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Qotw:what Is Your Favorite Redesigned/repurposed Common Kitchen Or Shop Tool For Pottery?


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Standing in for Evelyne this week,

 

So what is your favorite tool that came from some other place other than a pottery supply store. Something that you have recycled, or redesigned in some way to use in your pottery studio. Some of my favorites are bamboo kitchen utensils that I cut the handles off of to make all sorts of ribs. Another that I find quite useful is a potato peeler to facet the stems of chalices or to facet mugs before shaping. Give some examples of yours, pictures if you can.

 

 

best,

Pres

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I have a big potato wooden masher from Latvia that I use to pound clay into flatter pieces before rolling on the slab roller.

Got it in 1991.  Another wooden paddle is a pasta press for shell noodles I think. Good texture there too. I have a Nan tool used to punch holes in the center of the bread to reduce bubbles and let it cook more evenly. Got them in 2002 in Uzbekistan market. It is fun to shop in foreign markets for suck things. Recently shopping with fellow residents in Rome, we all bought little flat spreaders. Just a sweet piece of wood and we all wanted one. These all bring back great memories when handling them. I think of being in Latvia right after the CCCP break up and people were running around with gym bags with cast metal heads of lenin saying .."psst! want to buy a head of Lenin"

Crazy world.

 

Marcia

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Pizza cutter against a ruler make a nice perpendicular cut,  I bought a metal pie divider recently at a garage sale haven't tried it out yet.  I got a wooden sausage grinder stuffer at the same sale.  I use is for paddling small round pots.  Denice

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wire cheese cutters.  have 6 or 7 because they all have different depths of cut.  use to cut the edges of the trays that are inside forms so the cuts are uniform.  i can wiggle around the edges of flowers or leaves so the tray goes "outside the lines".  my way of standing out from the square crowd.

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Electric frying pan, chef's knife, things too numerous to mention...may incriminate me.

Favourite? well my old Dad's butter paddles, grooved one side and plain the other great paddling tools. ANd brings back memories, cold Scottish milk house, smell of dairy products and the sounds of the butter being patted into blocks.

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An old flexible carving knife great for chattering, a tailor's wheel for tracing patterns onto cloth makes nice dotted lines on clay, rubber spatulas for stirring small buckets of glaze, pasta shapes I used to buy for the grandkids make interesting impressions, wooden spoons, wooden butter pat makers for paddling on either the smooth side or the grooved side.

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My entire Wilton's cake decorating kit... The big one. Got it as a gift from hubby for Christmas years ago. The silicone texture mats, the fondant rollers, cookie cutters, decorating tips, like I said the whole kit now resides in my studio. Some of the items I use every day: Cookie cutters, flat wooden spatulas, old credit cards, cake rings, cheese slicers, aspic cutters, and empty mayo jars for storing slips.

 

The thing I love the most and use the entire time I am making stuff is my homemade scoring tool. I made it from a cheapie craft store paint brush that I cut the bristles off, then drilled tiny holes in the end. I cut the pointy ends off some large safety pins dipped in glue and stuck in the holes. The best scoring tool EVER.

 

T

post-22921-0-27069500-1460415016_thumb.jpeg

post-22921-0-27069500-1460415016_thumb.jpeg

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terry, ever considered selling tools?  that looks like a winner!

Thanks oldlady but naw it ain't pretty but it does what I need. I like the control a paint brush handle gives me and it takes a lot less pressure to get nice scoring. I know a lot of people have those little wire things but they never seemed to get a nice score first scratch out especially since I assemble a lot at the leather hard stage. I tried finding a commercial version like this but couldn't. I even tried a serrated metal rib, which works but this gives me better finer control especially when assembling complex items in small areas. I even tried cutting a metal serrated rib down, don't like it for scoring but love it for fine tuning an edge!

 

T

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