saw several of
these at the last show I saw at the Mingeikan in Tokyo.

--
Lee Love In Mashiko Ikiru@kami.com

"The best pots for me are the pots that I like." --Shoji Hamada (1894-1978)

Roger Korn on tue 22 jan 02


Marcia Selsor wrote:

> ... www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Marci

Should be www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Marci.html

Waaay nice horsehair pot. Could you tell me more about using turkey feathers? I
haven't tried feathers yet, and the evening air-to-air combat/fooling around sessions
with the male red-tail hawks vs the ravens have given me a good supply of "found
feathers" as well as furnishing never-ending entertainment. Nobody ever seems to get
hurt. I'm also thinking that labeling raku pots as having been decorated using hawk
feathers should raise a few "feathers" with the local PC knee-jerks.

Thanks,

Roger

Hope this helps,

Roger
--
Roger Korn
McKay Creek Ceramics
In AZ: PO Box 463
4215 Culpepper Ranch Rd
Rimrock, AZ 86335
928-567-5699 <-
In OR: PO Box 436
31330 NW Pacific Ave.
North Plains, OR 97133
503-647-5464

Lalitha Kommajosyula on fri 25 jan 02


All,
Thanks for the tips. Looks like drier clay does work better, and Marcia,
your throwing techique is working well to keep the shape while i collar
in. i also tried adding a small cylinder to the neck after the clay has
set-up a little bit, and now i'm pretty close to getting the shape i want.
Thanks all
Lalitha