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thanks, one cat and the doggie in the window.  the view of the river is behind where the tv sits.  the plastic containers hold various colors of slip.  the "foot"pedal is just under the hanging brush where my hand can control it since my foot does not work well anymore.

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Oldlady ... so forgive me for stating the obvious but want to make sure I'm understanding your setup.  You have elevated your wheel to the height of your work table surround and your wheelhead is through a hole in the surface???  Or maybe a notch in the surface?  And you sit in a regular office chair?  Are there any shapes/sizes that are difficult to throw in this position?

 

Is that mirror at the back of the surround?  What do you use it for?

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did it!  how to trim if you do not use a splash pan.  i throw very dry and use a damp sponge on my finger to pull up.  trimming is done fairly early since the pots are never really wet, just evenly damp.   i have a strip of aluminum flashing left over from building a house.  it's 6 inches high.  i put it onto the table to corral  the trimmings  and use a bath towel on my lap for the other half.  trimmings are put into a dry bucket and when i have enough, i add color to the bucket of dry trimmings and some water.  makes more slip.  easy.

 

 pots to be trimmed are all within reach and since i have an odd rim on this one, it goes on the piece of foam i glued to an old bat.  notice the arrow on the green bat.  that tells me the position of the hole in the bat so i can place it on the wheel easily.

 

 if you can see just below the arrow and to the left there is a mark on the wheel itself.  that is to show me the position for the giffin grip which you see in use in the second photo.  i used to struggle to not put the giffin grip over the batpin and mess it up.  now, just put the grip where the black lines say and it is done. 

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judy, the wheel is not elevated, the table surrounding it is made to the height of the wheel.  the plywood top rests on the top that came with my wheel and i notched that piece of plywood for my knees to fit in the same place.  on the floor are two plywood boxes for my feet so they are elevated.

 

yes, the office chair is comfortable and movable so i can get to anything i need, even rolling back to a separate table.

 

the mirror shows the shape of the pot as i work on it.  i do not have to lean over sideways to see the profile.  have seen many people do this and can only wince with the pain it must eventually cause.  

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Wow and double wow to oldlady! This is some really well organized studio! Kudos to you my dear!! Ticket is on the way to come here and re-organize my basement studio.... Boy, that would be a dream!!!!

 

Thank you for showing us how we can adapt if we get older than 30 and if the pain in the body is taking over. I want to be able to do ceramics also after my 90th Birthday.

 

Evelyne

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making tools includes a surround for my wheel where all tools are hung or standing

Do I see a "holster" for a needle or trimming tool on your throwing bucket? Is that made of tape?

 

Golly, I just love to get great ideas from other potters' workspaces!!

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i am very pleased that you noticed my favorite solution to the problem of "now, where did i put that ^&^*(&** needle?"

 

it is a needle that i dipped into a bottle of yellow or orange acrylic paint so i could see it wherever it went and then i taped a holster to my water bucket.  the holster is the narrow end of a plastic ball point pen so the tip of the needle sticks out just a little.  there is another one on the slab roller right at the place the handle goes into the roller. i have three needles and four knives.  some in the plastic boxes that are screwed onto the slab roller table to hold the tiny crumbs left over from cutting a slab and two in reserve.

 

it was a revelation to me that i was allowed to buy more than one of a tool.  seems silly now, but i find that having scissors in every room keeps me from running around looking for the only one in the house.

 

my problem is that i have solved problems that were not even problems before i solved them.  "think out of the box"  was never my problem, i never knew there was a nice, comfortable box to think inside of. 

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I love adaptive strategies to allow one to keep doing what they want to do!  Too many people give up without trying to find an alternative.  My own issues have prevented me from throwing but between this work surround and tips on ergonomic throwing positions I found when researching hoists ( http://www.robertcomptonpottery.com/Wheels-of%20Potters.htm), I think I should be able to throw in addition to handbuilding.

 

Definitely agree on multiples of tools, especially scissors.  My husband was born with the "can't find it gene" and it's cousin the "don't know where it goes so I'll shove it here gene" ... multiples allow me to hopefully find at least one!

 

Now back to the work surround ... I feel like I'm playing "Where's Waldo?"!  Are the sides of the surround framed plywood?  I can see the ends of some lumber and things like ribs on nails around the edge.  Is the shelf at the back above the mirror attached to the whole setup?  Or maybe the back of a bookshelf pushed up to the surround?

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judy, i will find or take some more pictures that show the actual way the surround was made.  it is just an open frame of 2x3 lumber (timber in the UK?) with a plywood surface at the wheel level and a 1/2 inch plywood shelf on the top to hold the pots i make.  (when i have the surface cleaned off)  i last saw the top of that plywood in 2004, i think.  any horizontal surface becomes fair game for anything in your hands, you know.  

 

a series of nails hold the ribs on the left and there are hanging loop tools on nails on the right. (i think i still have my original loop tool from 1972, it is worn down to the thickness of a human hair.)  lights clamp onto that shelf and allow me to see what i am working on.  it holds lots of brushes, so many it is crazy.  i guess i think that if i own a brush i can paint.  not so................

 

the surface of the table where the wheel is, is made of tileboard.  i have worn off the shiny white surface over the years so maybe a piece of white formica would be better if you really want to make one.  the measurements are whatever your wheel height demands and whatever height above that is comfortable for your arm to reach.  it is a stretch to the farther corner.

 

the mirror rests on the tabletop and leans against the support for the top shelf.  it is a leftover from a house i built.  i angled it to the correct spot and applied a line of tape to the bottom and tabletop to hold it in place.  makes a real difference.

 

it is funny that you added a link to Robert and his Pacifica wheel.  that is what mine is.

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I was just reading the excerpt from the extruder book and I got an idea. He has all kinds of nifty new ideas for using the extruder (mine's waiting to be reinstalled, this should get me going!) but his cutoff technique is the same old two-handed way.

Idea:

Mount with screws a hacksaw blade horizontally behind the bottom of the extruder. Attach a cutoff wire to the holes of the blade so that it lays flat and taut across the blade. Prior to extruding, pull the wire out and up over the extruder base. Extrude clay. While holding extruded clay, release cutoff wire with a touch of the finger. Ta da!

 

The only thing I'm not sure of, from here in my daydreamer's chair, is if the blade is long enough to allow enough slack in the wire to overlap the extruder bottom?

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Rae ... I read it as well today.  This sounds like a cool idea to try!  If the hacksaw blade isn't long enough perhaps you could try the spring steel from a tape measure.  It's easy to find cheap ones at the $1 store and you can cut them with kitchen shears or tin snips then drill holes for your cutoff wire.

 

As I have yet to use one, I don't understand the whole helper concept/nearby table from the excerpt???  Wouldn't it be easier to have a small table on wheels at a height to "catch" the extruded clay?

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Judy, the soft extruded clay can bunch up on the table as it comes out. Generally, it needs to be guided to remain in the shape you've made or it gets kinks. The bigger the extrusion, the more guidance needed.

 

Not sure if my metal tape measures have enough spring-back to pull through clay. Might even have to double the hacksaw blades.

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