Black Phillips Adept Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 Hey guys, back when I was in High School (I graduated in May of '96), I discovered a very interesting book from the School Library on unusual--but beautiful--pottery techniques! Unfortunately, I don't recall the title/ author of this book, but from what I recall it was a hardback with a mostly white or grey cover, and highly photographed. But, one of the techniques that I seem to recall was, the author was making an unusual lid to a beautiful box in which he or she seemed to change the texture of the clay by making it looser by--if I recall correctly--tossing the clay from hand to hand, which resulted in a clay that created these beautiful, soft texture that created these water-like patterns in the clay and a counter that perfectly matched the shape of the box. ...of course, this was 20+ years ago! Any of this ringing any bells? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 Stab in the dark, but "making marks" by robin hopper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 1 hour ago, liambesaw said: Stab in the dark, but "making marks" by robin hopper? In case it stirs your memory Freely available, but not cheap (change location and currency) https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?full=on&ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=DPUGysRcr1ZO3LIKrUsJIavjYUg_1497963026_1:2:4 ... but the shop seem to have a special offer https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/shop/making-marks/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 DING DING DING bells are a ringing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 My public library had a copy, I own his other books, he is a very good author, just not sure if this is the correct book since the cover is black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Phillips Adept Posted September 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 To clarify: IIRC the motion the author put into the clay actually changed its structure and made it more fluid, in a sense, by causing it to almost drip and run, whilst maintaining it's integrity and structure. ...if that makes sense. It was also quite a large and heavy book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyK Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 Sounds more like a hand tossed pizza! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 Thixotrophy, check out that aspect of clay body. Same logic of slamming boxes of clayg on the floor a few timesx to wake it up I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 Perhaps just avoiding thread drift, has anybody tried this? Which seems to have been in Nelson’s A Potter’s Handbook. The Student and Teacher’s Thixotropic Clayhttp://janestreetclayworks.com/2011/03/05/the-student-and-teachers-thixotropic-clay/ NB Most important thing about thixotropic clay DO NOT PUT IT INTO A PUG MILL, OR OTHER COMPRESSION MACHINES. It will break even the strongest gears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted September 25, 2020 Report Share Posted September 25, 2020 i remember that thixotropic clay article. there was another discussion in a 1970s book with the blue paper cover with a bright hot pink fuzzy thing hanging on a clay donut. book by susan peterson. looking online i see that the 4th edition hardback has a black framed cover with a grey pot inside it and the paperback is a black and grey plain cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted September 26, 2020 Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 @PeterH Yes, I added an H Thrixotropy..thixotrophy above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted September 26, 2020 Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 6 hours ago, PeterH said: Perhaps just avoiding thread drift, has anybody tried this? Which seems to have been in Nelson’s A Potter’s Handbook. The Student and Teacher’s Thixotropic Clayhttp://janestreetclayworks.com/2011/03/05/the-student-and-teachers-thixotropic-clay/ NB Most important thing about thixotropic clay DO NOT PUT IT INTO A PUG MILL, OR OTHER COMPRESSION MACHINES. It will break even the strongest gears. Oh my god, yes!!! I did this in high school when I was first learning about clay! It was a self directed art program in the 90’s, and I think this book must have been in the classroom clay library. I hadn’t really found references to it anywhere since. It was a lot of fun, and I think my mom might still have the thingy I made out of it. It’s been more than 20 years, but I do remember forming it by flipping and folding a disk of clay that behaved a bit like that cornstarch ooze stuff. You had a short window of time to work it, or it would turn almost runny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CactusPots Posted September 26, 2020 Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 This might be the first ceramics book I ever bought. It's probably in a more recent edition by now. It has the most detail on Thrixotropic clay of any book in my collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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