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Centering A Large Mass Of Clay


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Some of you would have seen this coming!!

THe way I usually , should be used to, centre large amounts of clay is to centre about half the required clay, spread to flat, slightly dished , shape, and then press and whack the other half to this, and then cone etc.

But yesterday, between bouts of bookwork, I watched a video where the potter just placed and whacked the second piece onto the coned down piece.

What do you guys do?

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How much clay are you speaking of? I center 25# in one lump using my rt arm on the side and wrist/fist over the top, lft in traditional position. I begin by slapping in place until close to center, then finish as mentioned.  For larger amounts I have coned first with base wide low cone, then slammed second piece on top. this for pieces that were 35# to 40#. Most larger pieces though I took the easy road and threw two or more forms on bats, then joined them together to make complete shape.

 

Worse problem with larger pieces as I was never more than 180# and am now 145, is body support. I find it easiest to either attache the stool to the wheel some way, or to hook my lft foot behind the front leg of the wheel while centering.

 

 

best,

Pres

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For a larger amount of clay, one should switch to using larger tools. For instance, instead of using your hands to center, use your forearm. it is always a good idea to start centering with the mass as centered as you can get it as mentioned by Pres, slapping the mass to close center. Watch a Guy Wolff video on YouTube to see how he handles 50# centering. I find for me coning up and pushing down with my forearm and controlling horizontal with my hand works for me to get the inner clay centered with larger masses. Like Pres, I throw sections to join for larger pots in general, but every once in a while, working with a single large mass is satisfying.

 

John

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Sorry Pres, not huge, 15 to 20 Kgs, it's just the different method I was querying.

I've joined two separately thrown pieces in the past. but as my strength is now diminishing, I am questioning my technique more and more, and was seeking the most efficient use of my body. Always spare, I am now just over 50kgs so I am thinking I may have to position myself up against a stone wall to brace :D

I stick my elbow onto my iliac crest, but will follow the advice re. using forearm instead of hand as the joints in my thumbs are getting cranky with my maltreatment of them.

Punching is such a jarring action on the joints....

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Reading these posts reminds me of a wasted youth (from a potters perspective) when I had tremendous body strength and plenty of resilience and all I used it for was to sit in front of a computer...  Argh!  I am not losing body mass yet, but I have plans for bigger forms in the near future and I can see from others experience there is no time to waste....   They also remind me that pretty soon I will need to think more seriously about protecting my body, particularly wrists and hands, from the wear and tear of the centering process. 

 

It has been bumping around in the back of my mind for some time that if I want to get more leverage on large amounts of clay on the wheel, the jigger and jolly folks must have something to add?  Surely someone has come up with some kind of fulcrum arrangement which turns well applied body mass (more than just your wrist and forearm) into a great deal of pressure applied to a cone of clay...?

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Reading these posts reminds me of a wasted youth (from a potters perspective) when I had tremendous body strength and plenty of resilience and all I used it for was to sit in front of a computer...  Argh!  I am not losing body mass yet, but I have plans for bigger forms in the near future and I can see from others experience there is no time to waste....   They also remind me that pretty soon I will need to think more seriously about protecting my body, particularly wrists and hands, from the wear and tear of the centering process. 

 

It has been bumping around in the back of my mind for some time that if I want to get more leverage on large amounts of clay on the wheel, the jigger and jolly folks must have something to add?  Surely someone has come up with some kind of fulcrum arrangement which turns well applied body mass (more than just your wrist and forearm) into a great deal of pressure applied to a cone of clay...?

Yeh, you don't know what you've got till it's gone......Don't use you lose it etc.....

I think there was a contraption shown in one post in the past.

Softer clay??? No playing around with that stuff.

Not to struggle wit the clay is a must , some days easier than others.

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years ago i tried a wide leather belt.  press and hold one end at the center, pull the strap toward the wheelhead edge and pray.  it worked, but i only wanted to do about ten pounds of clay at a time. the clay needs to be fairly soft. and wet the belt.

 

a better thing was a boot top.  cut a tall woman's boot at the ankle, put your arm into the opening with the ankle end at your wrist.  keeps the clay from cutting the forearm to bits with grog.

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