Throwing Comfy

[Benzine]

So, after a long search, I finally acquired a potter's wheel. It's nothing too fancy, as you can probably tell from the photo, it's a Brent ie. Not super powerful, by any means, but I feel it will suit my needs just fine, for the foreseeable future.

The seller, had very few hours on it, and the thing is practically new. I still need to buy a splashpan, yes Jim a splashpan, as the one I am using now, I borrowed from the Brent kickwheel I have in my classroom. They won't miss it during the summer right?

 

So I've finally got the key item for my studio, to go with the kiln I've had for the past several years, though it's still not hooked up yet.

 

The wheel does sit low, so I'll be looking into solutions for raising it. In the meantime, my wife and I just got a new couch in our office, so the old one got demoted, to my studio. That room also happens to be the safest place, in the event of a strong storm, so we put it there, to have some comfort, in case we need to hunker down a while. Coincidentally, it happens to be the perfect height for the wheel. So I guess I can throw in style, until I get a stool and some booties for the wheel lined up.

[jrgpots]

Congrats. How do ya keep those hand so clean while pulling a cylinder ??? The wheel head hardly has any mess either. Are you sure you really need a splash pan?

[Benzine]

Congrats. How do ya keep those hand so clean while pulling a cylinder ??? The wheel head hardly has any mess either. Are you sure you really need a splash pan?

 

 

Thanks.

 

I'll be honest though. My hands are fairly clean, because of a little bit of photographic staging on my part. The only person around was my three year old daughter, and I haven't taught her how to take photos yet. So I pulled the cylinder, then set the camera timer. I didn't put too much pressure on the clay, because I had to check the camera, in between shots.

 

I didn't even notice the wheel head was clean. It was a pretty small bit of clay, so I guess I just didn't use that much water.

[Marcia Selsor]

I expected to see you in a Samurai outfit or something equally Oriental.

that is a comfy couch. My cat thinks I am a comfy couch whenI am throwing. She is banned from the hous e because our rescued dogs go crazy when they see a cat. she is a permenant studio cat. Your set up is coming along poco a poco.

Have a great summer.

Marcia

.

[Mark C.]

That is one sanitized area .I knew teaching was a clean but I never thought is was that clean.

Mark

[justanassembler]

your back is going to hate the posture that your couch is forcing you into... Also, Brent wheels love to be setup on cinderblocks---theyre cheaper than booties, too

[OffCenter]

No, man, that's just wrong! You can't ###### throw from a couch!

 

Jim

[Benzine]

No, man, that's just wrong! You can't ###### throw from a couch!

 

Jim

 

 

Muhahaha, wait til' I set up the Giffin Grip on that thing.....

[Benzine]

your back is going to hate the posture that your couch is forcing you into... Also, Brent wheels love to be setup on cinderblocks---theyre cheaper than booties, too

 

 

You sir, are a genius. Which might be me one of my few options anyway. From what I saw, the booties only fit Brent B and higher models. Maybe I just read it wrong.

[Pres]

No, man, that's just wrong! You can't ###### throw from a couch!

 

Jim

 

 

Muhahaha, wait til' I set up the Giffin Grip on that thing.....

 

 

Cut some 4" plastic pipe, add ends, fill the pipe with gravel to the height you want, you have booties.

[Benzine]

I expected to see you in a Samurai outfit or something equally Oriental.

that is a comfy couch. My cat thinks I am a comfy couch whenI am throwing. She is banned from the hous e because our rescued dogs go crazy when they see a cat. she is a permenant studio cat. Your set up is coming along poco a poco.

Have a great summer.

Marcia

.

 

 

Thank you much.

 

Next step is getting some boards to make a proper wedging/ work table, and getting a utility sink in there.

[Benzine]

That is one sanitized area .I knew teaching was a clean but I never thought is was that clean.

Mark

 

 

Keep in mind, I haven't use it much yet. You should see the Ceramics area in my classroom. Much more "broke in".

 

I'm honestly not that clean of a potter. Now my college instructor, he wore nice khakis and a button up/ Polo shirt everyday, and got nothing on him. Of course that's easy to do, when he only needed a thimble of water to throw something.

[Denice]

I had a professor also who threw with a thimble of water, he had special bats made for these huge platters. He would take 25 lbs of clay and have it centered and thrown in minutes. I thought of a couple of cheap stools that might work, a height adjustable roll around stool for home mechanics are cheap or a stool for a drum set. Just make sure they have a locking wheel feature, have fun working on your studio. Denice

[pattial]

Enoy!!!

[OffCenter]

No, man, that's just wrong! You can't ###### throw from a couch!

 

Jim

 

 

Muhahaha, wait til' I set up the Giffin Grip on that thing.....

 

 

Cut some 4" plastic pipe, add ends, fill the pipe with gravel to the height you want, you have booties.

 

 

Wow, Pres, that's a great idea!

 

Jim

[OffCenter]

That is one sanitized area .I knew teaching was a clean but I never thought is was that clean.

Mark

 

 

Keep in mind, I haven't use it much yet. You should see the Ceramics area in my classroom. Much more "broke in".

 

I'm honestly not that clean of a potter. Now my college instructor, he wore nice khakis and a button up/ Polo shirt everyday, and got nothing on him. Of course that's easy to do, when he only needed a thimble of water to throw something.

 

 

Famous potters from a bygone era, Nan and Jim McKinnel were the neatest potters I ever met (in both senses of word "neat"). I can still see Nan daintily wiping clay off her fingers with a handkerchief and Jim throwing with a bow tie on. I did a demo for one of their classes one time and when I walked in in cut-offs and t-shirt (that probably said something like "Legalize Marijuana Now!"), the class gasped.

 

Jim

[Benzine]

No, man, that's just wrong! You can't ###### throw from a couch!

 

Jim

 

 

Muhahaha, wait til' I set up the Giffin Grip on that thing.....

 

 

Cut some 4" plastic pipe, add ends, fill the pipe with gravel to the height you want, you have booties.

 

 

Wow, Pres, that's a great idea!

 

Jim

 

 

That is a good idea. Or I could pour plaster or concrete in them, as well.

[Benzine]

Marcia, funny you would say something about your cat. For whatever reason, mine has quickly developed an interest in my throwing sponge. I left it in my water bucket, and I've had to take it from her twice. No idea, why she wants to carry a sopping wet sponge around.

[Wyndham]

Just for a different POV, try placing the wheel on 3 cinder blocks and stand to turn. You can adjust the wheel head height by adding some 1/4 in masonite scrapes under the wheel legs for extra height if needed.

I like the wheel head to be at around my belt level.

Turning while standing can help with back aches.

Hope this helps

Wyndham

[Pres]

That is one sanitized area .I knew teaching was a clean but I never thought is was that clean.

Mark

 

 

Keep in mind, I haven't use it much yet. You should see the Ceramics area in my classroom. Much more "broke in".

 

I'm honestly not that clean of a potter. Now my college instructor, he wore nice khakis and a button up/ Polo shirt everyday, and got nothing on him. Of course that's easy to do, when he only needed a thimble of water to throw something.

 

 

Famous potters from a bygone era, Nan and Jim McKinnel were the neatest potters I ever met (in both senses of word "neat"). I can still see Nan daintily wiping clay off her fingers with a handkerchief and Jim throwing with a bow tie on. I did a demo for one of their classes one time and when I walked in in cut-offs and t-shirt (that probably said something like "Legalize Marijuana Now!"), the class gasped.

 

Jim

 

 

My district had a dress code for men-button shirts with ties, no jeans-pressed slacks. I usually tucked my tie, and often wore and apron-which they frowned on. One day I forgot the tuck, and it stuck on the clay, yanking my head to the wheel-thunk! I was lucky that I didn't pass out, just wiped my brow, took a few seconds of deep breath in front of 20 kids, tucked the tie and continued on. Lesson learned! After that the tie always got tucked! Wen through a lot of clothes that way!

[Benzine]

That is one sanitized area .I knew teaching was a clean but I never thought is was that clean.

Mark

 

 

Keep in mind, I haven't use it much yet. You should see the Ceramics area in my classroom. Much more "broke in".

 

I'm honestly not that clean of a potter. Now my college instructor, he wore nice khakis and a button up/ Polo shirt everyday, and got nothing on him. Of course that's easy to do, when he only needed a thimble of water to throw something.

 

 

Famous potters from a bygone era, Nan and Jim McKinnel were the neatest potters I ever met (in both senses of word "neat"). I can still see Nan daintily wiping clay off her fingers with a handkerchief and Jim throwing with a bow tie on. I did a demo for one of their classes one time and when I walked in in cut-offs and t-shirt (that probably said something like "Legalize Marijuana Now!"), the class gasped.

 

Jim

 

 

My district had a dress code for men-button shirts with ties, no jeans-pressed slacks. I usually tucked my tie, and often wore and apron-which they frowned on. One day I forgot the tuck, and it stuck on the clay, yanking my head to the wheel-thunk! I was lucky that I didn't pass out, just wiped my brow, took a few seconds of deep breath in front of 20 kids, tucked the tie and continued on. Lesson learned! After that the tie always got tucked! Wen through a lot of clothes that way!

 

 

Jim, in response to your story, that's awesome. It reminds me of my second teaching job, though not to that extreme. I showed up to the first day of Professional Development, for new teachers, wearing khaki shorts, and maybe a button up shirt, not tucked in. All of the other new teachers, were wearing khaki/ dress pants, with button up or Polo shirts. They were all new, new teachers. There was one other teacher, dressed like me. He was also a "Veteran" teacher. Both of us, were used to districts, where "Professional Development" meant just show up wearing whatever is comfortable. Little did I know, or little did anyone tell me, that the district had a consistent dress code for staff. Every day, we had to wear khaki/ dress pants, and a nice dress type shirt. Even days, where we were in meetings with staff all day, we had to dress like this. On Fridays, we got to get crazy, and wear school-related t-shirts, which I owned none of. Occasionally, we could wear jeans on Fridays, if the school was doing one of their various fundraisers, where you could pay five dollars for the privilege of wearing jeans.

I often wore jeans more often, because my Principal, straight up told me, "You are in one of the messier content areas, so if you think you need to wear jeans once in a while, it's OK." I did just that, but never took advantage of it.

Now, at my current district, it's much like my first. We are to dress nice, when we have students, but can wear jeans on Fridays, but obviously still have to look professional. On professional development days, we can wear whatever; jeans, shorts, t-shirts, ball caps. I don't think I've seen anyone wear sweatpants, but if they didn't none of the administrators would say "Boo". Our administrators trust, that as adults and professionals, we won't show up, looking like slobs. Crazy, I know.

[Benzine]

So with the end of the school year, I've got more time to get my studio set up.

 

I bought some lumber today, to create a work bench/ wedging table top. Luckily, one of the homes previous owners, was into woodworking. So he had a nice wood shop set up in the basement. He had a workbench there, but REALLY like the top, so he took it with him, for the wood shop in his new house. So I've got the frame, but no top. I have several 5X1.5" pieces. I plan to laminate them together, than anchor them to the frame. As the lumber has rounded edges, I plan to square them off with a planer, so the edges match up better (time to call in a favor to the school industrial tech teacher).

 

My question is, should I use any type of treatment on the surface of the wood? My guess is no, as I'm sure I'll want the wood to absorb some of the moisture out of my clay, but maybe there's something I'm not thinking about.

 

Also, I eventually want to use an epoxy coating on the floor, the type you use in garages and such. The floor is already concrete, but it's pretty rough and somewhat pitted, because it is nearly one hundred years old. It actually used to be the coal storage room, for the house's furnace. In fact, the coal chute door is still there, on the exterior of the house. So, like I said, it's a little beat, and has a lot of spots that would hold onto clay dust.

Once again, is there any reason, I wouldn't want to use said product?

 

Thanks All!

[Pres]

So with the end of the school year, I've got more time to get my studio set up.

 

I bought some lumber today, to create a work bench/ wedging table top. Luckily, one of the homes previous owners, was into woodworking. So he had a nice wood shop set up in the basement. He had a workbench there, but REALLY like the top, so he took it with him, for the wood shop in his new house. So I've got the frame, but no top. I have several 5X1.5" pieces. I plan to laminate them together, than anchor them to the frame. As the lumber has rounded edges, I plan to square them off with a planer, so the edges match up better (time to call in a favor to the school industrial tech teacher).

 

My question is, should I use any type of treatment on the surface of the wood? My guess is no, as I'm sure I'll want the wood to absorb some of the moisture out of my clay, but maybe there's something I'm not thinking about.

 

Also, I eventually want to use an epoxy coating on the floor, the type you use in garages and such. The floor is already concrete, but it's pretty rough and somewhat pitted, because it is nearly one hundred years old. It actually used to be the coal storage room, for the house's furnace. In fact, the coal chute door is still there, on the exterior of the house. So, like I said, it's a little beat, and has a lot of spots that would hold onto clay dust.

Once again, is there any reason, I wouldn't want to use said product?

 

Thanks All!

 

 

A few things to consider here. You may want to put a thin piece of plywood or masonite over your table surface so that it could be replaced periodically. I think the wood would absorb water to the point it would raise the grain-not good for rolling slabs. When I built my wedging table, I mounted to wall, put triangle legs on and a 2X4 around the edge all around and filled with cement, covered with canvas. Floor the epoxy is grand, there are some new materials out that have a little bit of grit in them for traction and will fill small imperfections in the floor. More expensive, but I think in the long run a good investment for the home.

This last week I broke down and purchased the throwing chair from Baileys that I got for the school-heavenly. It was mentioned in earlier topic. This week I'm into teapots.

[Benzine]

So with the end of the school year, I've got more time to get my studio set up.

 

I bought some lumber today, to create a work bench/ wedging table top. Luckily, one of the homes previous owners, was into woodworking. So he had a nice wood shop set up in the basement. He had a workbench there, but REALLY like the top, so he took it with him, for the wood shop in his new house. So I've got the frame, but no top. I have several 5X1.5" pieces. I plan to laminate them together, than anchor them to the frame. As the lumber has rounded edges, I plan to square them off with a planer, so the edges match up better (time to call in a favor to the school industrial tech teacher).

 

My question is, should I use any type of treatment on the surface of the wood? My guess is no, as I'm sure I'll want the wood to absorb some of the moisture out of my clay, but maybe there's something I'm not thinking about.

 

Also, I eventually want to use an epoxy coating on the floor, the type you use in garages and such. The floor is already concrete, but it's pretty rough and somewhat pitted, because it is nearly one hundred years old. It actually used to be the coal storage room, for the house's furnace. In fact, the coal chute door is still there, on the exterior of the house. So, like I said, it's a little beat, and has a lot of spots that would hold onto clay dust.

Once again, is there any reason, I wouldn't want to use said product?

 

Thanks All!

 

 

A few things to consider here. You may want to put a thin piece of plywood or masonite over your table surface so that it could be replaced periodically. I think the wood would absorb water to the point it would raise the grain-not good for rolling slabs. When I built my wedging table, I mounted to wall, put triangle legs on and a 2X4 around the edge all around and filled with cement, covered with canvas. Floor the epoxy is grand, there are some new materials out that have a little bit of grit in them for traction and will fill small imperfections in the floor. More expensive, but I think in the long run a good investment for the home.

This last week I broke down and purchased the throwing chair from Baileys that I got for the school-heavenly. It was mentioned in earlier topic. This week I'm into teapots.

 

 

 

Thanks for the plywood suggestion Pres. That's why I asked, I figured there was something I wasn't considering. I'm thinking of wrapping canvas around part of it. Would that help with the water absorbancy issue, and eventual raising of the grain?

 

I've seen some of the other epoxies you are referring to. They are nice, but as I'm considering doing the rest of the basement as well as the studio, cost is kind of an issue.

 

Throwing chair you say? I'm going to have to look into that.

[oldlady]

seal the floor. you will be washing it frequently. pits don't matter unless they are golf ball sized and all over. but seal that floor somehow. even concrete paint will do. clay dust seeps into unsealed old concrete and you will wear out mops but never get it really clean.

 

if you find some TYVEK to cover the table, it will allow you to wash the surface yet it will not stick to the clay. canvas is a dust trap. slapping clay down on a dusty surface in a basement is bad stuff for your lungs.