Tip #21 Making Your Own Pottery
Tools
I
was talking with someone the other day who suggested that since I sell
tools, I probably don't approve of people making their own. That
isn't true at all. In fact I use many household tools and items
from nature, especially for creating textures.
But
I also believe that the low cost of most pottery tools makes them
easy to justify by
the convenience of having just the right thing when you need it.
I also don't believe that in order to do ceramics, one must also know
how to do workworking, screwing, hammering, sawing, and numerous other
things required to make your own tools. And sometimes it just
comes down to what you have more of, time or money.
But
whether homemade or store bought, there is nothing like having
the right tool to make a job easy! So here are a set of ideas
for tools you can make yourself.
In a pinch, use white glue (like
Elmer's glue) for resist. It doesn't repel glaze as well as wax,
but isn't bad.
Old credit cards can be used for
ribs. You can cut patterns in them to make contoured edges.
You can also cut patterns in them to use for making stripes on
slabs.
Instead of wood stirring sticks for
stirring glazes, cut lengths of PVC pipe. They can stay in
the glaze indefinitely and won't rot.
Use a toilet bowl brush or a wire
whisk for mixing glazes. Or even a toilet plunger with holes cut
in the rubber.
You can find animal tails in fishing
and hunting stores, sold as inexpensive lures. Use these to make
handmade brushes. Chicken and bird feathers can make interesting
brushes as well.
To sharpen tools, you shouldn't use
power tools because the heat will damage the hardened steel. You
can use a commercial sharpening tool, such as one used to sharpen
knives. Or make your own from cone 10 porcelain rods.
Wax or petroleum jelly can be used to
slow down the drying of a specific area, such as a rim. You can
apply it thick, it will all burn off in the kiln.
Use scrap pieces of vinyl flooring
beneath your canvas when using a slab roller. This makes it
easier to run the slab through without distortion or jamming (for slab
rollers where the roller is stationary and the clay moves.) But
for any slabroller or even hand rolling, it also makes it easy to move
the slab to another work surface after without stretching it.
Cornstarch can be used to prevent
clay from sticking to tools, canvas, etc. Coating a surface with
cornstarch before carving or impressing designs can eliminate burrs
and marks made from pulling the object off the clay.
To smooth a slab surface and
eliminate canvas marks, use a squeegy or a paint scraper / putty
knife/ spatula thing.
You know those rolls of rubbery stuff
you can buy to cover your shelves to cushion glasses and
plates? They make great texture when rolled into slabs.
You don't have to mess with plaster
to make molds. You can make your own from bisque. Fire the
bisque at a high enough temperature to give it strength, but low
enough that it is still porous so the clay dries and does
not stick. To make a bowl mold, throw a solid piece on the
wheel, smoothing the edges well with ribs, etc. When it is
leather hard hollow out the inside until your edges are about 1 inch
thick. Fire.
For that raku piece that came
out less than exciting, trying fanning it with a propane torch to
bring out more color.
Metallic glazes such as overglazes
and raku glazes, will oxidize over time. The oxidation
can be cleaned with silver polish, or concentrated lemon juice.
To reduce oxidation, keep pieces out of the sun.
Does anyone shine their shoes
anymore? If so, empty shoe polish bottles (with the
sponge tops) make great applicators for stain or oxide
solutions. You can make squares and thick lines
easily.
To add texture to clay for handbuilding, use perlite or vermiculite
available at your garden center. Or, try popped popcorn.
A small amount of bleach added to slip,
glaze or recycled clay mixtures eliminate mold which may occur
and cause smelling. The bleach may be caustic on your hands
so you may want to wear gloves when handling.
For a wedging surface which is
inexpensive and portable, buy a painter's canvas (canvas stretched and
stapled onto a frame), fill with plaster.
copyright 2000, Cindi Anderson
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