Penance

I mentioned here that handles are my penance for throwing mugs. So I'm feeling very penitential today. Twenty tall mugs to handle, sixteen stews.

I learned this trick for handle-making years ago, at Tuscarora Pottery School: roll out a long cone/carrot shape from wedged clay. Flatten by thumping against work surface on both sides. Set aside, repeat until you've got 36 of them.

Put a little warm water in the bucket--mornings are getting surprisingly cold here in Eugene. Hold handle blank by butt end in right hand (I'm left-handed) and shape with long strokes of left hand, using water to lubricate, thumb and forefinger to shape. Tip handle over butt end down so it forms a lovely catenary curve, set on a bat to firm up while you do the next.

Move handles to a safe place to stiffen while you trim stew mugs, smooth bottoms of mugs, throw some more pots, have lunch--takes them a surprisingly long time before they're ready to handle.

When it's time to attach the handles, score and slip the attachment points on the mug. Use a cheese slicer (roller removed) to cut off the excess clay at the top of the handle, cutting on a curve to match the mug shape, angled slightly to make the handle curve up slightly off the pot. Grip with thumb on top, index fingertip underneath and press onto mug. Smooth edges of top onto mug, thumbprint bottom to attach. Clean off extra slip. Fuss with handle to adjust to the perfect lovely curve. (This really needs a video.)

Thirty-five more to go…

More Terms

Pulling handles. Forming handles from a pre-shaped piece of clay either attached to the pot or held in one hand. Dip hand in water, then stroke downward on handle with thumb and forefinger. Gentle pressure is the key, or you'll pinch through the clay have to start over. Motion is not unlike milking a cow by hand.

Slip. Clay liquefied to the consistency of pudding. You can make some by dissolving dry clay into water and mixing; it also happens naturally while throwing pots as you add water and pressure to the clay. I fill a little container with slip scraped off my hands onto the edge of my throwing bucket. This is the perfect ceramic glue; it's sticky, it dries fast, and leaves only clay behind.

Score and slip. Scratching the surface of a leather-hard pot with a needle or serrated rib and working some slip into the spot. Used to help attachments like handles stay on.

Leather-hard. Stupidest term in the ceramic lexicon. It's a stage midway between wet/sticky and bone dry. Further qualified by "soft" or "hard" leather-hard. It really means your clay is the consistency of a Hershey bar. You can cut it with a sharp tool, maybe deform it a little, paddle it, but it's not sticky, and it holds its shape when you handle it. This is when to trim a foot, attach a handle, carve a pattern, smooth off fingerprints.

Trimming. Also called turning. Flipping your pot over and centering it on the wheel, holding it in place with clay wads (or a Giffin grip), then cutting away clay with a sharp tool with the wheel turning, to form a raised, ring-shaped foot.