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pin tools & michael casson

updated mon 1 sep 03

 

Ivor on sun 31 aug 03


Michael Casson has been a most influential potter in Britain for
most
of the last half century. His domestic forms and particularly his
salt glazed pitchers are legendary. In the book he published with
the
BBC in the late seventies, he succinctly describes the value of the
pin tool:

"Potters use a pin mounted on a stick for cutting away waste or
uneven clay at the top of a pot - throwing so that this is necessary
is not a practice to be cultivated BUT, like the occasional pricking
of air bubbles, the use of the pin to correct a mistake is sometimes
unavoidable. A bamboo stick about 6-9 inches long with angled
end and
bevelled cutting edge is useful for clearing away unwanted clay at
the
base of the pot just prior to cutting through with a wire."

I believe this remains eminent good advice to all claybuds.

Ivor

Ivor J Townshend
Macclesfield UK