Making several tall forms based on a cylinder form.

Morning, it's Vaughan at wescopalepottery.ca in Nova Scotia, Canada. I had a, I have a subscriber in Mexico, Maureen, who sent me a picture of something which I thought would be interesting because I have a cat that's eight years old that thinks she's only eight months old. And she, if you leave a toilet paper roll hanging in the bathroom, shredded. Toilet paper is small but what about a paper towel roll? Shredded. So we have to put them up really high in places where a cat called Summer cannot get to them. I've actually shown Summer, she's a gorgeous looking cat, sort of yellow and white, long hair, but she is forever breaking stuff and tearing things up. So you have to really love her to actually keep this cat. So anyway, I thought I'd try making this and I just made one and it's a lot harder than it looks to make a big piece like that because you've got to think of shrinkage. So it's a big cylinder and I measured it and it's 11 inches by 6 inches that it has to end up at. So you've got to make it 7 inches wide by 12 and a half, maybe even 13 in a sense, to actually get the shrinkage and the piece to fit in your, you know, the toilet roll or the paper towel to fit in the cylinder. So it's a challenge and I started with 4 pounds of clay and now I'm up to 5 pounds of clay, maybe just a touch over an ounce more. But let's see whether I can achieve it this time. Okay, so this is a big piece of clay. This is recycled clay and it's about 5 pounds of an ounce. And I'm going to try and center this on this big Brent, which makes a bit of a noise when you're centering. So I'm going to turn the audio off and just have to overdub it later on because I know vibration people don't like it. So I'll let you watch me try and make a big cylinder. Okay, now we don't have the vibration of the wheel to make a noise. So I'll just kind of explain what I'm doing. It's about 5 and a bit pounds of clay and so you need to really, you know, push to center something this large. But it's also recycled clay, so it's a little softer than I would normally get the clay. So it's pretty easy to center when this clay is fairly soft. So when you're pulling a big tall piece like this, you've got to make sure there's enough water on the inside wall and on the outside wall. So you can pull your hands all the way up without them drying out before you get to the top. And that you basically have to time your pull with the wetness of the clay. And if you feel it gets a little dry, you sort of speed up coming up through the wall. And so you can stay chasing that little wet spot, which is what you see me doing here. And this is a very tall piece, so it's also quite wide. So even this time with this piece, I think I didn't quite get it to the right height. So I increased the weight of the clay to 6 pounds and did another one, which is when I finally achieved the height of it. But it's a really large piece of clay and it's a very large piece of pottery that you get from it. All to basically enclose a piece, a roll of paper towel. And I'm not quite sure how the customer will respond to having to pay for something quite as large as this sitting on their counter just to hide that roll of paper towel. But it was a good kind of process to try and make one of these. And I'll show you a photograph of what it looks like. And I needed one for myself anyway, so that's why my cat Summer is going to be very disappointed if she can't find rolls of paper towel or toilet paper around the house. But we got tired of vacuuming up sheds anyway. So just enjoy watching the rest of this and we'll get back to you in another while. So this piece is only 11 and a half inches tall. I added a pound of clay and I've only managed to get half an inch bigger. So I guess I could go with six pounds of clay now, which is what I use for one of my big lamp bases. But the thing that's going on here is it's so wide, because I've got it six and a half, seven inches across. Now I'm using a big, large piece of large roll of paper towel, not one of the cheaper ones. So maybe a smaller bowl would work in here, but this is still going to shrink too much, I guess, to actually fit the big one in here. But you know, I've got a couple to play with now anyway, so we'll see what happens. I thought I would mention that this is the bat system that Bill Wright makes from www.artisanpotterytools.com. And this was a seven and a half inch or seven and a quarter inch wide throwing bat that sits upon the drive bat underneath it. And I use these just every time I throw on the wheel now. I just really love being able to lift the pot right off the wheel without distorting it at all. Although I used to do that for decades, so it's still a great way of making pottery, but this system really makes it much easier. Okay, I'm about to make a big mistake, which I don't usually do, but I did this time. The knob came right off the actual pot while I was actually throwing the little flat lid. So I'm going to show you how I reposition that. I dried out the clay where they were joined, and now I'm just basically coning up and down several times to actually make that piece of clay adhere properly to that area. Then we're going to re-throw the knob. You have to make sure you dry out the clay completely before you put it back on there, so it will actually stick. But it's because I was sticking my fingers underneath the knob and pulling up, and it just pulled it right off the actual base. So there you go, you learn something every day. Okay, this was a smaller piece of clay, about two pounds to two and a quarter, I think. And basically, it's going to be to put the toilet roll in, so a much smaller version of the actual larger one that I was sent the picture of. This one will be very useful, because I'm thinking I can actually fasten it either horizontally or vertically on the wall, and it'll hide the toilet paper. If it was vertical, you could actually have a lid sitting on top, so the toilet paper was completely hidden. I also wanted to show you this because I showed you the other day that I had a tool for doing the rims instead of a leather. Well, Freddy Moretti, who's also on YouTube, did a 3D-printed one of the tool that I had, which you'll see again. I made this little one out of wood, and then Freddy 3D-printed that. So if you are interested in making yourself one, I guess you'll just have to contact Freddy and actually see if it'll make you... Well, I think you just have to get the software off the internet somehow. I think he downloaded some site, so you can make one. But all you do is wet it, and then... Yeah, wet it. That's what I said, wet it, and then you put it over the rim, and it does the same thing as the leather, and you don't lose it. And the rubber band should be quite soft. This one's quite old. In fact, as I opened the bag, took some out, they just snapped, because these rubber bands are probably three, four years old at least. Anyway, that's a good tip. Okay, this was the small toilet roll holder that I was talking about. I did the big paper towel one. I'll show you a quick picture of that. But it's not hard to do these. You basically just have to have a straight, steady hand and cut down, leave a little bit to the rim. So I don't think it will warp by cutting this out, but we'll have to wait and see, won't we? But I'm not sure the gap you probably should use there, but I'm going with just about three-eighths of an inch. Whenever you cut something out of a form, you're weakening the form. And it's very soft. As you can see, it bent just by doing that. I've been working on a whole bunch of canisters just to kind of break the routine, because in the summer months, it seems like all I make are fish whales and coffee mugs. Let's smooth it out on the inside. I don't want anything sharp, because it might tear the paper as it goes through. There we go. So I've been doing a bunch of just marks to get the glaze to hang in there. But you know, you could actually do in many more, but I'll show you some other pieces I'll work on for that. But that's mostly this one. These pieces are very soft. I'm going to put the lid on top. I am not sure I'll have a lid on this piece, as if it becomes a toilet bowl, which it will now I've cut it. But I'm thinking my cat would still be able to get to the roll inside, so I made a lid for it. And eventually, I will have two holes in the back here, where I can actually put a screw through. The one here will have to be going down at an angle, but I want to be able to put this on the wall, so that the cat can't get to it. It's... Boy, what we do for our pets. Anyway, these pieces are just going to be utensil jars. Although I did do lids on some, so I could actually choose later whether to do the utensil canister. But this is just a tool. I think it's from... Is it WYSIWYG or something? Dirty Girls, that's right. But I don't use that site very much, but you could. But we can maybe do it this time. But I'm going to try doing this again. And all you do is you aim with the corner and pull down, and then try and do it opposite. And I do sometimes go around a second time, but it depends on the hardness of the clay, because it will cave. But it leaves a nice mark just by doing that. So you've got the four kind of marks, and then you can use any tools you want to do any kind of decoration. But I found it's kind of nice just to keep it simple. So maybe we should try this. The problem with this is these are thin and this cuts, but maybe it will leave a mark. Yeah, that's nice. Probably as well. It's this soft, they stick. That's simple. That's nice. And then get rid of any boobers, especially since some of them, if they're loose on the surface, they might, when you glaze it, fall into your glaze. I do pieces that are so highly decorated, but I also like to do things that are simple. It's hard to see where that opposite is. I lost a lot of stuff stuck there. If you get stuff that sticks, just leave it till it's drier, and then you can pull it off a lot easier. It's so tempting, just a mess, but just leave those. They'll brush off later. We can sponge it down a bit later. Sometimes you can see on the inside to get the opposite one. Maybe we should go at an angle. This is a red clay, so it'll burn toasty brown in the kiln. So I'm going to try and leave some areas. Let's do a little bit more here. Plus, if you use roller stamps, you can put fast patterns on, but on soft forms like this, it's hard to do anything without it caving the piece. Okay, I'll cut through the jaw now. And I've been away all afternoon, so I had a dentist appointment, so they had to deal with me. So let's get this on here, see if it'll center up because of all the disfiguration. Not really easy. That's a little better. That's better. I'll just tighten it up, and then it's very easy to trim because there's nothing much to trim. I'm just taking that little excess lump off there, basically, and then the rest is just rounding it off a little bit. And you can make this more domed if you want to. I've actually trimmed these on little domes and squished them down a little bit, and that works quite well. And it's leather hard, as you can see, so I'll just basically give it a little wiggle. Now, I took a look at some pieces. I've been inspired here by a guy called Richard Baderham, and he was a really great potter. Okay, so I'm just roughening because this is actually leather hard. I was away about five, six hours today. And then as soon as I got back, these are absolutely wet. I just threw them on the wheel as soon as I walked in the door. So there's a lot of water there, so I'm not going to add anything else. I'm just going to see if it's fairly centered. There's a little bit off there, so I'll move it over a touch. Now, it's pretty close, so I'm just going to squish it down, and I can move it a little bit. After I've got it sealed up a little, I can still move it. Now, I don't need to. Oh, yes, I do. See, it came loose a bit. That's why I like to join my handles and knobs when the clay is really soft, but for doing these ones, I thought I would really give a chance to dry up a little bit while I was away, instead of putting it in a damp cupboard. And that's a little handle knob. So I'm trying to experiment. I've got lots of inventory, so I feel like it's time to treat myself and experiment. That one's a little off. You could probably, because it spins, just let it touch your finger at the high point, and you can knock it so it says what it looks like on the finger. And now, because I put these on before that, did it really leak? Oh, yeah, pretty nice. Okay, so we could, I did some decoration down here. I've got a spot on there where I could actually put something. So, do I have a chattering tool here? Not to overdo it with these, but that's just a little bit on the knob there, just to give it something that's interesting. Well, the river is frozen, and the gulls are all sitting out on the ice, except for as soon as I walk out the door, they start flying. But sometimes, some days it's so pretty, because they're all sitting down there on the ice, and they actually just point into the wind, basically, to be the most streamlined, I guess. My goal this year is to produce a coherent body of work in many different colours, so that I will actually have my display coloured, sort of, saturated in areas for green, blue, and so on, for all my glazes. So, I've been working on that idea. So, every time I glaze, I've got little test bowls, or tea bowls, I've shown you before, that I put on the shelf, so that I can glaze everything like that on that shelf. And I can show you a quick photo now. I've got boxes right down there, where I'm actually storing pieces. I have everything that colour in this box here. So, it's all about, you know, just kind of organisation, planning, and a bit of instinct on what you think might sell for the coming year. And since this year, what is the national colour, whatever, the Pantone colour is white. So, anything goes with white, and all that. So, it'll just pop right out, but maybe people will like white, but I haven't done it. Basically, I just glazed a few yellow pieces in that corner there. I just glazed a bunch of green up here, but they're all different forms to, you know, things that I haven't really got in those boxes I just showed you. And I'm just basically putting, this time, Strontium Crystal Magic on the actual upper half of the piece, and then I'm choosing a colour and glazing the whole piece with that colour. And then I will highlight with the rim being glazed with probably a contrasting colour, like Variegated Blue and Oatmeal. Sometimes I'll use Mouse Grey and Oatmeal, and sometimes I use the Apple Green and Oatmeal, but it's whatever contrasts with the colour that's underneath. So, it'll help to produce this little theme grouping of pieces. So, here I've got Folk Art White, and I've got Strontium Crystal Magic. So, I know, from tests that I did earlier, that the one with the green in has a little bit of Apple Green glazed over the top of the Folk Art White, which is over the top of the Strontium Crystal Magic, and that's what I'll get when they're fired. And the runs, I can increase or decrease with the length of the soak that I do at peak temperature. And I try not to do much of a soak at all, although this time I'm going to do five minutes, just to kind of see if I can encourage the runs a little bit. So, I've already glazed the Strontium Crystal Magic on this vase, on the top. So, literally, I've got Oatmeal on the inside, Strontium Crystal Magic there, and I just dip it into the Folk Art White to the bottom, and hold it for just about three seconds, pull it out, and you get a glaze that shows the texture through. So, hopefully, because the color is dark red, we should get a really good contrast here. Same with the lid, it's got Strontium Crystal Magic on the knob and the rim. I could have gone in another second, but it won't be too much difference, and I put it on a stilt. The bowls have nothing on them yet, so I dip it in Strontium Crystal Magic. That's just a pretty much in-out, and then I wait for it to touch dry. It's still a little wet on the rim, so I have time to glaze a second one like that. Grab the first one again. You want to wait till it's touch dry, but not much longer than that. I like to dip straight away after I've dipped the first coat, after it's gone touch dry, and if I don't, then I'll wait till the next day, or at least five or six hours later, when the pieces are thoroughly dry. For some reason, some glazes crawl, and if you get them, it seems like they flake off even sometimes, but so you've just got to figure out your individual glazes. All glazes are different. Testing is so boring. I always hated it, but now I'm kind of enjoying it, because my results are getting better, because I have tested. I just did a series of canisters inspired by the forms of Richard Batterham, if you ever want to look him up. He's an English potter that died in 2021. It was a straightforward functional potter in the leech tradition. Yeah, so you can still see the texture. And then the last one. Actually, I think I'll do this in something else. So that's, I've got a big canister to do. Actually, I'm going to show you that one too. I made some really large canisters. If upside down, the air inside the piece will stop the glaze from going inside, but I might be able to get all the way to the bottom. Yep, I did. The big ones, you know, you've got a lot of glaze there, so I try to hold them just for, you know, about a minute, just to stop any drips from being too visible falling down the rib from the rim, and you turn it the right way up. You always get one maybe, but we went around side to side to try and get that glaze drip that's on the rim to kind of soak in before you turn it the right way up. And then you always end up with a little bit, but it's hardly anything there. Just that little bit. And this is too tall to go on that shelf. And the lid. I glaze the bottoms of the lid because I put them on stilts in the kiln. You'd have to wipe them off if you're not going to use stilts. All right, so that's what I'm doing with all my different colors, greens, blues, yellows, and I'll show you what they look like when they come out of the kiln.