Rogier Donker on sat 7 oct 06
Hey Dan,
It's called patience,practice,patience and more practice. I do not
know how long you have been throwing so excuse me if I give un-
needed advice: I find that beginners have a tendency to hold their
breath when they are trying to throw a cylinder. Holding one's breath
means that the muscles don't get any oxygen and therefor you will
come up ,usually, towards yourself while your hands/fingers describe
an arch. The cylinder thus gets wider at the top. much wider than one
wants. Relaxing and keep breathing normally usually gets your hands
trained to come up perfectly straight, hence a straight cylinder. A
handy trick is : sit upright in a straight back chair. Sit up
straight and place a broom stick between you knees. Holding the broom
stick perfectly vertical and plum ,imagine the broom stick being the
clay wall of the cylinder. Let your hands/fingers assume the throwing
position and follow the broom stick up. Do that exercise a few times
and you'll get the hang of it. Straight cylinders (18" tall) every
time... Loose as a goose yet steady as a rock!
Rogier
See us on the web at http://www.donkerstudio.org
gsomdahl on sun 8 oct 06
Rogier Donker wrote:
> Hey Dan,
> It's called patience,practice,patience and more practice.
Ah, the point of this thread for beginners: not how to throw a straight
cylinder, but how to learn the control needed to throw a straight
cylinder. A couple of learning "tricks" that can help. Your hands will
follow your nose. If your nose lines up outside of the cylinder there is
a tendency to open up the form. If your head is leaning inside, the form
wants to narrow in at the top. This is useful to know when you're
closing a bottle, but for a straight cylinder try to keep your head
centered with the axis of the cylinder. Another trick is to close your
eyes. Let your hands, arms, and body learn where the clay is. Then when
you mentally "see" a form that you want, your hands will produce it by
feel. The purpose of all these throwing exercises and practice is to
learn the muscle control that transforms the clay into the forms you want.
Keep at, it does get easier.
Gene
--
This is a post only account. Send replies to "gene" at my ".com" domain named "somdahl".
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