Відео

You can get an X-Acto knife at any craft store or easily find online.

It is relaxing. We all hurry up too much, even when doing the things we love. I hope you get to try a treadle wheel.

This wheel pan dumps water back on the larger work surface. It catches water but trimmings fly off. None of this bothers me as the kick wheel in my home studio also has a very small improvised splash pan. Put a big sponge where water drips. Sweep up the floor before trimming so you can sweep up the trimmings without getting any foreign material in the recycled clay. This wheel is quick to clean up after use compared with wheels where you have to remove a two part splash pan. Some of my students take half a semester to figure out how to put a splash pan back on a Brent wheel. Use however much water you think you need, no one is judging how you work. Rather than mess around with one pot, simply take off when you get what you like and use the mess around time to make another piece. In my opinion, Lockerbie wheels have way too heavy of a flywheel for small to medium size pots, the kind most of us spend most of our time making.

Thanks! I like the idea of a kick wheel, but I will be making smaller pieces-probably 20 lbs at the most. Is there a kick wheel that is lighter for that level of throwing? I love Brent electric wheels, but I can’t find a used one, and for now a new one is out of my budget. I don’t know that I need a wheel as sturdy as a Brent, but I really don’t want to spend several hundred dollars for something that feels rickety or wobbly compared to the Brents I have used. Thoughts?

@@janebell469 New potter's wheels are not cheap. No one buys kick wheels so no one aside from Lockerbie makes them that I know of. Suppliers used to offer kits for kick wheels containing bearings, shaft, wheel head and plans. I just looked and didn't find this available any more. My suggestion is watch CL or Marketplace for used equipment. Often there is nothing but a few weeks ago there were six electric wheels listed in CL. Getting what you want in the used market simply requires patience. Lots of people abandon this "hobby". Take a good look at what you make. Almost everything I make is less than five pounds. Majority of functional forms are less than two pounds. You don't need something that is rated for 50 pounds unless that is what you use it for.

The clay comes out the same as it goes in. The pug mill just mixes the clay more and vacuums out the air. It may feel a little stiffer as it gets more dense after de-airing.

Do you have to add grog to the clay that comes from throwing?

@@marilynjackson5752 No, you don't need to add grog. What goes in is what comes out. You probably have more slip in your throwing water bucket than grog.

@@robertbanker5319 Again, I thank you for your answer. We were wondering about this since it seems our clay isn't as easy to use for hand building after being pugged.

@@marilynjackson5752 By "less easy to use" I am guessing you mean the clay is less plastic - can bend less before cracking. A clay mixer or pug mill without a vacuum pump leaves clay full of voids, tiny bubbles of air and will be less plastic than clay that is bought in a box or wedged. The vacuum part of the process is what makes the clay plastic by making it dense without voids. Make sure you are getting a good vacuum. Put the first clay that comes out of the machine back through. Some students pug the clay twice, realizing that quite of clay remains in the machine.

Thank you for your kind words. Good starting point ideas come from many places. A teacher like you will surely add your own ways of connecting design with methods of turning concept into form.

Thanks for the comment. I spent ten years as a draftsman in an architect's office. Before computer drafting was common. We designed on trace and drew on mylar. For basic work, it seems faster to me to use a pencil and paper. You don't have to turn something on to see what you are working on. Good luck finding a drafting table. Local listings sometimes have tables with drafting machines cheap because no one knows how to use one.

This wheel is at the college. I built my own wheel a long time ago when it was the only way to end up with what I wanted to use. I feel a lot more connected to my work using this wheel and have no interest in owning a wheel with a motor. Good luck making your wheel. My treadle wheel is in this video: ua-cam.com/video/4S959jospnw/v-deo.htmlsi=CbRMfM1prZnmXdxz

@@robertbanker5319 would you say that this type of wheel is generally preferable to kick wheels?

I don't think that any one wheel type is better than another. I am a teacher and I want to encourage students to find out what they like or prefer on their own. The choice for most people mostly comes down to what is available or cheap or what they learned how to throw on. There are 26 Brent electric wheels in the studio where I teach. Fortunately we also have one kick wheel, one Shimpo and the treadle wheel for students to try. They don't know how lucky they are in having the choice. My personal preference is no motor. You don't need the wheel to go as fast as most people try to work. If you want to make really big pieces or work for hours at a time making a living, I can see this affecting your choice of tool. @@verdigrissirgidrev4152

@@robertbanker5319 thank you. I'll try making a simple asian kick wheel and decide from there if I want to go the treadle or kick route.

Sorry, this is in an earlier video. MakingClay Carving Tools 3 Heat Treating Steel. ua-cam.com/video/kSag8lCqUtA/v-deo.htmlsi=OY1dGLliKOtvYV5T

@@robertbanker5319 Thanks! So just to see if I got it correctly: you are annealing, shaping and then heat the blade to straw color and air cool it? BTW - your videos are amazing! really enjoyed watching them :)

Anneal if the steel is hardened (like you are using a saw blade) to make shaping and any bending easier. Annealing softens previously hardened steel. If you are just making a knife, you don't have to anneal but should be careful not to overheat the steel if you use a grinder - if keeping a sharp edge for as long as possible is important. If you start with hardened steel and don't overheat it when making your tool you can skip the rest of the hardening and tempering steps. You can cut clay with a sharp piece of wood so any metal edge will last longer, whether hardened or just unhardened mild steel. Steps: 1. Anneal the hard steel if needed. 2. Shape the annealed (softer) steel. 3. Harden the steel by heating to red heat, no longer magnetic and quench, water is fine. Different steels have different heat temperatures and quench methods but with tools for clay you don't need perfection. Metal at this stage is very hard but also brittle. 4. Temper the steel so your tool doesn't break. This is the straw color gentle heat. If you get it too hot it becomes softer. If not hot enough, it is still brittle. Be careful if using a torch, hold the flame farther away than you think as the color change happens quickly. Most steel tempers just fine in the oven when you are making pizza or baking at 425 to 450. An hour is good but shorter is fine for thin tools. I hope this helps. There are lots of videos on hardening and tempering steel that show specifics. What I show is fine for someone with a propane torch making tools for clay although I have also made wood carving tools with these methods.@@george70015

​@@robertbanker5319Thanks for the detailed answer!

Search "Leach wheel plans". You will find what appears to be scans of old paper plans. Figure out what scale they are so you can get a few more measurements. The originals were blueprints scaled 3" = one foot. The drawings show as a woodworking project that is above average difficulty. The crank and treadle proportions are about all you really need to know or get close. It's not rocket science but you need to source parts like shaft and bearings and either know how to weld and do woodworking or get some help. Most people make kick wheels because they are perceived as simpler. In other videos, you can see my treadle wheel. I took basic measurements off a Leach wheel and welded up the frame. My wheel has metal bolted to wood legs so it can be taken apart to be more easily moved. That's another consideration, doors and stairs. The weight of the flywheel is personal preference. Leach wheels have very light flywheels, my wheel is a piece of cast iron from the scrap yard and has more momentum so it runs more smoothly at slow speed. Build a wheel that fits you as it can be a pretty big investment of time.

As a teacher, I see students approach throwing all sorts of ways, despite showing methods that work best for most people and are simple for beginners. I have also watched some awesome potters at work. So I have a few ideas on efficient work becoming graceful. Of course, I make a living as a teacher rather than full time potter so I am free from equating production with paying for health insurance. It is easier to show than describe but I will try my best to answer your questions. Have a clear goal in mind before you start. Size and shape and thickness in your head. One idea for each lump of clay. Just make that. Then the next thing is a fresh start. Relax, remember you are doing this because you enjoy it and will have something to show for your effort. Use soft clay. Or use the softest clay you can to make the form you desire. Your body will approve. Soft clay moves more easily so it takes less work and less time to make the form. Less time spent, working directly is efficient. You may not be able to fool around with softer clay for as long but you shouldn’t need to. Some people use stiff clay trying for control. This can be more like wrestling with the clay. Some people enjoy this battle. Don’t mess around with centering. Only center the clay as much as needed to make the form. You don’t need to center each piece of clay the same exact way unless your goal is simply to center clay perfectly. That’s not really the point, the form you make is what you are after. Centering never stops. You are centered. You coax the clay into cooperating with your ideas. You don’t need to be in a hurry. Working steadily beats thinking you need to get things done. Every time. If you have to set goals, make sure they are realistic. Remember that you are using a kick wheel intentionally. You are not attached to a machine, you are intimately involved with the way the clay moves. Work with the way the momentum comes out of the wheel. As the wheel slows, you respond with the way your hands move more slowly perhaps. You can gently kick and throw at the same time if you need to. There are no rules. Throwing the clay by lifting rather than pinching matters even more on a kick wheel. None of my students who “already know how to throw” actually do. Lots of teachers and even potters don’t throw by displacing the wall in order to lift the clay. You could mash the clay or you could coax the clay. One is a more graceful way of working and this translates to the form the clay takes. A skilled craftsperson makes things look easy, regardless of media. That’s who you want to learn from or emulate.

@@robertbanker5319 awesome response. Thanks for taking the time!

It's there at 18 seconds into the video. Your note is more clearly described than my narrative. You are quick enough to figure out the tinsmith's rule of thumb as a math problem on your own. I made this video for my students in part to show how math works out in physical form. The relation between chord length and arc length and pi is interesting to me, even as an artist. When using this way of making patterns for clay vessels, the fit of pieces can be adjusted easily by stretching or shrinking the material. When using this method for sheet metal, the patterns can be adjusted or a pattern offered up to a fabricated conical section.

@@robertbanker5319 Thanks for your comment Robert and my bad for just missing the remark! And I didn't mean to be critical, the video is great and was just what i needed! I am learning pattern drafting for sewing and I had a heckuva time trying to figure this out initially and your video was very helpful! Thank you!

@@AcidAlan Not offended by your thoughtful message at all. I am always open to suggestions for how to explain things better. Most of the students I have shown these methods to cannot connect the math concept to the physical pattern.

I am not sure that I follow your question. Here is a try based on what I imagine you are doing. If using the first method with a compass, you don't measure using the diameter of the circle. You use the radius - half the diameter - to determine the length of the arc that you drew with the compass. 6 X the radius. In the second method where the sketch of the shape is reproduced three times, you are using the diameter. The reason you step off the measurement of an arc using the radius is that the smaller steps are more accurate, the difference between the straight "line" you are using to measure with and the arc you drew is less. If this isn't helpful, try to describe which method you are using another way.