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Does Anyone Else...


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...ever get chewed-up fingers/palms from throwing too much? :D I tend to scrape the wheelhead a lot, and boy oh boy, Guinea's poor paws are pretty dang raw after this last throwin'-fool-a-thon. My right ring fingertip is cracked, haha... :D

 

PAIN IS BEAUTY

 

KINDA

 

Or, maybe I'm just a dummy rodent who doesn't know when to quit... :D

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If i do a lot of throwing i occassionally get wheel rash on the pinky finger side of the palm but i really mean a lot of throwing, like 3 days of 9am-4pm constant throwing. The only time i had a bad problem with my hands is when i was demoing publically in a drafty hallway. So make sure there isn't a draft on you during the cold days of winter. I used some lotion with hemp oil in it on my hands and they healed up pretty fast.

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Yes, I get raw pinky finger sides also when throwing clay with too coarse chamotte in it. And I'am throwing with such clay often. My wheelhead (no bat possibility, unfortunately) is full of scratches too.....

 

Healing takes time, so only hand building when the hand sides are raw again. Never found a good hand balm to help the healing. People are looking funny at my raw and mostly dry hands. Not very Lady-like hands.... (big grin)

 

Evelyne

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Bah! You have proud crafters' hands--who wants to look like a priss? "Not I," said the Guinea. My "writer's callus" on my right middle finger is huge--it looks like I have some weird lump there. :D That's the mark of thirty-one happy years of hardcore drawing! ^_^

 

It's kinda funny, but I do the seal thingy when throwing with my ring finger. I find it is just a stronger digit--plus, my pinky is SO TEENY

My boyfriend and I laugh about my wee hands all the time--my pinky is BARELY two inches (5cm) long, haha!! So, my ring finger gets its hide ground off from my wheelhead. I don't throw with bats, either. :) Pain in the bum!

 

The side of my hands and the heels of my palms are pretty bad, too. HNNNGHH I WANNA THROW ;.;

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Look at the position of your hands. If you are pressing DOWN on the wheel head, you are sanding your hands. You need to be pressing IN to the centre of the clay. You should not be wearing the skin off your hands. Just sayin'.

TJR.

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I agree with Tom. You should not be leaning on the wheeled but on the clay. If you are using a clay with grog, the grog on the wheeled will sand your skin. control the clay by pressing on it.

Guinea,

I have a callous on my middle finger on my left hand from pencils too. Had it for most of my life.

 

Marcia

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I was throwing a lot of clay [well, a lot for me at any rate] this past summer that was reclaim from the guild studio. What is it with new students that they don't seem to understand that only clay and slop goes into the reclaim barrel?!? NOT needle tools, chamois, rib tools, bisque ware bits, whatever! You'd shudder to see some of the bit and pieces I've found in the reclaim! And each one I've found the hard way! On the wheel. At high speed. :angry:

 

Yes, I've ripped the bejeezus out of my hands one more than one occasion. So glad that I'm using commercially produced clay right now. So much kinder to the hands and my bat boards!

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there is a trick to throwing bowls that you might try.  my friend Robin Teas who teaches at a jr college, taught me to shape the clay on the wheelhead or bat into a doorknob shape to begin with.  this leaves air under the part of the clay you will pull up so you do not touch the wheelhead after this first step.  it is a little like throwing off the hump but with just a tiny hump in the center of the wheel. reduces but does not eliminate the sandpapering of your hands that happens when you center.  using grog or chamotte free clay is less painful.  (thanks for the great word, evelyne!)

 

when i had a problem with my leg after a sunburn i was prescribed a cream with steroid in it.  it is called Triamcinolone acetoide and is only ZERO POINT 025 PERCENT strong.  i know it sounds like something from a 1940s movie of a vain woman sleeping with cotton gloves but with nobody around but the dog, i don't care.  i cover my hands at night and in the morning, they are healed.  you might ask you doctor about it.  really is amazing and it comes in a one pound (454 grams) jar.  not for pregnant women!!!

 

leg can't be exposed to sun so i had to give up the bikini contests at the beach.  sigh.............................i miss those trophies.     <_<

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A sure fix is buy a cream called Working Hands. It is in a small green tub. It heals cuts & splits like magic in a couple of days.

It gets very cold here in the winter & I always get splits from having my hands in clay for long periods.

They even have one for feet that works. Okay I don't put my feet in clay but they do get heel splits in the winter.

Joy

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I keep my hands in shape by rinising them in vinegar after I am finished working for the day.  I have been doing that for several years and then at night I either use vasoline on them or do a hot wax dip.  I found the vinegar tip in a Ceramics Monthly magazine from the 60's.    Denice

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I was throwing a lot of clay [well, a lot for me at any rate] this past summer that was reclaim from the guild studio. What is it with new students that they don't seem to understand that only clay and slop goes into the reclaim barrel?!? NOT needle tools, chamois, rib tools, bisque ware bits, whatever! You'd shudder to see some of the bit and pieces I've found in the reclaim! And each one I've found the hard way! On the wheel. At high speed. :angry:

 

Yes, I've ripped the bejeezus out of my hands one more than one occasion. So glad that I'm using commercially produced clay right now. So much kinder to the hands and my bat boards!

I used to use a lot of reclaim clay when I was a poor art school student. Don't you love the rotting wooden rib, or a really common one was the leather chamois.

If you cut slap your clay for a while, you should find all the needle tools before they find your hands.

I still use reclaim from another potter as he uses a coarser clay than me and i make all my pie dishes and baker's out of that clay. Thankfully, he is careful about not leaving surprises in the scrap clay.

Tom.

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I wonder if that Working Hands stuff is cruelty-free...I don't wanna buy stuff where my fellow guineas were harmed, ya know. :)

 

Omg, the reclaim horror stories.. We called that stuff "The Recycle Bucket," (though, it was a big honkin' plastic garbage bin) and man...the STENCH that came outta that thing! It was the devil! I don't know what the heck is in that Seattle Pottery stoneware, but PHEEYEW. My Clay Art Center earthenware just smells like dirt, so I dunno. But anyway, my instructor got stabbed by a needle tool in there once. That was an interesting day.

 

And you're probably right about me leaning on the wheel. Trouble is that it KILLS my back to squeeze inward, so I tend to go more downward. Chewed hands is the result! ;.;

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Clay is base or lime-ish. If you put something acidic on it that will really help. Diluted vinegar is good.

 Better though is a cream called Amlactin. It is 12% lactic acid and will make your hands feel so much better. It works really well all over actually and is great for sunscared skin. In the winter when your skin is really dried out it is wonderful.

 I got it from my dermatologist 100 years ago and have been using it ever since. They sell it in big bottles at Costco.

 Wearing the skin off your hands is kind of an occupational hazard. If you use rubber gloves when cleaning and glazing that is very helpful.

 

CR

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@Grype: The studio is a dangerous place! I broke my right "ring" toe on a cinder block, and broke my tailbone slipping off a stool while showing my mom how to throw. :D Then again, I am a class-A klutz...

 

I've been using Burt's Bees Almond Balm for my paws, as well as Peter, Thomas, & Roth's mega hand lotion. My fella always marvels at how soft my hands are, even though clay rips the moisture outta the skin. I think I just gotta take it easy 'n quit trying to sand my fingers off, haha! ^_^

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I wonder if that Working Hands stuff is cruelty-free...I don't wanna buy stuff where my fellow guineas were harmed, ya know. :)

 

Omg, the reclaim horror stories.. We called that stuff "The Recycle Bucket," (though, it was a big honkin' plastic garbage bin) and man...the STENCH that came outta that thing! It was the devil! I don't know what the heck is in that Seattle Pottery stoneware, but PHEEYEW. My Clay Art Center earthenware just smells like dirt, so I dunno. But anyway, my instructor got stabbed by a needle tool in there once. That was an interesting day.

 

And you're probably right about me leaning on the wheel. Trouble is that it KILLS my back to squeeze inward, so I tend to go more downward. Chewed hands is the result! ;.;

Don't go inward. Push away from you toward the centre, grasshopper. Feel the centre [Canadian for center].

TJR.

I'd come and show you, but I am allergic to guinea pigs.

T

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I was reading on this topic this morning and thought...glad I don't have that problem.  Then this afternoon in the studio, I rubbed my wrist a bit raw.  The forum jinxed me!!!  Then I noticed I was using type of bat I haven't used in a long time...the amaco black composite ones.  They are a bit on the rough side.

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I was reading on this topic this morning and thought...glad I don't have that problem.  Then this afternoon in the studio, I rubbed my wrist a bit raw.  The forum jinxed me!!!  Then I noticed I was using type of bat I haven't used in a long time...the amaco black composite ones.  They are a bit on the rough side.

 

You are so right.  I've actually ground my fingernails down to tender skin when throwing a wide bottomless form on these plastic bats.  The textured side is just like sandpaper.

 

-SD

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