piggy bank

In article , Tasha Ruegsegger writes

Throw a small bottle. Longish neck, closed in at the end (=snout!). When leather hard, attach ears, feet, and tail, and THEN cut the money slot. Fire. The trick for emptying is a dinner knife, don't put a stopper in its belly.

I use the snout to hold the cork stopper. Exxagerate the ears and tail. Make sure you allow for shrinkage when you cut the slot for the coins - I made that mistake first time round!

Fiona

Why don't you just put some clay around a rubber air balloon and let it dry?

(might be a stupid idea from a rookie) A.

I start all my beginner classes making piggy banks. 2 large (about 1lb for both - split that in half) pinch pots stuck together to make the body, add legs, face etc. and cut the hole when it is leather hard. ( I like the little phtt it makes as the air escapes!). Takes time but is a great beginner lesson. Incorporates pinch pots, adding bits, slab work (legs, ears etc), texture, whatever your heart desires. I've also done them on the wheel for a sale. Just throw a closed form, any size or shape will do. I tend to go more round then tall and cyindrical. Getting to the point where you can do a closed form is a task all in itself =-) Penni

That would be too much handbuilding for my tastes! Maybe when I'm not impatient and don't mind sitting down for hours throwing one piece I'll move to that :)

-tasha

I might use that idea for my classes. I try to give several options for the first class, but always pinch pots. Thanks

You're welcome. Any ideas you can pass my way I would be more then happy to shoplift (so to speak) Penni

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Penni Stoddart of Penelope's Pots Full Time Education Assistant, Part Time Potter

You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me. I'm not a complete idiot -- some parts are missing!

I do pinch pots first class but I have a few samples and pictures of different things that people can try to do. Little decorative teapots, animals, bowls, orbs/balls for garden, fruit, birds those are the sort of thing that people have been making. Some people come up with great original ideas, one time someone made a wonderful mortar and pestle, another sculpted a head from pinch pots. After pinch pots I go on to do, slab, coil, wheel, Annemarie