Throwing tall cylinders

Hi Jo, your problem reminds me of Clay Olympics we had here in Perth few years back. The task was to throw a pot with other (body) parts than hands. While most contestants opted for elbows, one lady took her t-shirt of and ...well, thru a pot. It is still talked about - as the best clay olympics ever- as you can imagine. On a more serious note, I can't throw tall pots in one go, but throw them as "composites". At school I would throw two halves on separate wheels ( measuring the width) and attach top half onto the bottom half. At home I have one wheel, so the procedure takes a bit more planing... but you can get the idea.

Andrea

I'm not a lady, nor do I play one on Usenet (rumors aside), but it occurs to me that you might be able to use a throwing stick to good advantage. There's a pretty good description here:

writer talks mostly about using a throwing stick to move clay around inside of a pot with a neck too small to get your arm in, and that's the way I've used them as well, but in principle at least it ought to work in your case. After all, conceptually it's just a way to make your arm longer. Good luck, and if you come up with a different/better solution, please share it.

Andrea wrote:-

" your problem reminds me of Clay Olympics we had here in Perth few years back. The task was to throw a pot with other (body) parts than hands. While most contestants opted for elbows, one lady took her t-shirt of and ...well, thru a pot. It is still talked about - as the best clay olympics ever- as you can imagine."

My God...I hope it wasn't grogged clay.....makes my eyes water just thinking about it! Were there any male contestants?

"On a more serious note, I can't throw tall pots in one go, but throw them as "composites". At school I would throw two halves on separate wheels (measuring the width) and attach top half onto the bottom half. At home I have one wheel, so the procedure takes a bit more planing... but you can get the idea."

That's exactly what I have had to resort to in the meantime.. but I really want to be able to throw large from one piece - personal acheivement, self gratification etc.,

Jo

How tall/big is tall. Yes I do have your problem :o) I always get embarrassing clay marks on my clothes, when doing larger work. However I throw largish cylinders, fairly narrow too and manage with a combination of collaring and using a throwing stick, it certainly gets past the stage where my arm fits down to the bottom and often too narrow for even my hand to fit down. If you keep it just open enough for your hand until the last couple of pulls though and collar and then finish with a stick it seems to work ok for me. I still leave a bit near the bottom which I turn off. Leave the cylinder on hardboard batt, put back on wheel at leather hard and turn with it still stuck to the batt (carefully) then flex batt to remove pot from batt and tap bottom to concave.

i like your humour - want to come over and practice throwing tall pots little girl?

couple of clay circles on my apron.

steve graber

i need a vacation in your country!

steve graber