Wet clay, wheel wedging, and other miscellanea

[Callie Beller Diesel]

PYE! Those are some extremely respectable starting cylinders! Don’t worry about the fact that they flopped when you cut them in half, they all do that. You’re showing a nice even cross section and there’s no extra weight in the corners. Height and evenness will come with practice. This is the point we tell you to go make a really obnoxious number more of them. If you’re making 3 in a session right now, aim for 10 next time. (I said AIM.) When you get to 10, aim for 20. If you get bored, add handles and call them mugs. 

3 lbs is a common starting point for everyone’s first-ever throwing class hockey pucks. Starting too small can present issues because we all cut off tops, tear some away, and mush things.  Also, trying to centre a too small amount can be as difficult to do as trying to centre too much at first. If you have more confidence about centring and aren’t discarding half the clay you started with, you can definitely drop down to 1 or 2 lbs. 

 

 

[Pres]

You show that you have control of the basic concepts, and the wall evenness is impressive. If you start to use a little less water on the last pull you will find you can get a little more height without a whole lot of work. Posting a video would be helpful for further assistance in the throwing process,

 

best,

Pres

[Pyewackette]

@Pres @Callie Beller Diesel That would be an extremely long video!  I am SLOW. I think those 3 cylinders took me a couple hours.  Now part of that time was spent staring at it and thinking, but I even had trouble just centering the blobs yesterday.  I was watching Florian Gadsby (again) earlier and he was telling me I should be taking just 2 or 3 minutes to throw a mug.  I don't center even when I'm centering well in 2 or 3 minutes! LOL! You mock me, Florian Gadsby, with your 3 minute mugs!

OK that's a little hyperbolic.  I can center in under a minute, sometimes. But 3 minute mugs are currently beyond me for sure.

As slow as I am its a wonder anything stands up for me at all instead of just wetly flopping over. I guess its an extra good thing that I'm a fairly dry thrower.  It will be interesting to see how many of these blow up in the kiln.  I forgot to mop the water out of the bottom of a jar I made with a narrow top so that's probably a weak bottom.  We'll see.

I have to find somewhere to post a video.  I'm currently locked out of my Youtube account.  All of google actually.  I hardly ever use it and apparently at some point they started demanding a phone number, unbeknownst to me.  Haven't got one to give 'em.  I have to make an end run.  Its in the works.

Edited February 26, 2023 by Pyewackette

[Hulk]

Feel for the clay, precise economy of movement, as they improve with effective practice, so will the clock.

When looking for a clockwise direction video clip that I liked, watched some of the clips I used to watch over and over, like these:
Clinton Pottery didn't post many video clips (maybe two?), lot to see here
Mug throwing, advanced production techniques, Clinton Pottery - YouTube
I like his book as well
Michael Casson - The Craft of the Potter - Throwing (extract) - YouTube

When some time has passed, I'm still seeing others' throwing differently; the clips are still the same, but I am not.

What Clinton Pottery says about clay conditioning - I believe, more and more as time goes by, it being my experience - I'd forgotten, that video clip is where I first heard what a difference the uniformity/homogeneity of the clay makes.

Edited February 26, 2023 by Hulk
turned the sound on

[Pyewackette]

@Hulkyeah these days I am feeling these weird lumps in the clay as it turns under my hands.  At first I thought it had something to do with being wedged by hand but once in awhile I feel it in the pugged clay as well.  Only not as bad or persistent in the pugged clay so maybe it is something to do with having been hand wedged.  I can't remember ever noticing lumps like that before.

Clinton Pottery seems to have made just the one video which seems odd given I'm pretty sure he was talking about having just bought a stand for his camera so he could record.  And the British guy was a hoot - I guess those are old videos recorded from British TV?  I swear he dresses like a medieval craftsman including beard LOL!  Mostly I've been watching that Korean guy you sent me.  Sometimes I can't actually tell which hand he's treating as dominant - maybe he's a switch hitter like me or maybe I just am not very observant LOL!  That looks so uncomfortable, he started out on his knees. I just kept thinking OUCH. But he's fun to watch.  I love throwing off the hump but I have yet to get the back the knack of cutting it off. 

Best I stick to the cylinders.  Taking a class always kind of messes me up in a way because you end up so focused on making stuff, instead of breaking stuff until you get it right. Ya gotta have stuff to glaze, no matter how lumpy, or the instructor is never happy.

I've mostly been watching Florian Gadsby videos, and some of the Potter's Roundtable stuff.  Jon Brit is up to 30 videos in his glazing series. Hsin Chien Lin has over 500 videos posted over the years, I can remember when he first started posting. I'm never going to catch up with 'em all.

Oh and if anybody is interested, Florian Gadsby has written a book called "From My Hands" (I think).  Its not out until September though.

Hope your move is going well.  I'm dreading ours.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Pyewackette

[suetectic]

23 hours ago, Hulk said:

what a difference the uniformity/homogeneity of the clay makes

You are absolutely right here, wedging is often botched or neglected which makes struggling even worse.

Thanks for putting up that Clinton video. Your video led to Gabriel Nichols throwing long toms.

A very few alive today will know what 1000 pot production looks like.

 

 

 

 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Pye, the only difference between someone who can throw a 3 minute cylinder and the place you’re at is practice. That’s it. Just. Repetition.

It will come, I promise. Throwing is one of those 10,000 skills, like playing a musical instrument. Making cylinders is like learning scales, and you’ll be able to do it on sheer muscle memory in a matter of months. It’s really easy to brush off the small wins in your process because of this. Once you can do something without thinking about it, you stop thinking about it. It’s really, really important to take a moment to acknowledge your progress.

I’m going to DM you about some video platform options. I’ll help you figure that end out. 

 

[oldlady]

pye,   i am very sorry to have read your comment on that "british guy" you think is a hoot.   Michael Casson was a very famous and televised Welsh potter who brought clay work to the masses.    very like the painter who did "happy,  little clouds" in this country.

that is all i have to say.

[Pyewackette]

@oldlady I think being a hoot is a GOOD thing.  And I think Bob Ross was a hoot too. Back when I was still undiagnosed and had a lot of trouble sleeping because of not getting treatment for Addison's disease, I used to put his videos on endless loop and let his voice soothe me to sleep.

Unfortunately I didn't also learn to paint in my sleep.

I also think the beard and mode of dress is cool.  He really does look like my idea of a medieval craftsman.  Come on.  It was the 70s.  We were all dressing in "interesting" ways.  Personally I still do.

BTW it occurs to me that perhaps a definition of terms is called for.  Being a hoot means something is fun and interesting, a person, an event, doesn't matter.  Fun and interesting and an experience to be sought after and repeated.

Never heard it used any other way.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Pyewackette

[Kelly in AK]

Without knowing Michael Casson, and his work, the average person seeing those videos now, …well… I have no idea what it conjures in the mind. To me, it’s a hero, gracing us dreamy clay makers with his expertise, along with the rebellious yet stylish attire and personal vibe. And doing so in an impeccable way. Definitely a hoot. Brings me joy. Definitely not a joke. 
 

Michael Cardew next.