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| Slab Built Butter Dish in progress |
As I've said, I find I can't throw enough to fill a kiln in the time frame of my firing cycle without injuring my wrist due to overuse. Ain't no big! I love handbuilding anyway, and even more so now that I am teaching the Monday morning handbuilding class at Portland Pottery. (New session starts October 15th, if you're interested!) The only issue is that handbuilding can be more labor intensive than throwing, meaning I either raise prices or - and I like this better - find more efficinet ways to work.
One way to speed up the making process for forms that I build from slabs is to create templates. Templates in no way render the resultant pieces identical, any more than wheel throwing with calipers does. I've figured out dimensions for 2 templates so far:
- Butter dish lid: 18" x 3"
- Mug: 12' x 4.5"
On my to-do list this weekend: head to AC Moore and get some construction paper, and reify them.
Did you see the video on using that craft foam stuff to make templates? Pretty cool! I'll try to find it and send the link.
ReplyDeletecraft foam is good -- makes a great portable work surface too. Other good options are tar paper (for roofing), non-woven interfacing (for sewing, not the iron-on kind), and tyvek (house wrap and mailing envelopes).
ReplyDeleteAll the above are better than construction paper as they will not break down when wet.