XML FeedsMaking a porcelain bowl
By admin on Jun 28, 2010 | In Techniques, Video, Clay | Send feedback »
This does not have to do with figure study but we are always looking for good tutorials.
Making a porcelain bowl The porcelain I'm using is Southern Ice from Clayworks in Australia.
It often arrives quite soft so I have to dry it to stiffen it up a little before I can throw with it.
I try and throw with a minimum of water to prevent the clay from becoming too wet and flabby to maintain its shape. The glazes are applied thickly to my pots, so the porcelain needs to be thrown quite thinly to give the final piece a good weight.
It takes between 3 days and a week to stiffen up the bowl to 'leatherhard' stage, where it can be picked up without damaging or distorting the clay. I tend to work on pots when they are just stiff enough to allow me to do this. If they are too firm then the pull on the clay from turning can cause cracks on drying.
I turn a footring out of the excess clay, checking the thickness of the clay left in the base by tapping it. As soon as there is some resonance, like a drum, the base is thin enough.
The pots are dried slowly, with constant wrapping and unwrapping, to prevent warping and cracking.
