docweathers

With my squeeze bottle I can make nice continuous lines, until they dry and crack into dashed lines.. I don't see that problem with others work. How fo I fix this? I am usually working on ^6 bisque

Thanks Pieter and Joseph . That looks like what I need. I should've looked on Glazy.org myself. Duh!! I'm slowly getting a small set of glazes that I like.

I found this pot on the web. I like the glaze but all I know about it is called crackle blue. A web search reveals nothing useful. Does anyone recognize this glaze and have a ^6 oxidation recipe for it. Thanks

I never knew there was so much to a tea bowl. After the introduction to the presentation about John, there is only one meaningful question to ask about John "Can he levitate?"

Do you have a video or transcript of this lecture that you could share with me?

John's links you me a good start to answering my question. It's going to take me a while to work my way through all of the related articles and it may lead me back to another version of my question. Thanks

Let me preface my question with, I have no training in art and so to those who do this may sound simplistic. Balance seems to be a basic requirement for something to be considered aesthetically appealing. Symmetry is the simplest form of balance but there are other ways of achieving it, such as using color to offset mass. So my question is, are the ways of making things aesthetically appealing without being limited by the balance requirement? An explanation or possibly referring me to some reference would be helpful.

I throw totally dry. No water at all. Sometimes when I am throw too wet of clay, I will squish some slip out, I will stop and dry it off. I can throw wet or dry, but not half way between. The problem is that wet clay sticks to dry throwing tools.

A picture of the tools is above . If you mean the thixotropic phenomenon, I will have to figure how to get a meaningful picture of that

You're one of the old masters who can make it work without my kind of trickery. As far as my technique goes, it's exactly like wet throwing except there's a roller on the inside and outside instead of fingers. If I ever make a video, I'll certainly post it. I wouldn't want y'all to miss my fantastic beginners throwing wizardry There are some strange things you can do with dry throwing that I haven't figured out how to make best use of. If you throw a tall cylinder and let it dry overnight on the bat, as you'd expect it to be quite stiff. You can actually pick up the cylinder and bat by the edge top edge of the cylinder. However, if you do a straight pull with a roller on the inside and outside crushing it what little you can, the whole thing softens up tremendously . Then you can continue to lift clay in the normal manner. I think it's thixotropic phenomenon.

It doesn't sound like anyone else's throwing completely dry like I do. I even go so far as occasionally wiping off slip that I might've squeezed some too wet clay. As a hobbyist beginner, throwing one-off stufh, I find a lot of advantages to throwing dry. I can screw around with it forever until I get something I like. I can throw a lot thinner, taller or wider. The only disadvantage I found is that you lose some feel, which means that sometimes I can accidentally get things so thin that they are fragile. I've developed a set of roller-based throwing tools that I coat with coconut oil to keep clay from sticking.

I have wood, silicon and stainless ribs. For no good reason I tend to reach for the silicon ones. How you folks tend to compare these three, and for what purposes?

John B You indicated that you throw dry. I also throw dry. Have you developed any special tools for that purpose?

Sometimes it's more fun to build a new gizmo than to use it. Also being a welder helps. Sometime I'm at my wheel or kiln working on something and go gee wouldn't it be nice to have a gizmo to do this or that. Then I can just trot across my shop to the welding side, do a little buzz buzz and be back with my new toy in 10 minutes. Throwing dry has a lot of advantages for a beginner like me who's throwing one off stuff. Instead of getting three wet pulls before the clay gets too soft, I can fiddle with the clay forever until I get what I want.

I found a picture of my roller based centering tool mounted on my old M 400. . The roller is particularly relevant to me since I throw dry.. . Using a variety of other roller based tools that I have fabricated.

It's a gizmo that I built to fit on my old M 400. I would be glad to show you a picture of it at this point, but it won't make much sense until I get it adapted to my new whisper VL.. Which should not be very long. I will send you a picture as soon as I get it mounted on my whisper. It's basically a lever system that I welded up that pivots on a bolt in the wheel to hold a wooden rolling pin roller to the clay. It's built so I can use the calf of my left leg to apply pressure. The only thing that I need to use my hands for is to apply a little bit of pressure opposite the roller to keep from pushing the clay off of the bat. The thing is so powerful that it's very easy to put too much pressure to quickly.

I give away as much of my art as I can as a way of supporting community projects. It gives me something to do with my stuff, which I enjoyed making, and it provides a lot of support for local do-gooder organizations without having to cough over with cash. I'm always looking for some new group to give my stuff to. Though I don't try to sell my stuff, occasionally someone who lost in the bidding war for my piece wants to come over to see what else I have and buy something. I have to admit to not giving away my favorite stuff.

I'm just a hobbyist potter. Though my stuff has some similarities, no two are alike. What I enjoy about pottery, and other art I do, is solving the various problems that occur. Once I figure out how to do something successfully, I will build it into my repertoire of techniques but move on to something else to solve. Making pretty things is peripheral , since I can't figure out what pretty is or what good art is. Though I don't attempt to sell my stuff, some people seem to fancy a little of it.

I just bought a VL Whisper. I have a roller based centering tool which produces very little drag on the wheel so that slowing will not be a problem.

How big of a lump of clay can you easily center before torque becomes a problem?

The only criticism I have heard of the whisper VL is that it lacks enough torque. What's your view on this? How much clay do you throw?

I will definitely not go with the speedball. I'm interested that no one has mentioned, good or bad. Shimpo Wheels like the whisper VL. Has anyone used one? The direct drive seems to be a good idea but I really don't know if it makes much difference, except for less things to go wrong. There seems to be some concern about them not having enough torque if you throw really large. I've never thrown more than 30 pounds of clay and see no reason to throw more than that. It seems like Brent, Bailey and Skutt are the best candidates???? They look extremely similar to me. Thanks for all the info

The Skutt looks nice. Thanks Is there a good reason to favor direct drive wheels

My Shimpo M 400 just died. Repairing it may cost more than it's really worth. What are you folks liking in current electric potters wheels? Just by raw specifications, the Speedball Big Boss Pottery Wheel looks like a deal. Has anyone used one?

Yes, as soon as I do a glaze firing.... which will be a while.