Art by Fuzzy

Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz

Triple Beam Dreams

triple beam scale

triple beam scale

I’ve always wanted to experiment with glaze recipes and mix my own glazes some day.  A couple months ago I got a step closer to making that happen in my very own studio when I purchased a triple beam scale.  I wasn’t interested in paying over $100 for a new Ohaus scale so I monitored ebay for a while and finally got a used one for $20.44 which included shipping.  For such a low price I wasn’t expecting it to be in mint condition and it wasn’t.  It has a few dings and the metal tray or platform or “pan” is no longer attached.  It also seems to be missing some weight under the pan which have been replaced by pennies and nickels.  It didn’t come with the additional attachment weights or any other accessories.

The good news: it seems to function properly. [Read more…]

The “SuperChuck” beta testing complete

It works!  In my last post I described how I made a version of the SuperChuck.  A couple days ago I got to try it for the first time.  I threw a nice vase form and it turned out to be the perfect candidate to trim in the chuck.  The black shelf liner material I used provided enough grip and I trimmed the bottom of the vase in no time.  You can see an “in progress” shot and then a picture of the finished pot next to the chuck.

I only wish that I would have made the chuck a little taller because the other vase/bottle that I threw had a neck that was a little long for the chuck.  I got around it by wadding up some of the extra shelf liner to make the chuck thinner in the middle so the shoulder of the pot would have a place to rest.

Photo Booth for Shooting Ceramics

Here is my biggest project from Christmas Break.  I wanted a place to photograph some of my more appealing ceramic items.  I started thinking and designing a few months ago.  When Christmas Break finally rolled around I put my plan into action.  Since I don’t have large quantities of empty space I decided to make it collapsible.  You can see the whole thing in action and a few test shots below.  Not bad for my first attempt…

[Read more…]