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how many of you use a mirror to save your back


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i am surprised at how few potters know about a mirror placed so the potter can see the profile of the pot all the time. saves all that twisting around to see the shape. some of the you tube things i watch make me squirm in sympathetic pain.

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I do. I use it so I don't have to get up from the wheel and step back to look at the form I am throwing. This was something my teacher, Paula Winokur, recommended back in college days.

SInce I am throwing mostly tall forms lately in porcelain, it is nice to lean back and look at the overall shape from the wheel.

 

Marcia

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I did a long time ago-now its one more thing to break. I really just need to see the side of the pot my head is close to. I will say that I have straighted up to view now and again but thats also just good to move around on the seat after a throwing session.I tend to fill a ware board get up and move it and repeat.

Mark

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When I cleared out the space for my small studio, I found a 2' x 2' mirror.

I set it on a couple buckets in front of the wheel and propped it up against the wall.

 

Works great. I pretty sure I got the idea to do that from one of Simon's videos.

 

 

cool.gif

 

I do. It is a big old dresser top thing, sits at about10 o'clock to my wheel head. It has helped me straighten up a bunch.

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Thank you for reminding me about the mirror, I usually have one hung next to my wheel, I just forgot about it when I built my new studio. Makes me wonder what happened to the last one, may be it's still hanging on the wall at my old house. Denice

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Not me. I tried it but didn't like seeing my ugly self in the mirror. Better to just bend over once in a while.

 

Sylvia

 

 

Never don that. I might have to try it, but usually when throwing larger pieces I am standing and just walk a way leaving the wheel moving slowly. Other pieces I have a tendency to get up and walk back to see also. this allows me to stretch while working, but then I am not trying to crank out great numbers of pots. Some times I throw for the joy of throwing-in the dark. Good practice.

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I use a mirror to brush my teeth in the morning. For some reason I can't find my mouth that early in the A.M. Have seen videos of Simon Leach etc. using a mirror for throwing. Never tried it.

TJR.

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I've never used a mirror for throwing pots, but do use one when working on a sculpture--especially the faces. Was taught that when I was learning wood carving--it will show every mistake in portrait heads, and in wood carving, the sooner you know you've gone astray, the better. Thank heavens clay is easier to adjust.

 

 

Shirley

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There was a giant 4x2.5 foot mirror in my basement so when i built my studio down there I tucked it in between the wall and my wheel. When I am trimming with my giffin grip on the wheel head and I have the tall bucket to catch the trimmings I can't see the pot im working on and that seems to be when I glance up to check it out the most.

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I've never used a mirror for throwing pots, but do use one when working on a sculpture--especially the faces. Was taught that when I was learning wood carving--it will show every mistake in portrait heads, and in wood carving, the sooner you know you've gone astray, the better. Thank heavens clay is easier to adjust.

 

 

Shirley

 

 

 

I think the mirror allows us to use the right side of our brain more easily. It's like drawing upside down.

 

Jed

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I used to. I gave it up at some point, not sure why. Maybe felt like it was too much of a crutch, that I should be shaping the inside of the pot rather than being hung up on the outside profile. Now I'm thinking it might be a good idea to try it again! It's not always easy to judge the shape of a pot just by looking at the inside, or by looking at the outside up close, especially with bifocals. And many times I'll look at a pot later, when it's leather hard, and wish I had put a little more volume or roundness into it that might have been easier to assess with a mirror during throwing. Pots may change shape a bit as they shrink, making it more important to really emphasize the shape you want to begin with.

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