claybair on tue 27 aug 02
I am so not getting this thread... I need pictures!
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
-----Original Message-----
From: BVCuma>>I centre by forcing the clay down towards the wheelhead.<<
_________________
Hi Ivor,
Nice to hear from you...
I also before watching these guys
was centering down.
While throwing from the hump after every mug
I would centre mostly the upper portion to be used next...
it honed the centre real good as I worked my way down
Though I was wasteful in trimming it off the bottom each time..
>It is amazing to watch the cone of clay rise up through the space
between my hands, running true ready to be opened.<<
Ya I was mostly shaving it off...
rather than pushing it up.
These guys do the same as you
specially this other guy I'm hanging with now.
When he "throws down" The pot "rises up"
it generates the additional 50% to the finished height
25% both ways.. up and down!
total ten seconds time..
including the original six for centering up , opening,
compressing the rim down and folding it back..
inside with the thumbs coming up.
Imagine.. it is very simple and beautiful.
While centering/coning up the ragged crater forms in the middle,
god forbid, and is used as a pre opened opportunity for driving the thumbs
down..
simoultaneously compressing the rim...all the while centering...
coming up with the thumbs folding the clay back between the fingers and
palms, (half a pull)
Like knives the hands cut back down iether side..throwing down (rising) ...
and then coning back up (first full pull)
Boom there it is ..
10 seconds flat...
no fussing... all business.
Snip<<
iandol on wed 28 aug 02
Dear Gayle,
You say "...I am so not getting this thread... I need pictures!..."
I agree, these are difficult concepts to image in one's mind. But since =
so few people know how there is nothing published. Even what Bruce =
describes is not the model of what I do. I do not get a ragged top, nor =
do I use my thumbs to create the inner cavity. It is indeed frustrating.
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis.
BVCuma on wed 28 aug 02
>>I centre by forcing the clay down towards the wheelhead.<<
_________________
Hi Ivor,
Nice to hear from you...
I also before watching these guys
was centering down.
While throwing from the hump after every mug
I would centre mostly the upper portion to be used next...
it honed the centre real good as I worked my way down
Though I was wasteful in trimming it off the bottom each time..
>It is amazing to watch the cone of clay rise up through the space=20
between my hands, running true ready to be opened.<<
Ya I was mostly shaving it off...
rather than pushing it up.
These guys do the same as you
specially this other guy I'm hanging with now.
When he "throws down" The pot "rises up"
it generates the additional 50% to the finished height
25% both ways.. up and down!
total ten seconds time..
including the original six for centering up , opening,=20
compressing the rim down and folding it back..
inside with the thumbs coming up.
Imagine.. it is very simple and beautiful.
While centering/coning up the ragged crater forms in the middle,=20
god forbid, and is used as a pre opened opportunity for driving the =
thumbs down..
simoultaneously compressing the rim...all the while centering...
coming up with the thumbs folding the clay back between the fingers and =
palms, (half a pull)
Like knives the hands cut back down iether side..throwing down (rising) =
...
and then coning back up (first full pull)
Boom there it is ..
10 seconds flat...
no fussing... all business.
>>I would not be at all surprised if that fellow you were watching used=20
almost no water and that his clay was on the softer rather than the =
harder side of plastic.<<
Right again.. small precision doses of slip..
The clay is so soft it is like hard/soft porrage or something.
Its all about maximum surface contact..
we're talking palm, fingers and thumb splayed,
as though supporting a new born in your arms..
rather than a hooked finger around the thumb outside
for the second pull... no V knuckle or finger inside,.. full hand and =
fingers.
Outside hand upside down, fingers guiding the incoming clay from the =
far side (left)
and thumb reversed.. directing it out and around (anti clockwise)
The pocket between the thumb and full hand/fingers
acting as first finger knuckle outside for pulling the ridge up..
Old habits die hard...
I managed to make 9 pots the first day (poor ones)
bout 4 hrs on the wheel
and another 4 watching him throw..
It was failure after failure,
I thought I was going to go in and impress them...I did...
With my camera...you know digital sceen an all.
When I mentioned internet (and the tight assed "group" here)
He started talking royalties and shit...what to do?
When we started the firing at midnight..
(to avoid the black smoke to be seen from the rubber tyre fuel)
I pulled out the camera and he asked rather nervously,
is the smoke a problem?
I chuckled and said, "what.. an internet problem?"
He laughed back nervously.. wondering if he would end up being fined =
after all...lol
>Sounds like a great production rate. <
They do up a pot from start to finish in a minute and ten seconds.
Between the final clay prep, wedging and stick powering the wheel.
They get 8 pots from say...a 15 kgs hump.
Come diwali festival time in November the small diyas (oil wick flame =
bowl/pots)
Or Kulfi..indian ice cream, disposable pots
They do a hundred an hour... a thousand a day.
Damn wheels are gound level..squating on my haunches..
focused on what the hell was going wrong...
I did not pay attention to the pain in the legs.
besides my muscles being trashed the next day
I pinched a nerve in the knee area
and now certain mucles are non operative
I'm walking like a polio victim.
Today was better..the wheel was six inches off the ground (sat on a =
brick)
bout three feet across..difficult to centre,, nothing to brace against.
If you "push" it rather than squeeze it..it just warps off centre..
He has an Indian electric wheel..brand new still in the box...
Three speed piece of shit..
I would like to avoid it.=20
Tradition dies very hard here.
I'm doing foot mixing and hand rolling wedging/blending
Back to softness... it is so soft you slice it with your hands...
no wire required.
To remove the pot slap a string at the base..
let it wrap around, then tug...cuts like butter..
Of course everything is done "on the fly"
Snatch that speeding pot.
>>How many tons of clay a day are you expecting to throw :)!?<<
Recycled most the first day..
luckily monday is their sunday here..day off.
Today I was comprehending more and doing better
I don't know.. 10,000 is the number
I would like to do all the sizes and forms.
> as you take up the challenge.<<
Its gonna bust my arrogant ass.
Hey Ivor..take care,
Bruce
BVCuma on sun 1 sep 02
>>When approached by an enthusiastic pup of a newspaper
reporter asking about "what she was communicating" in a certain passage =
of
her interpretation of The Dying Swan, she replied, "My dear young man,
do you think I would go through all the pain of dancing it if I could =
put it
into words?"<<
_______________________
Dear Jeremy..
I can see the connection..
But really it is besides the point.
We are not trying to communicate meaning here...
Obviously a description is no substitute
for the real thing.. (think sex)
A very poor comparison really.
But it useful and therefore relevant..
So describe I will..(kama sutra)
if not for you then me.
Bruce
| |
|
