Yarn Bowls

[Joanie m]

OK, so this may seam like a everyone knows but me thing, but what is the secret for making yarn bowls that don't get wonky when glaze fired at cone 5-6?  I made 7 of varied designs.  They looked good with the bisque at cone 05 but when I opened the kiln today there were only 4 that are maybe passable.  I left the rims get to nearly bone dry before making the final cut for the yarn slot.  I did designs that I saw similar examples on line.  It seams that any slot that runs horizontally slumps and the cut gets out of round.  Any info or tricks to have a better success rate would help.  at 50% success, 'm not sure that I will be making more.  Thanks in advance!

[rox54]

I had to achieve a decent success rate with yarn bowls when I opted to have a booth at a fiber convention. I found that slots that are too wide make the bowl go out of round. Yarn is really not very thick and doesn't need a large passage. Also, I didn't make my slots past the curve of the bowl, which I think also helped stabilize the shape. I covered the  top half of the bowl for a few days to balance out the drying with the base.  Do the pictures you see online have views from the top down so that you can see if they are wonky?

[Joanie m]

Here is an example of a bowl.  This is not mine.  This was on Pintrest Mine was very similar.  I just realized, that this was not yet fired.  Mine looked lovely at this stage.  I guess I should have looked closer.  The whole flange area on mine is about an inch our of round.  I would be interested to see what this one looked like when finished.  

[Joanie m]

Here is another one I attempted.  The spiral on mine was out of control off! Might this be slip casted?  Would that make a difference?    

[Min]

There have been a few ideas put forth when yarn/knitting bowls have come up on the forum before. A few things that have been mentioned are throw a bit thicker than usual, don't overfire, use a clay rated to a higher cone and fire under it's maturity, don't make the cutout to wide or to deep into the pot, press the area that tends to warp outwards in a bit after cutting the slot, leave a bit of clay in place near the top of the slot until the pot is dry then remove it. 

[PeterH]

Can you post a picture?

A previous thread:

[Bill Kielb]

Couple ideas I have not seen here, convert your design to drilled holes so no longer a clean detached slot but requires threading yarn through one of the holes. Leave a couple small clay bridges in place, once finish fired - cut clay bridges with a diamond blade, buff super smooth with diamond blade and finish decorate small spots with acrylic paint or overglaze the design with lowfire glaze on midfire stuff to final decoration. Definitely make a bit thicker, a full 1/4” seems appropriate.

[Babs]

On 6/23/2024 at 12:24 AM, Joanie m said:

Here is an example of a bowl.  This is not mine.  This was on Pintrest Mine was very similar.  

After using and making yarn bowls, I came to the conclusion that a bowl with a bell shaped pot narrowing to a flared bottle shaped top was tge way to go. Sit the ball of yarn in the bowl, thread the yarn through bell jar and place over bowl. No pets running away with ball of yarn,  can stick knitting needles into the bottle neck. I made these for local spinning and weaving guild . All gone, I make no more.

[Chilly]

As a knitter, I don't like yarn bowls. 

The glaze needs to be 100% perfect, no pin holes, bare patches, absolutely smooth, inside and in/around the slot.

Why cone 5/6?  They're easier to make and keep to shape at ^06.

 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

18 hours ago, Chilly said:

As a knitter, I don't like yarn bowls. 

This. 

I find they’re either purchased by beginner yarn folks, or people who are buying tools for the yarn artist in their life. Experienced knitters don’t get them for themselves as a rule.