shawnhar Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Last Sunday was the last day of my studio class and the theme was "Go big and go home". Man, what a satisfying feeling to wire off a bowl thrown with 25lbs of clay! Took me half an hour to center it all. I split the bag into 4 parts and centered each section one at a time rather than try to do the whole thing at once, took my time and really tried to control the rim on each pull so it remained true. By far the biggest piece for me to date, but the lack of experience throwing big meant I left it pretty thick, trimmed off 3lbs or so from the bottom and it's still pretty thick. I wish I could practice a lot more with that much clay but reclaiming clay is a PITA and takes up too much of my scarce time, I have found, and a pug mill is cost prohibitive, not that I have a place for one anyway at this point. It was a nice way to round out my 1st year of throwing, coming up in 3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Awesome! congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Tough centering, but easy way to do it with the multiple pieces. Another thing that works to start is to use the slap centering method. Slapping while turning does quite a bit of centering if you get the hang of it. How did you open up? I open up anything over 10 # bowls with my elbow, messy, but really works well for larger pieces. When throwing 25# cylinders, I use the fist pounding technique with the wheel moving then smooth up with hands to form for first pull. First pull have to be massive to get clay out of base, following pulls the same to get as much out of base as possible. Great that you took this on, as it is one heck of a way to improve your smaller than 20# throwing. Forms looks pretty good, even though by your standards is thick. best, Pres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 3-5 lbs of trimmings off a bowl that big isn’t unreasonable: keep in mind you need to leave some of that weight in place as support. You did very well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 GOOD FOR YOU! have you ever watched Isaac Button on youtube? watch it and wonder how he did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnhar Posted February 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Thanks everyone! I have seen the country potter vids, the pipe is hilarious. There is also a "Hands" video about an Irish potter that is heart wrenching as in the end, he says no one is interested in learning the skill and he has no one to pass it on to. Pres, I opened it with 2 thumbs and then pushed down with one hand over the other, was not as bad as I thought it would be. I did slap center a bunch and it helped a ton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 Excellent work! As your skills improve you'll find that you can do a bowl that size with less and less clay. And as you get older you'll find that you don't ever want to make 25 pound bowls again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 My larger bowls have been used as magazine racks for years. Don't throw many that large anymore. best, Pres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnhar Posted March 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 Well, there is something wrong with me cause now I want to try 50lbs... I'm sure it's just a phase... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 34 minutes ago, shawnhar said: Well, there is something wrong with me cause now I want to try 50lbs... I'm sure it's just a phase... DO IT! I have been trying to do a 35 pound pot thrown in three pieces for my neighbors house warming party and it's been driving me nuts! He might just get a mug haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 My best advice is to master an 18# bowl and work up. You will find that after many 18# bowls you can throw bigger with less trimming-also thay sell better than the huge ones. As you progress there will be less wasted trimming.Throwing big for big sake is not enough in my view. If you want a challenge work some large sectional pots-these also sell well to high end clients Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hulk Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 This month's Ceramics Monthly (err, was it January?) has an article describing assembling sections to make a big'n; note the edge detail. ...Button's da man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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