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I usually have a commercial sponge pad that I used with wooden bats on the wheel when throwing large bowls and plates. Lately I have been at a loss as I could not find it in the studio.  Last week I was throwing plates(patens) for communion sets and was looking again for my sponge pad. Could not find it so I decided to try something new. I put a piece of plastic from a clay bag cut to a square on the wheel with the bat pins under it, placed a bat over top, and used a knife to cut the excess off. After removing the bat, I dipped the plastic into the water bucket, smoothed it back on the wheel head and replaced the bat and threw the plate. It worked just great, and the same piece now has been used for 10 plates. Still will get much use out of it.

 

Do you have a recent studio trick, or an older one that others may find of use?

 

 

best,

Pres

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Pres, are you saying that you're using the plastic to reduce the bat pin slippage in the wooden bats? What effect does the wetting of the plastic achieve, other than to keep the plastic from rucking under the bat?

I tried the plastic dry, and it did not seem to work as well. When I tried it wet, it held better. I also noticed when lifting the bat after throwing the pot that the bat was harder to get up than when dry. Maybe there is a little suction from the water forming a seal, don't really know.

 

best,

pres

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Learn to tap center pots for trimming.

I tap on center for some things that I need to do. Mark do you tap on center with a dry wheel head? Clay chocks for hold or damp head?

 

I use the GG often, but most of its use is dealing with chalices that I assemble on the wheel while the wheel is in motion. This allows me to center the stem and blend the seam with enough pressure to compress and smooth.

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When being taught how to use an electric beater, don't laugh there is a skill within, the teacher emphasised the fact that the Contents of the bowl was what was being beaten not the bowl sides and bottom.

I then passed this onto a potter who watched dismayed as the contents of her bucket, glaze , spewed onto the pottery floor as her paint stirring drill piece ate the bottom of the bucket!

DOn't think my timing was appreciated.

So my tip really is, advice should only be given when sought...

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Babs I thought the whole idea of blending was to whip it out on the bowl onto the counter and floor and once gathered up and tossed into the bowl again it was mixed.

Now I get the idea of mixing is more a consulting idea and when the ingredients call out for advice I mix them.

 

I,m thinking like I,m on a small tropical island a With time on my hands and all I really have done today is repair a Peter pugger Handel sensor cord that controls the on/off hopper switch and watched a sunset.

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Man,  life is all about negotiation. I smile when shopping and see parents trying to negotiate with 2 year olds when we all know they are dealing with the most screwed up neurotic dwarfs. But mu mouth is zipped in that smile.

Are you sure its a peter pugger ? She sells seashells seems much more appropriate.

Sunset, did it take you the WHOLE day. Remember I am reporting to OLD LADY when she is back on line.

My tip of the day is to leave your studio clean every day.

Spent the arvo clearing an area so I can work uninterrupted tomorrow. Dream on  white girl, hey!

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I use small stencils that I made from clear plastic used for table cloths. They bend around the pot. I glaze the piece first then use a stain with a stencil brush that I load with stain in a small tub that has a piece of folded t-shirt material in the bottom. I add stain & water sparingly & load the brush. It works very well the water keeps the stain from becoming to strong to prevent it from running on the glaze during firing.

Joy

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Joy, I use a similar technique with plastic stencils.  But I do it with slip on the leatherhard pot.  The stencils stick to the pot very well, using a little water to stick them on.  I then spray or dip with colored slip.  When the slip is set, I peels off the stencil, which can be re-used.  I often make marks on the reserved image to enhance or define it.

 

gallery_65900_865_24142.jpg

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Joy, I use a similar technique with plastic stencils.  But I do it with slip on the leatherhard pot.  The stencils stick to the pot very well, using a little water to stick them on.  I then spray or dip with colored slip.  When the slip is set, I peels off the stencil, which can be re-used.  I often make marks on the reserved image to enhance or define it.

 

gallery_65900_865_24142.jpg

Sounds easier that picking off latex!

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Well, it is, plus these plastic stencils are reusable multiple times.  The idea came from the paper stencils described by (I think) Bernard Leach.

 

As an additional tip, you can find plastic you can run through an inkjet printer to make these stencils.  The plastic is slightly too heavy for optimal use on complexly curved surfaces, but for the larger scale work and cylindrical pots like mugs that I use it for, it works okay.

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  • 2 years later...
On 4/16/2016 at 11:13 PM, Pres said:

I usually have a commercial sponge pad that I used with wooden bats on the wheel when throwing large bowls and plates. Lately I have been at a loss as I could not find it in the studio.  Last week I was throwing plates(patens) for communion sets and was looking again for my sponge pad. Could not find it so I decided to try something new. I put a piece of plastic from a clay bag cut to a square on the wheel with the bat pins under it, placed a bat over top, and used a knife to cut the excess off. After removing the bat, I dipped the plastic into the water bucket, smoothed it back on the wheel head and replaced the bat and threw the plate. It worked just great, and the same piece now has been used for 10 plates. Still will get much use out of it.

 

Do you have a recent studio trick, or an older one that others may find of use?

 

 

best,

Pres

I use a chamios leather to stick bats to the wheel. My wheel does not have bat pins and throwing a pad is too much effort.  The chamios works exceptionally well allowing easy removal and you never have to do the clay pad again 

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I expect photoshop lets you do this also, but Gimp is free to download and although it can be complicated I've used it for years thanks to it's incredibly helpful online community. Basically it's a very complete, did I mention free, photo editing software.

 I was looking for a way to convert images of my own and off the web into simple coloring book type line images, which is easier to manipulate for a zillion artistic uses. There are various ways to do this in Gimp but this one is a lot simpler than the rest.

The 'extras' included were notes I made so that, once converted to an outline image, I can go back and restore some of the lost image as gimp sometimes gets overzealous during the process, and the second  is to re-draw in any missing lines with a 'pencil' using my mouse. It lets you adjust the size of the pencil mark, which the gimp default usually makes too thick. Can you tell I love Gimp?  The image below doesn't involve any restoring or pencil line re-drawing so you can see what gimp will do without it. 

How to Convert Photo to Line Art_Drawing in Gimp

File>Open>select image file from list that opens(Obviously you'll need to put some pictures in here if you just downloaded Gimp)>Color>Desaturate>Filters>Edge-detect>Edge>OK>Color>Invert.
 
Extras:
-Dodge/Burn Tool>Burn/Shadows>Left click over the image which will restore some of the lost image.
-Windows>Dockable dialogs>Tool Options>this will open a the tool options dialog box settings>Set pencil to 10.00 or play around with it until it's the width you need. 

Mermaid1.jpg

Mermaid2 Gimp line conversion.jpg

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