Pottery, Photography, Design - Brandon "Fuzzy" Schwartz
Towards the end of my summer break I got back into the clay studio and I’ve been trying to dedicate some time to the dirt now that school has started up again.
I just received some new clay tools on Friday from Clay King who had a Labor Day sale featuring some 99 cent specials and textured rolling pins for 4.99.
new clay tools
I’ve been reclaiming some scrap clay. It’s a little bit like getting free clay! I let all the clay dry out really well then let it sit in some water for a couple days. Then I used my cordless drill and mixer to mix it up into a nice smooth creamy chocolate pudding. I want to just dip my whole arm in there! I’ve got myself a 5 gallon bucket that was nearly full when I started. Now I’m slowly drying it and adding it to the new clay that I bought as I prepare it for throwing.
reclaiming clay
I don’t have a plaster table to dry it on so I just scoop it onto some platters that cracked during the bisque firing. I put these bisque trays up on little stilts so air can circulate underneath. The bisque really sucks out the water and speeds the drying time. When I put them out in the sun I can have clay almost ready to use in a couple hours. One thing I learned is that the edges dry a lot faster so I pile on extra around the edges and make the clay thinner in the middle.
ready to bisque fire
The kiln is on and was at 104F when I checked a few minutes ago. I’m bisque firing a load of mugs, bowls, vases, and a few other items. I’ve been busy the last two weeks trying to get everything thrown, assembled and dried so I can get it fired today. Next weekend I hope to glaze fire so I can have a good selection of Christmas presents to choose from.
clay tools
My school was canceled last Monday so I had a chance to do some online shopping at the clay supply stores. Clay-King sent me a $5 off coupon in their email newsletter and they had glazes on sale so I decided to go with them. I ordered a few small tools, a pint of clear glaze, some kiln posts, and a 10lb. bag of Saturated Iron dry glaze mix. Everything except the dry glaze powder was at my house on Wednesday (only 2 days!) and the dry mix ships direct from the factory so it will arrive separately.
A while ago I got an email from one of the ceramics newsletters that I’ve subscribed to and it had a video of the “Superchuck”. In a nutshell, the device is attached to the wheel and used to trim the bottom of vessels with narrow openings or delicate rims (which would prevent them from setting upside down on the wheel). It looked pretty convenient and not terribly hard to make so I decided to give it a try. That was a few months ago…. I would like to think that the slow process was more about taking my time and getting it just right but that wasn’t the case at all. The process could have been shortened quite drastically but work and graduate classes and track season got in the way a bit.
I threw the main form a few months ago and maybe a month ago I glued that to a spare bat with Liquid Nails. Then a few weeks ago I started testing some material to glue to the chuck to prevent the pots from slipping as they rotate. The video suggests neoprene but I would have had to order it online and I didn’t want to invest too much in case I never use this thing more than once. I finally decided to try “Shelf Liner” material. Yeah, the stuff you line shelves with… It was pretty cheap and it seemed to have the attributes that I was looking for. I measured it out and cut it and then glued it to the chuck with Krazy glue. It seems to be on there pretty tight. And the material seems to offer pretty good grip. As soon as I throw something decent, I’ll trim it with this “Superchuck” and see if mine works as well as the one in the video. I’ll even try to remember to post my results here.
