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Dream Tool


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As a sculptor I have always belived in learning how to make your own tools, if you have a problem you can readily solve it.

It's probably easiest to solve a problem that you are passionate about. Many of the problems that have occured in pottery have been solved, but I'm sure there is room for a few more new ideas.

 

It may be usefull to point out two of my favorite newer problem solving hand tools.

 

Philippe Faraut has a tool simply called a 6" sculpting tool.

Each end of the tool is shaped like a football then scooped out.

I made my own, shaped slightly different to suit my needs. It is made out of hard rock maple but an oily exotic hard wood would have been better. The Hard Rock Maple wears down quickly in use and needs to be reshaped often.

It is absolutly, hands down, My favorite sculpting tool of all times. Wonderfull tool when sculpting the human face.

I only use a couple of hand tools when sculpting, this tool is the main tool.

 

Bill van Gilder Profiled Foot Rib... This may not necessarily be a new idea, but it is a great one.

 

Good luck on your quest.

I'm sure some others on here will chime in.

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I like tools that have something on both ends. I have a bamboo trimming tool that I use for making an undercut before wiring off the pot. Either way you pick it up it is functional. I also have a few wire trimming tools that are double ended.

Most pottery tools are fairly primitive.

TJR

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Please understand that while I respect the creativity of the design world, I have issue with the way in which designers and engineers/architects/planners come up with beautiful ideas/solutions/tools/workspace/buildings that don't fit with the function they are intended to provide. I believe these individuals have the best intentions, but lack the subtleties if understanding that come with the experience to a given task or vocation. That may be why the greates tool developers in ceramics and other similar arts are also practitioners, veterans even, in the given field.

Also, The difficulty in designing a dream tool in this field is that there is no one way to do things, and we often make our own tools as needed - or adopt/adapt tools from other venues (the kitchen) to suit our particular needs.

 

In short, the best way to discover a good tool is to get your hands dirty!

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Well, as far as pottery tools go there seems to be limited styles ... There are:

 

ribs - made from wood, ceramic, plastic, metal, and coconut shells. 

Needle tools

wooden knives

wire tools

ribs on a stick,

throwing sticks,

bats, and bat systems

wire brushes for scoring

sponges, and

trimming tools (maybe one with exchangable blades) because right now old ones are thrown away.

                        And maybe one using scraper blades that can be bought at hardware stores locally, or

                        Gillette shaving blades.  That would take care of the $25.00 shipping and handling charges

                         tacked onto orders.

 

If you design or improve one of these tools, sit some potters down, to test the performance of the tools.

Consider durability.

good luck,

Alabama

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When I was in art school, the potters all used those pear shaped corer tools for trimming. My prof said;"If you all use the same tool for trimming, your pots will all look the same. And they did!

I started looking around for other ways to trim. I always look at Youtube vids of potters working and the tools they use. I use a small stainless steel loop tool with two different .the loop gets thinner and thinner, so I have about 5 of them.I have tried home made metal band tools from packing crates-didn't really like them.

TJR.

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designer, look at the websites for pottery supply houses.  the tools they sell are all pictured.  they mostly carry the same stuff at different prices.  there is little choice beyond what they offer, that is why we design and make our own or convert kitchen tools to do what we want.  the biggest problem is comfort in the hand if it is a tool we would use for a long session, or sharpness if it is made of metal.

 

hand cramps are no fun.

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I would like to have a thin line paint type marker I can use to draw out patterns before beginning the carving process.  Currently I use dry erase markers because they are wet enough to make a good line without drying out quickly.  The thin point ones don't work at all.  A lot of people use a needle tool to scratch in a pattern but I don't like the marks it leaves behind.

 

I would also like a bendable level.  I use a level as a straight edge right now but it's not perfect on curvy pots which most are.

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When I am hand building bottles (and some mugs), I use a dowel with a wooden ball on each end (different diameters) and use it to stretch the belly of the piece by hammering from the inside.  What I REALLY need is a similar tool that can be inserted through a narrow mouth/bottle neck then inflated/expanded at one end to perform the same action...then deflate the expanded end so it may be pulled back through the small opening.   It would be something like a throwing stick, but one end would be expandable/inflatable.

 

Make my day and tell me that someone is already making this ;)

 

-Paul

 

P.S. I make all of my tools for creating airways in ocarina construction...lots of unsuccessful experiments to get there, btw.

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Paul what you need is a balloon with a tube into the stick down into the pot. Put in the stick, blow in the tube, balloon inflates. pot expands. cap the tube, leave stick and balloon in and then wait for dry. remove cap, air comes out, pull out stick. i guess that could work. would have to experiment a lot . seems like a neat idea for a lazy mans rounded jug/bottle. You could get different types of balloons for the different types of bottles you wanted to make. I wonder if the balloon would have enough pressure to push out the walls of the clay. Might not work. Would have to have a nice thin wall that stretched well. Would need a really nice plastic clay.

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When I am hand building bottles (and some mugs), I use a dowel with a wooden ball on each end (different diameters) and use it to stretch the belly of the piece by hammering from the inside.  What I REALLY need is a similar tool that can be inserted through a narrow mouth/bottle neck then inflated/expanded at one end to perform the same action...then deflate the expanded end so it may be pulled back through the small opening.   It would be something like a throwing stick, but one end would be expandable/inflatable.

 

Make my day and tell me that someone is already making this ;)

 

-Paul

 

P.S. I make all of my tools for creating airways in ocarina construction...lots of unsuccessful experiments to get there, btw.

 

 

This sounds very possible. I have an idea of how the base tool could be fashioned around. Would the round end have to be a perfect sphere of would it be advantageous as just a spherical smoothed bodied shape?

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When I am hand building bottles (and some mugs), I use a dowel with a wooden ball on each end (different diameters) and use it to stretch the belly of the piece by hammering from the inside. What I REALLY need is a similar tool that can be inserted through a narrow mouth/bottle neck then inflated/expanded at one end to perform the same action...then deflate the expanded end so it may be pulled back through the small opening. It would be something like a throwing stick, but one end would be expandable/inflatable.

 

Make my day and tell me that someone is already making this ;)

 

-Paul

 

P.S. I make all of my tools for creating airways in ocarina construction...lots of unsuccessful experiments to get there, btw.

Yes, this would be a design challenge. Perhaps a lurelock (component of an iv set) at either end to inflat the opposite. You could inflate a doughnut shaped, semi-rigid, bladder at the other. This bladder would inflate with water to prevent compression on impact, and would add a bit of weight. Medical supplies could be adapted to this tool a lap-band like balloon and an iv extension set.

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attachicon.giftools.JPG

 

These aren't "dream" tools . . . but tools I made (like Paul) out of necessity.  I am mostly a hand-builder and needed tools to help seal seams of taller cylinders.  They also work great -- especially the ones with roller balls -- on bellying out wares.  Simple. Inexpensive. 

Great idea.

So YOU are the person who has been stealing/acquiring my knitting needle ends....... Have you some with culved handles? Or are your vessels mostly straight sided?

The remaining ones will be liberated to the Clay shed soon.

I feel design student if you are not in the field or have continuous repport with clay workers at work, you will have difficulties designing in this field. "necessity....

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Babs, for curved handles, you can't beat (or easily replicate) Michael Sherrill's Mudtools . . . especially the bump tools  http://www.mudtools.com/product/bump/ .  Sherrill makes some of the most innovative tools I've seen for hand-building and sculpting.  I do carry a knitting needle . . . Akira Satake showed how to use it to wrap slab handles around to make nice round, hollow handles for mugs. 

 

The parts for these come from the craft store (wood beads in various sizes, already drilled) and Home Depot (wood dowels, wire).  Because the beads came in multiples, I ended up making a handful at a time and giving them away to my students when I was teaching.  I sanded down sides to make one for working inside corner seams.  Same for bevel cutters . . . I make my own 30, 45, and 60 degree bevel cutters using thin wood; the commercial ones are too bulky, in my opinion, for cutting angled edges in tight corners, etc.  Scrap wood, couple small screws and washers, piece of thin wire. 

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When I am hand building bottles (and some mugs), I use a dowel with a wooden ball on each end (different diameters) and use it to stretch the belly of the piece by hammering from the inside.  What I REALLY need is a similar tool that can be inserted through a narrow mouth/bottle neck then inflated/expanded at one end to perform the same action...then deflate the expanded end so it may be pulled back through the small opening.   It would be something like a throwing stick, but one end would be expandable/inflatable.

 

Make my day and tell me that someone is already making this ;)

 

-Paul

 

P.S. I make all of my tools for creating airways in ocarina construction...lots of unsuccessful experiments to get there, btw.

 

 

This sounds very possible. I have an idea of how the base tool could be fashioned around. Would the round end have to be a perfect sphere of would it be advantageous as just a spherical smoothed bodied shape?

 

I think the expanding end would have to be stronger than a balloon...inflating a balloon inside a pot would put pressure from the inside and allow some pressure from the outside, but I don't think the balloon pressure would be strong enough to stretch the clay.  Hammering with the ball/dowel tool takes a bit of effort to stretch the clay.  And, no, I don't think the end would have to be completely spherical.  Something like a sphygmometer bulb, more rigid than a balloon, but would have to start much smaller before inflation.

 

-Paul

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Bruce,  do you mind if I ask, how you make your bevel cutters?

 

I have some wood templates, I have my students use, for our slab box project.  It works, but a bevel cutter, seems more efficient overall... And a homemade one, means I don't have to spend over five bucks per manufactured piece.

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i have been looking for a star shaped punch about  (  )  this size,  and a crescent moon half an inch high.  in metal.   macaroni stars work if gorilla glued to a skewer but if they are used too long they soften and go round.  i have a dozen or so already glued and ready to go but a metal one about an inch or so long would be great.

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post-2190-0-74041600-1422272737_thumb.jpg

 

Ben, here they are (not really beauties, but functional).  Wood is1/4" birch slats from Home Depot.  Wire is jewelry making wire from Michael's.  Key is the cut outs.  Square for 45 degrees.  Rectangle -- two squares next to each other -- for 60 and 30 degrees; horizontal is 60 degrees, vertical is 30 degrees (I did not have a 30 degree handy for the photo).  Wires are easy to replace, just unloosen screws, remove old wire, add new wire, and lightly tighten.  Maybe your wood shop can cut the slats/pieces for you.

post-2190-0-74041600-1422272737_thumb.jpg

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i have been looking for a star shaped punch about  (  )  this size,  and a crescent moon half an inch high.  in metal.   macaroni stars work if gorilla glued to a skewer but if they are used too long they soften and go round.  i have a dozen or so already glued and ready to go but a metal one about an inch or so long would be great.

You could press your macaroni stars into clay, bisque fire, then use the bisque mold to make your own stamp out of clay & bisque fire it for use. The resulting star would be a little smaller but more durable.

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