Centering [ceramics]

[rebeccmeister]

Ceramics last night. I decided to throw things. (no, not literally) I used 15 lbs of Rod's Bod to make 3 big bowls. Centering that much clay made me sweat and made my hands and arms tired, in a good way. I wound up using a wheel that had no modulation ability left. I eventually just set the pedal up on the wheel stand and adjusted its speed by hand. I don't remember that wheel acting that way, 7 years ago when I was last taking ceramics there.

Then I tried switching to porcelain. I...made shapes, but not shapely shapes. That's okay.

Throwing isn't quite like riding a bike. I'd forgotten which way I'd been operating the wheel to throw. Left-handed problems. (counterclockwise, the right-handed way)

But I did remember to change how I was looking and feeling. Don't watch the clay - look through it, watch your hands. Steady hands to guide the clay.

I'll try again with the porcelain next week, since I've already run through my whole 25-lb bag of Rod's Bod already. I should probably get more so I can keep making interesting planters.

Marjon's sold electric wheels. They cost a couple hundred dollars. Reasonably-sized electric kilns that can go up to cone 10 are between 2 and 3 grand, but there's also the need for a 240 volt outlet, the operation costs, glazes, and proper safety setup. More hypotheticals.

Comments

[randomdreams]

Coworker has bought three big ceramics kilns off craigslist and two of them worked perfectly, while one had a burnt-out element but came with so much other hardware it was still a good buy.

I've seen a lot of designs for DIY kickwheels, using a cast cement wheel and some iron plumbing for the structure. I don't remember how they provide an actual platen, for lack of a better word.

[rebeccmeister]

Don't tempt me, satan! :^)

As with the other hypotheticals, this project is a couple years out.

While I was in California, my sister found a kick wheel on Craigslist, and purchased it. I tried using it once. They're hard to use! They can be outfitted with a motor, but motorized potters wheels now seem worth the purchase price to me.

[randomdreams]

I agree, and I think trying to handle the load of that flywheel makes designing the kick wheel harder than designing an electric one. If you decide you are interested in a DIY, I can supply you with a free (for cost of shipping) 1/3 or 1/2 horsepower motor (which should be well more than you need), pulleys, and a sealed bearing head up to 6" in diameter, with the top made of aluminum so it doesn't rust, and some holes in it so you can screw plywood into it for larger diameters. I might even be able to integrate all that into a smallish chunk that you could then mount into a scrap table of some sort once you cut a couple big holes in the top. I think I can even find a cheap rheostat capable of providing a variable speed drive.

You can in theory run your own 220v line. I'm going to say, having done that several times, it's more demanding than wiring 110, for several reasons. On the other hand, if you have a dryer, it's possible you could make a long extension cord and plug into the dryer outlet.

[bluepapercup]

I learned in a kick wheel and found the transition to electric wheels challenging, but then had trouble going back to a kick wheel later! If you want to see really labor intensive wheel work take a look at this old Shoji Hamada video. https://youtu.be/CwFtg8mBW3s

[shalpacafarm]

There was an artists’ collective here called the Silent Barn but they’re selling to developers.

[myka]

this sounds fun and interesting!