pots and tools.

I awoke this morning to some news I didn't want to hear(irrelevant to the blog, at least for now) and it immediately put me into a bad mood so I decided to spend my day alone in the studio. I haven't had a completely free day in the studio since probably early January(?) I spent a couple hours working on cleaning the classroom(by choice) and busting up dried chunks of clay. I have/had about 2-3 barrels worth of dried student clay and I decided this summer to deal with it. It's all in giant chunks so I have to bust it up into small pieces and soak it back into slip and then remix it with dry mix. I've made it about halfway through. Man, what I'd give to have a student worker...

I did get to spend some time on the wheel though. I had about 100 pounds or so of clay left from my old batch. The last of it is always a little stiff and I put off having to work with it because I hate throwing with stiff clay. The advantage though is I get to make some larger pieces which I don't do too often. These larger jars are 15 pounds. I can't remember the last time I've thrown that much clay into a vertical piece(as opposed to bowls which I do all the time.) I've resigned myself to mostly making them in pieces so that I don't have to deal with stiff clay. It's a pain in the rear to throw a huge cylinder on a treadle wheel, more trouble than it's worth. I also made a bunch of bowls but they're out of frame.

When I'm making large pots I prefer making lidded jars to vases or bottles. I wonder if that's indicative of my personality? Hmmmm.....


These pots are an addition to some dinner plates a customer bought last year. These are porcelain, I didn't need much so I bought some pre-mixed to make them. This stuff was so wet it was almost sludge. I had to throw it all on bats because there was no way I was getting this stuff off without ruining it.


When I was at the clay supplier I bought a couple of new tools. When it comes to clay I'm not much of a tool guy. Sponge, needle, wire, 3 wooden ribs, one metal rib, one trimming tool. I use a dolan loop tool for trimming, they went out of production with their tools for a few years and who knows if that'll ever happen again. I think they make the best trimming tools, so I bought a another backup and I picked up this smaller loop tool which might make trimming yunomi feet easier, it's a little difficult with the bigger one. I also bought this faceting tool, mostly because I like the way it looks and it's nice to support potter-tool makers. I don't imagine I'll use it too much but it'll be a nice tool for demos with my students.



Speaking of making tools I've been dabbling the last few months teaching myself to make brushes out of deer tail and bamboo. I made some a couple years ago that performed fairly well but they're worn out and I've since figured out how to make them better. These are the ones that I use now.

I figure the process of making good brushes is just like making pots. You gotta make a few hundred before you get good. Here are some that made the cut that I just don't need so I have an idea. As a special thanks to my regular blog readers I will send out these brushes to the first readers who email me wanting one...for free!!! The only catch is you gotta let me know if they work and if they hold up, don't worry you won't hurt my feelings if you don't like them. Don't expect superior quality yet. I only have 7 or 8 so first come first served. email: brandon(at)supportyourlocalpotter.com I'll try to get them out later this week.

That's all for now, cheers!