A Thing You Didn't Know About Vessel Sinks

Two actually:

1) At least half the time when I type the phrase "vessel sinks" I mistype it "vessel dinks."

And, more importantly:

2) You need a special kind of drain for them(sinks, not dinks. I don't want to know what kind of drain you need for vessel dinks.) A normal pop up drain (the image on the left) won't do, as a vessel sink (usually) has no overflow. Most building codes require a grid drain instead, which has slots out of the top and is 1/8" larger than a standard pop-up drain. Okay, maybe you did know that, but I certainly didn't, and wouldn't have, if it were not for the help of David Smith, of SmythCid Pottery, where they've forgotten more about stoneware sinks than I will ever know. Check out some of their sinks here.

After shrinkage the measurement of the lip would now be 2.5".

A thing that I did know, if I thought about it, is that the edge of the drain must sit below the bowl, or an icky little pool of water will collect at the bottom. I knew it, because I know that water can't flow up; but would I have thought of it before or after I fired the first sink? I am spared finding out, thankfully, since David pointed this consideration out in his email in addition to the drain information.

So! Off to reconfigure the drain hole on my first sink. I had not yet made the hole in the second.

Vessel Sink Thinks

I am approaching this all wrong, this vessel sink thing.

Perhaps because I am a middle child, I have a strong people-pleasing streak. I have about as much faith in birth order personality traits as I do in dream interpretation, which is to say, not much; but that dream in which you are naked in public and nobody notices probably does mean you are feeling self-conscious about something that is really no big deal. Our shared human experiences probably cause us to manifest certain feelings in similar ways in our dreams. Astrology, on the other hand, strikes me as somewhat amusing bullshit. In fact....

Ooops, I think the Irrelevancy Alarm just went off.

Back to the post. Oh, right, people pleasing. Okay, so, what's wrong with this picture?

Nothing, except, it's just a big bowl. A jolly-jigger or Ram Press could do it just as well, only faster and easier.

I find that I am focusing so much on the utilitarian aspects, that I am forgetting to make it a good pot, a pot that I like. Something unique and special, that could only be handmade. What's that to do with people-pleasing? I've been so determined to make something that no one will hate, that I've forgotten to make a pot that someone will absolutely love.
Sooo....


There! Fixed it!

I need to remember, a really big bowl is just like any other pot: I can't let it get so precious that I am unwilling to risk ruining it; otherwise it's condemned to be ordinary.

Circling the Drain

Throwing a big bowl is the easy part. The tricky part began today: figuring out how the holes work with the plumbing. I have a sample drain pipe, with the little gasket thing that lets you fill the sink.

The outer dimension of the pipe is 1 5/16"; which means that the hole through the bottom has to shrink to larger than that in order for the pipe to fit through. The flange is 2" wide, which means the lip surrounding the hole has to shrink to at least that large. The spec for B-mix Sand is 12% shrinkage, plus or minus 2%. I had a momentary freak out when I saw that plus-or-minus business, but the tolerances must be...sufficiently tolerant, or no one would be able to make vessel sinks. SO. Assuming 13% shrinkage, because it's better for both hole and flange to be too large rather than too small:

• The hole I made 1 5/8"
• The lip around the hole I made 2 3/8"

I cut the hole once and had to fill it in again before I decided to make a run to the store for a compass. Things went much more easily then.

Gaah! I have to go turn up the bisque. I've been so engrossed in this project I forgot I was firing!

Vessel Sinks, Part II

Couple of things:

• I am throwing with Laguna's B-mix 10 with sand. It's the first time I've used this body and I am quite delighted with its performance: centers easily, doesn't sag. I only bought one box, though, to test it out, so won't have enough clay to make many samples.
  
• I started using 12 lbs to make a 14" diameter, 5.5" high bowl, 0.5 inches thick in the wall. I was hooting for 16" diam, 6.5" high in the wet state. 12 lbs was not enough to do this; it fell short by a lot. 12 lbs was not even enough to make a similarly thick & tall bowl with a finished diameter of 12". Despite liking the shape, I wedged it up, because I didn't want to commit kiln space to a large piece that was destined to be not-quite-right.
• To get the bowl that will eventually be the 14" sink, I needed 18 lbs, which is the pot on the wheel in the photo above. It's surprisingly small for 18 lbs, but of course it had to be thick. I am not convinced this one is thick enough, so I will try again with 22 lbs.
• To that end: to save my poor median nerve (healthy, but I intend to keep it that way!) I center these large amounts in two equal chunks. When the first is on center, I scrape it dry with a metal rib, and then plop the second half on top. Much, much easier than trying to muscle the whole lot under control all at once.

...

• After my third attempt, it seems that 20 lbs will be the right amount to make the (eventual) 14" sink. Which means that the 16" sink - 19 inches, wet - will need to be around 28 lbs. My mind has jumped ahead to pricing: I don't think I can possibly get less than around $280 for these -- and that's the wholesale price. Which means someone, somewhere will need to be willing to spend almost $600 for a lavatory. I need to talk to my client before I get too far into this, in case that is a deal-breaker. The vessel sinks I have found online have retailed for between $90 and $1600; not sure what range he had in mind.
  

Vessel Sinks, Part I

I promised myself, and a potential client, a vessel sink design by Feb 1, so I better get on it. As often happens when I am intimidated by the technical aspects of a project, I often stall beginning it(see The Kiln Project!), because there are other, easier projects I can work on - or, if not easier, ones that I have a clue where to begin.
However, begun is half done, and it's time to find a clue. The first place to look is how other people have made vessel sinks before. am finding that they are made as small as 12" in diameter, and I found a few as large as 20". (I am sticking with round, for now, although they come in many shapes.) Many are 5.5" tall. There's a nice, very specific set of specs at Coyote Glass.

I think I will shoot for 16.5" in diameter (fired dimensions, all), 5.5" high, and .75" thick*. I know, that last seems like a lot, doesn't it? I need to remember that the functional demands of a sink are different than those of a bowl: after installation, no one will be lifting these, but they will get frequent - constant, really - use, and need to be immune from chips and dings, as replacing a sink is a much more onerous proposition than replacing a bowl. The tricky part will be making the drain hole accommodate a standard pipe, what with shrinkage and all.

If it isn't obvious from the post, I haven't made a sink yet, so none of the images are my doing. they are, respectively:

• eFaucets.com
  
• Eden Bath
  
• One Dream Design

*Yikes! This necessitates a thrown dimension of 19" in diameter, and 6.25 inches high (plus a little for trimming; let's say 6.5") I could do this the last time I tried, but I haven't tried anything that large for years. Oh, well: time to channel my inner Steve Jobs. "Don't be afraid. Get your mind around it. You can do it."