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offcntrIn the studio again, trying to get back into throwing mode, and muttering curses at my throwing bats.
They're old and worn, and the holes that fit over the pins in the wheel head are too big. The bats stay more or less in place while centering, but slide back and forth as I open the pot or try to bring up the walls. With extra attention to the exact position of the bat, it's manageable, but when I'm trying to make four dozen soup bowls, I'd rather not have the distraction.
Putting water on the wheel head under the bat to create suction between bat and wheel head helps a little, but try centering a big lump of clay and once again you're skidding all over the place.
There's actually a tool you can buy, a thin foam pad that goes under the bat, but they don't last terribly long, from what I've heard, and face it, I'm too cheap to buy one.
Somewhere along the fourth or fifth bowl, I had an idea. Denise has been culling my t-shirt drawer this week, so I pulled one out of the rag bag. Traced a circle onto the back from a throwing bat, and cut it out. Wet the cloth, squeezed out the excess water, and stretched it over the wheel head, right over the bat pins as well. Once I put on the bat, suction, friction, maybe even a little extra cloth packed into the pin holes means the bat stays fast while I center and throw my soup bowls. It's a little harder when I have to lift pots off on bats, because the cloth wants to come too, and I have to keep unrolling and repositioning it. Maybe I should cut a bigger disk with some elastic, or a drawstring. Maybe that's too much work.
But meanwhile, my bats are staying put.
They're old and worn, and the holes that fit over the pins in the wheel head are too big. The bats stay more or less in place while centering, but slide back and forth as I open the pot or try to bring up the walls. With extra attention to the exact position of the bat, it's manageable, but when I'm trying to make four dozen soup bowls, I'd rather not have the distraction.
Putting water on the wheel head under the bat to create suction between bat and wheel head helps a little, but try centering a big lump of clay and once again you're skidding all over the place.
There's actually a tool you can buy, a thin foam pad that goes under the bat, but they don't last terribly long, from what I've heard, and face it, I'm too cheap to buy one.
Somewhere along the fourth or fifth bowl, I had an idea. Denise has been culling my t-shirt drawer this week, so I pulled one out of the rag bag. Traced a circle onto the back from a throwing bat, and cut it out. Wet the cloth, squeezed out the excess water, and stretched it over the wheel head, right over the bat pins as well. Once I put on the bat, suction, friction, maybe even a little extra cloth packed into the pin holes means the bat stays fast while I center and throw my soup bowls. It's a little harder when I have to lift pots off on bats, because the cloth wants to come too, and I have to keep unrolling and repositioning it. Maybe I should cut a bigger disk with some elastic, or a drawstring. Maybe that's too much work.
But meanwhile, my bats are staying put.