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Favorite And Least Favorite Forms To Make?


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My favorite has to be the simple chubby belly pot. ^_^ I love how cute and versatile that form is. It's my favorite form to use for my mugs. ♥

 

I think plates are my least favorite form. My wheel head isn't very large and I have troubles trimming them on it. (Any tips for that?)

 

What are yours?

 

-GP

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I love making anything with a gallery. Jars, sugar bowls, that kind of thing. And mugs.

 

I don't know that I have a form I dislike making. Although I think yarn bowls with that stupid swirl cut in the side is just bad pottery. I don't even like them as a knitter.

 

I've made a platter or two that was too big for the wheel head. I just attached a bat that was larger. Your trimmings wind up on the floor, but with me they kind of do that anyways.

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Oh derp, bats! I never use them, so it usually doesn't cross my mind to bring 'em out. I should get some. :)

 

Yeah, when I make yarn bowls, mine are pretty minimalistic. I just carve a kind of "L" shape with a slight upward curve, and use my 1/2" hole cutter on one side. Sometimes, on my bigger ones, I carve two "L" slits on opposing sides for plying. Swirls are just too froofroo and seem a lot more unwieldy than the simpler slits. :)

 

I made this one for my friend's daughter of her bun. She also loves Harry Potter and baking cupcakes. ^_^ ♥

(Sorry for the pic quality; it's a little old, hehe.)

post-63665-0-33960600-1445236744_thumb.jpg

post-63665-0-33960600-1445236744_thumb.jpg

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Well I am not a thrower so not sure how to answer this but that won't stop me from blathering.  Others at my studio hate putting handles on mugs and I remember not being too fond of that.

 

Mostly I like to sit and make little pinch pot animals.  I have a mold I made for a roadkill skunk spoon rest that sells well but i don't like using that mold.   guess I don't like repetition.   also love raku but hate scrubbing off the soot.     such a rough life I lead.     rakuku

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Hmm. My favorite form is probably bowls. They are just so darn useful. Food, hold stuff, stack nice, look nice, sit random stuff in them. You can decorate them in so many ways, make them uneven, lop sided, odd rims, insides can be decorated, the bigger the better. If my kiln was bigger I would make huge bowls, but the biggest I can go is 15 inches, makes me = (, but its ok cause I love making anything.

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Forms for me, I don't have a dislike any more. Had a time when my large patens were cracking and warping something terrible. Did not give up and now have a 98% survival rate. As for other forms, I like doing casseroles, event jars, punch bowls and tureens, batter bowls and other bowls, mugs of course, and chalices to go with the patens.  Teapots I continue to do because I love the form and the complexity. I also enjoy combining wheel thrown pieces with other wheel thrown, or slab built pieces for larger presentational/scultural jars. It is a matter of being consistent in your throwing, working through the form until it works for you, and taking ownership for it. You cannot give up on a form because it is difficult for you, keep pushing until it is yours.

 

I have never done mortars or pestles before, This last week I thought out the idea, considered the options for the pestle throwing, and made two types, one thrown in two pieces the other 3 in one piece. I like them, they fit my hand well, actually better than the ones we have around the house. They are chunkier, but should be very good to work with. Taking ownership.

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I keep changing my likes and dislikes as I go. Right now I'm really enjoying making narrow neck bud vases so I appreciate what you said, Doris. The collaring is very satisfying and I find I have to focus on the whole process a little more than other techniques. My recent least favorite shape is plates but I'll be diving into that soon as a challenge.

 

Paul

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I keep changing my likes and dislikes as I go. Right now I'm really enjoying making narrow neck bud vases so I appreciate what you said, Doris. The collaring is very satisfying and I find I have to focus on the whole process a little more than other techniques. My recent least favorite shape is plates but I'll be diving into that soon as a challenge.

 

Paul

 

When I make bud vases or anything that are rounded with a collared neck. I actually close the form up and then shape it with a rib, open it back up and shape the collar/neck. I find I can get really nice round circle pots doing this for beautiful little bud vases

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Favorite things to make... Boxes, love creating and even more so the decorating of them. It's very satisfying when it all works out.

 

Least favorite things to make.... Really big bowls. I've struggled with weird varyinging issues on anything over 8-10 inches. But I keep trying and tell myself I need more failures anyway to build that walking path using rejected pottery in the stepping stones. It would be nice if the same failure happened all the time but it doesn't. I know it's an issue with technique so I keep making them and trying little variances to improve and prevent failures.

 

Best thing in the world... A successful pot

 

Worst thing in the world ... A failed pot

 

T

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Pug, making really big bowls takes a different way of making them. When making little bowls you can just knock them out. Making big bowls I start by opening up the clay, compressing the bottom in a bowl shape, then I pull walls like a flower pot and leave the rim thick. Then I take a rib with a nice curve and slowly go down the sides of my walls inside the bowl starting from bottom going to rim, this will stretch the rim, which is why you have that extra clay. I do this a few times, then I throw the wall a few times, then repeat. It makes big beautiful bowls easy. I saw another guy who does it in a similar way, I will look for the video and post it here.

 

 Found it: 

 

This guy does it similar to what I do, he makes his bowls a bit more shallow than I make mine, but the idea is still the same. 

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Bowls over 10# I usually open up with my elbow, gives me an even cone in shape to the bottom, and a rounded bottom. I really don't figure that a flat bottom is a bowl, more a dish. After opening with the elbow everything else is much the same. Always remembering that a pull with a bowl has more pressure coming from the outside with a flat finger set up on the inside. Big bowls are not too bad, but when trimming make certain to trim foot ring deep enough to avoid cracking.

 

 

best,

Pres 

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