Josh Berkus on thu 1 mar 07
Folks,
I recently bought a Creative Industries Artista wheel as a second wheel, while
I wait to get Brent Model C out of storage in another state. Given that the
few people who have testified about the Artista in the archives were mostly
not experienced on other wheels (and because I know that the CI staff read
this list) I thought you all would appreciate an in-depth review.
THE VERDICT
Very Good choice for:
second wheel
beginner's wheel
very inexpensive wheel
Unbeatable choice for:
portable wheel
Poor choice for:
production pottery wheel
wheel for thowing large pieces
PURCHASE
I bought the wheel with the static legs and foot pedal from Southern Oregon
Pottery Supply, who said they would match any price I could find online.
Total cost: $510
Comparable wheels:
Brent ie $565
Clay Boss $495
Comparison to what I'm used to: Brent B $865
SETUP
Setting up the static legs was a somewhat IKEA-like experience; minimal
instructions, liberal use of wooden mallet to make parts fit. Once bolted
together, legs were quite stable. Foot pedal uses a stereo jack (!). For
some strange reason, the cord for the foot pedal is longer than the power
cord for the wheel, which I felt could have been longer. It's a portable
wheel, after all.
Note that for those with back problems, you could build custom legs for the
Artista. My studiomate has suggested using it to throw standing up.
CENTERING
Centering is one of the two places I noticed that this was an inexpensive
portable wheel. Its top speed is not nearly equal to my Brent's, and it
slowed noticably when centering 8lbs of clay. More that the speed/torque,
what's giving me trouble with centering is that the wheel is so lightweight
compared to regular wheels that I found myself pushing the whole wheel around
while trying to center. I think I can fix this through some modification of
the feet.
Still, I was able to center 8lbs fairly easily, and the speed was steady and
vibration-free. I would not try anything over 12lbs of clay on this wheel,
but for small pieces it's fine.
THROWING
The other place I really noticed the low cost of the wheel was the foot pedal.
Good electronic pedals are expensive and this isn't one. It's hard to get
the exact speed I want due to the jerky gradations of speed control. I
suspect this will also improve with time as the pedal gets less stiff.
I was easily able to throw several cups, and a small and medium bowl. I also
threw a 12" plate but this caused me some problems, see below.
DESIGN ISSUES
There are a couple of places where I feel that CI could tinker with the design
of the Artista to make it a better wheel without increasing manufacturing
costs.
Splash Pan: the splash pan was difficult/impossible to remove while I had the
12" plate on the wheel without bumping the edge of the plate so I could cut
the plate bottom loose from the bat. This caused me to sacrifice the plate.
Further, the ends of the bat pins clear the back, small section of the splash
pan by a mere 1/8", causing them to knock against the splash pan if it gets
even a tiny bit out of place.
Use With CI Bats: I've used CI plastic bats for some time. I like them. One
of the things I especially like about them is the ability to get my fingers
under them to pop them off the wheel head without jerking the piece too much.
Unfortunately, on the 11" Artista wheel head you can't get your fingers under
a 12" CI bat. I'm not sure how to fix this, but given that it's a CI bat and
a CI wheel, they should figure something out.
UNEXPECTED BENEFITS
Despite its other issues, the splash pan is nicer on my wrists and less
obtrusive than a Brent splash pan. I usually throw with a half-pan on my
Brent, but didn't mind using the full pan on the Artista.
The dual bucket wells, with mini-buckets I thought looked kind of dorky but
they're actually very useful. I put tools in one and slip in the other, and
it worked really well. And perched my large sponge on the middle part.
Also, I think there may be a weird benefit in not having a built-in work
surface on the wheel the way a standard wheel does. I don't know about you
but after a few hours of throwing my wheel table is usually awash in slip and
trimmings, which then overwhelm anything else I've got there. By surrounding
the wheel with an end table and some buckets instead for tools, wedged clay,
beer cooler, etc., I actually got much less clay on things other than the
wheel. Put a tarp on the floor, and much easier clean-up.
--
The Fuzzy Chef
San Francisco
Marcia Selsor on fri 2 mar 07
On Mar 2, 2007, at 12:50 AM, Josh Berkus wrote:
SNIP
> SETUP
> Setting up the static legs was a somewhat IKEA-like experience;
> minimal
> instructions, liberal use of wooden mallet to make parts fit. Once
> bolted
> together, legs were quite stable. Foot pedal uses a stereo jack
> (!). For
> some strange reason, the cord for the foot pedal is longer than the
> power
> cord for the wheel, which I felt could have been longer. It's a
> portable
> wheel, after all.
>
> Note that for those with back problems, you could build custom legs
> for the
> Artista. My studiomate has suggested using it to throw standing up.
Contrary to your comments about the Artista moving ,I found that the
Artista directly
on a table top will not budge when I am centering. I have 40 years
experience in throwing.
I also listened to the salesperson who suggested against the foot
pedal. I was very skeptical but it works well manually adjusting the
speed.
Also, my former studio mate with arthritic hips prefers standing up
because straddling the wheel in a sit down position was painful.
I haven't had the difficulty with removing bats. I also use the wheel
for production of small pieces with my own set of Northstar square
insert bats. The Artista
is great for bowl, vase, and mug production. I can see your point
about plates, but haven't been there yet.
It is my first choice for a second wheel. And the portability is a
great asset for demos in schools and art centers etc..
Marcia Selsor
http://marciaselsor.com
Josh Berkus on fri 2 mar 07
Marcia,
> Contrary to your comments about the Artista moving ,I found that the
> Artista directly
> on a table top will not budge when I am centering.
Yeah, I can see that. On its own, the Artista has 16 little rubber feet and I
can imagine it wouldn't slide on a tabletop. However, I was using it with
the Static Legs which meant that there are only 3 rubber feet in contact with
my epoxy-concrete floor. Not enough friction.
> I also listened to the salesperson who suggested against the foot
> pedal. I was very skeptical but it works well manually adjusting the
> speed.
Doesn't work for me, unfortunately. I can't deal with taking my hands off
the piece. You're right that the hand-dial is smoother-operating than the
foot pedal, though.
--
The Fuzzy Chef
San Francisco
Cindy Buehler on sat 3 mar 07
On Thu, 1 Mar 2007 22:50:42 -0800, Josh Berkus wrote:
>I bought the wheel with the static legs and foot pedal from Southern
Oregon Pottery Supply, who said they would match any price I could find
online.
>Total cost: $510
>Comparable wheels:
> Brent ie $565
> Clay Boss $495
>Comparison to what I'm used to: Brent B $865
I got my Brent ie on sale at Bracker's in December '05. I paid $431
including the splash pan.
Cindy
cinderelish.com
Tracy Wilson on sat 3 mar 07
I've recently started renting out studio space. I have 2 Pacificas and
thought i used my second wheel little enough that i wouldn't mind having a
studio mate use it. In the last 2 months there were 4 or 5 times that I
(or my assistant) could have used 2 wheels but the studio mate throws
standing up and it was too much of a hassle to move the wheel to the
floor. Sounds like this might be a good move for me. Any other suggestions?
Tracy Wilson
Saltbox Pottery
Woolwich, ME 04579
207-443-5586
Josh Berkus on sun 11 mar 07
I've been using my Artista now for 2 weeks. =A0I have two additions to the=
=20
original review:
SPLASH PAN: the splash pan is the major flaw in the whole Artista design. =
=A0
It's simply impossible to remove the splash pan with a bat on the wheel=20
(which means you have to remove it *before* throwing even a medium-sized=20
plate or flat-bottomed bowl), and also impossible to remove it without=20
dribbling slip all over the wheel/floor. =A0CI, if you're reading this, the=
=20
splash pan needs to be redesigned from scratch. =A0 I'll be happy to help y=
ou=20
test a new one.
HAND KNOB: while I can't throw with a hand speed control (I need that foot=
=20
pedal), I did take Marcia's advice and try using the hand-knob for trimming=
=2E =A0
The hand control gave me low speed control superior to anything short of a=
=20
kick wheel. =A0The Artista is a *great* wheel for trimming, and if you have=
the=20
cash I could advise buying it just for trimming. =A0The one defect here is =
that=20
it's possible to turn the knob all the way past "stop" to "really fast" whi=
ch=20
cost me one bowl.
=2D-=20
The Fuzzy Chef
San Francisco
Anne Doyle on mon 12 mar 07
About that speed thing with the knob... teacher last week was using the
Artista to slowly rotate pots not quite dry enough for trimming while a fan
was directed at them. To dry them more evenly... One student wanted to
check something, turned the wheel off. Checked pots and then turned the
wheel back on. Pots went flying!!... said student's 3 miniature teapots and
then next day my very large bowl and another student's teapot in a similar
scenario. We are all staying well away from any offer to dry our pieces on
that wheel...
Anne, in Saint-Sauveur where the sun was gorgeous today, and the
temperature went up to 5 degrees...Practically shorts and t-shirt weather!!
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