Glynnis – Page 36 – Glynnis Lessing

Throwing a foot onto a piece and boxes

For week 2 of Handbuilding I demonstrated:

Throwing a foot onto a handbuilt piece

Making a Butter dish- folded clay method

Making a box with a lid- pieced method

Thanks again to Leah who makes recording this class seem effortless!

I attached a low profile plaster bat to a wheel.

attaching-bat-to-wheel clay-dots-to-hold-plate-to-bat You can see I’ve put three dots of clay on there to hold the piece I chose.

I took a plate that I made last week using the Eric Jenson method and I put it on the plaster form and centered it as much as I could (it’s an asymmetrical form)

Then I used a wire brush tool while the wheel was moving to scratch a circle the size I wanted the foot to be in the surface of the plate.

scoring-a-circle-on-the-plate I further scored it with a needle tool and wetted it . wetting-the-circle I then rolled a coil and laid it on the circle, cutting off excess so that it fit.

setting-the-coil-on-the-ring

Then I firmly smeared the entire outside and inside of the ring to attach it to the plate bottom. attaching-the-coil

Once it was completely attached I turned on the wheel again and used a medium wet sponge to smooth the irregularities created by the smearing of the clay and then I shaped the foot.

throwing-the-coil Here is the finished foot.

the-finished-thrown-foot

******

Next we started on basic ways to make a box. I started with a folded form.

Draw a pattern that is all one piece, the top (or bottom) and sides. Make sure all the sides are the same height.

paper-pattern

Cut around the pattern and then push down on the lines you do not cut to make crease lines. I used a needle tool but you could use a pointy wooden tool or a fettling knife

adding-creases I also chose to add “tabs” to the sides to strengthen the corners of my butter dish.

cutting-out-the-tabs

Fold up the sides of your form now.

folding-up-a-side

After scoring and wetting the points at which the edges will touch,

scoring-points-of-contact (note that I have thinned the tabs)

attach the sides to each other and fold and attach the tabs around the corners.

joining-all-the-corners

Here, I’ve flipped it over now and I am smoothing the corner with a rib to define the corners or joints to be more square (or you could use the rib to make them be more rounded if you like.)

rib

To make a lid, use the butter dish lid as a template and give ample space as you trace around it.

tracing-for-the-base

I used a loop tool to make a subtle indent in the base.

loop-tool-to-carve-indent butter-dish-and-base

For the other box, I cut all the pieces separately then joined them the same way, scoring and wetting them before using firm pressure to join them together.

If you want to reinforce those corner joints you can always add a thin coil and blend it in. I think it’s easiest to blend in a triangular coil as it fits nicely against the walls.

reinforcing-the-join This is only partially smeared so that you can see it. It also does not go the full length of the wall as it should. The upper left vertical corner also is fully reinforced and the coil is completely blended. For contrast you can look at the right side which does not have a reinforcing coil.

For the lid, I put an inside flange or lip to keep the lid from sliding off. You can be very precise about this and measure and mark it or just guess and have a loose fitting lid (as I did).

scoring-inside-the-lid

I scored the area and then took rectangular coils and bevelled them at the corners to fit.

adding-inner-lip-1 adding-a-lip I then used a flat piece of wood to straiten the edges

straitening-the-lip

Then I paddled them to make sure they stuck to the scored and wetted area.

paddling-to-attach-lip

The drying box and lid. You’ll note I added feet to the box- these were just rounded flat triangles bent and attached at each corner with water, scoring and pressure again. finished-box-and-lid

Drop plates and the “Eric Jensen Method” of throwing slabs.

For week 1 of Handbuilding, I demonstrated :

Throwing a slab,

Making a drop plate

The Eric Jenson method of putting slip on a slab

Double pinch pot method (please see class 1 of my First Time potter blog)

Making a slab into a cylinder

Putting feet on a slump- molded form

BIG thanks to Leah for taking these pictures!

Throwing a slab is not as easy as it looks but just takes a little practice.

Wedge your clay in a spiral wedge

spiral wedging

and then flatten it to about an inch and a half.

last-roll-10 How the pre-thrown piece of clay should basically look

Then throw it down on the table but as you throw it, try to drag the back edge so it catches on the canvas and stretches as it tried to slide across the surface.

just before I throw it down on the table

Pick up the piece from a different side so the piece is rotated and throw it again. Take care not to hit the leading edge of the slab down first or it will just wrinkle up. rotating the piece

continue doing this until your slab is the desired thickness. I don’t recommend making the clay too thin or it will be too weak to build with.

last-roll-03 Then smooth the surface and eliminate the cracks and canvas texture by gently “wiping” the surface with a rib.

Using a soft red rib to smooth the surface

Eric Jensen did a demonstration of his technique years ago at the old Lill Street when he still had a studio there.

Prepare the clay as above but stop when it is at the inch and a half stage.

At this point apply slip applying white slip

and then gently apply a single thickness of newspaper to it to absorb the moisture of the slip. We are trying to “dry out” the slip so that it is less plastic than the clay body underneath it.

last-roll-22

When you see the moisture has soaked the newspaper sheet, careful peel it off and apply a new one. Some slip may come away stuck to the paper.

Keep applying paper until your slip is no longer shiny and you can touch it without it adhering to your finger.

the dried slip on the clay before the slab is thrown

You may then add a second color slip or make lines in the slip.

adding a second color of slip

Then throw it out as you would a regular slab

mid throw-stretching it out right side up

EXCEPT

you can not flip it over. you must keep the slip side up.

here is the final result:

ready to be made into a plate

the final product with celadon glaze

here is another series: Pulling off the first piece of newspaper- note how some slip is stuck to it white slip dripped on top lines are cut through the slip layer using a small spiked wheel the slab is thrown out

the final result sitting in a junk store oval mold close up

close up note how the slip has cracked. This is because when we dried it, it became less plastic. When we stretched the slab it cracked rather than stretching.

Once it is stretched out, you get a wonderful distressed surface that you can leave plain or add further decoration to.

final result-with-josh green over (it sagged)

These are all drop plates.

examples of drop plates

Basically you put a slab of clay over or into a drop mold–It is easiest to transfer the slab by carrying it on a piece of newspaper.

carrying the slab on a piece of newspaper

If your mold is nonporous, the clay will stick to it if you don’t put newspaper or plastic over the mold

a mold prepared with newspaper

— and then drop the mold so the clay sinks down into it without you having to press it in. If you must press it in, use the softest, largest part of your hand- the heel of your hand.

gently pushing the clay down into the mold

So many things can be used as drop plate molds. Trays from the junk store, Styrofoam with a hold cut in it- after I put the clay on, I cut out the leaf shape,

cutting a leaf shape on a simple styrofoam mold

or even make your own mold with coils of clay on a board as I did for this piece.

coils are set onto a round board to make a mold. the piece sitting on newspaper on the mold made with coils of clay

This is one of my student’s pieces – I think it looks great!

M.E.'s piece with Red Iron slip under some white

Author: Glynnis

Handbuilding Week 2

Week 1 Handbuilding