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Looking For Reviews Of Bill Van Gilder Dvds


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I've got some spare cash to spend on pottery education and I'm looking at buying van Gilder's "Pottery Techniques: Making Lidded Forms and Trimming" DVD, but I can't find any reviews of it. And fifty bucks is a lot of money to drop on a video I'm unsure of. (I was disappointed the last time I spent $40 on a video. Turned out the only good part was pretty much already on YouTube, and half of it was regurgitation of written facts on a video screen.)

 

Does anyone have an opinion on this video? I'm specifically interested in the lidded forms portion... I've seen a lot of quick demos of throwing a large variety of lids (I've got Hopper's and Jeppson's videos that cover this), but I'd like to see more in-depth coverage. How to go about trimming lids thrown off the hump, etc.

 

I've been experimenting, but I feel like watching someone who knows how to do it go through the whole process with various styles would be helpful. But I can't find anything about this DVD beyond the sales pitch. I've watched several of van Gilder's YouTube videos and I like him as a presenter.

 

(I wish CAD's bookstore would support reviews. I feel like someone selling books and videos but doesn't support attached reviews are worried that their sales would suffer if people were to easily find out what purchasers thought of the products.)

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carl, bill is a neighbor, (in the country, 8 miles across the river and mountain is practically next door.) and i love visiting his studio and the several times a year sales there.  

 

he does explain things well and perhaps the video is worth it but you might just find a copy in the community of potters where you live.  or perhaps in the public library.  if you just want to watch it once, that might do it.  ask your local clay supplier if there is a group in the area.

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I like Bill's teaching style, and he seems like a nice guy to get to know.

 

There's not much of a community of potters around here. I could do an inter-library loan, but that's been hit-and-miss. I like to actually pay creators, and I look for videos I'll rewatch (I've watched all of Hopper's Form and Function series twice). If I borrow a video from the library, I'm unlikely to purchase it later.

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4 or 5 years ago, Bill Van Gilner had made a bunch of videos for TV. I watched them over and over and over..till I could remember them in my sleep. His DIY programs were a hit but budget cutbacks canceled any more recordings. The DIY channel wouldn't sell the rights for the videos back to him so he began making his own copyrighted projects and selling them. I've seen most of them and I can tell you- they are ok for beginners. At that time, I was just getting back into clay so I took the 7 hr trip to his seminar in Atlanta about 3 years ago, I was so excited to meet him and hopefully pick up some 1on1 tips. That didn't happen. All of his instruction was a little rushed. He seemed bored with everything and most of all, he talked about how great he was- for hours. It was so bad, we only stayed for 1 day even though we paid for 2. I will admit that for complete beginners, his stuff is ok. There were some tips that certainly helped as I was just getting back into clay back then. Now with that said, there are TONS of FREE videos on Utube that give the exact same instructions with most of the videos that Bill Van Gilner charges big $ for. If you want to just send him some money for the video collections, you might learn something, but it's free for the looking online. Good luck!

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