889. Beginning Throwing Part I~ Setup the Wheel & Bat with Hsin-Chuen Lin

If you don't already know, so usually the wheel comes like this and you can take the chair down and assemble. If that splash pan is not assembled, these two pieces and you put it on, you put it on, okay, and you can turn it, you can turn it, okay. Right, so that is the setup. And then all our wheels have two pins here, bed pins, and the bed pin is for you to hold the bed on, okay. And also the switch is right here, usually on the right hand side, and you can flip it on here that the switch closer to you is on and off. You flip it, this kind of wheel, the white color wheel, they turn the green light, okay. The brown one or the yellow one is from Brent and they might turn it into different colors like red color, okay. And then you can step on it, make sure nothing on top of it before you turn it on and before you step on the pedal, okay. Usually people forget to, this part here, when they start to turn it on, they forgot to check if the pedal is on the off, this is off. Here's the coil, right. The coil, if that is closer to the coil, it's on already. Once you flip it on, the wheel start to spin, right. So make sure it's on this position and then flip it, okay, flip it. And now you can put your foot on the pedal to see if it's turning or not, right. So this is good, it's turning. And then if you want to spin in different direction, there's another switch there, so you can flip it and you can turn different direction, okay. It doesn't matter which direction is good or bad because some people do throw clockwise, some people do throw counterclockwise, but it will be easier for me or for us, including TA, to show you the same direction, it's easier, okay. So when you learn it, you might want to learn the same direction that you do, okay, which is counterclockwise, right. So I'm going to switch it back, right, counterclockwise, it's good, all right. Make sure that every time, because some people do flip the switch, so they might turn different direction, okay. Just make sure you are in the same direction. And then we are going to put this, it's what people call a bat gripper or bat mat, okay. Talk about the bat, what is bat, okay. Bat is not a baseball bat, okay. This in paddling, this we call bat. It's not a flying bat, okay. This is bat on the wheel, okay. Why you do the bat? Because you are going to line up the bat on the pins here, right, and you work on here, and once you're done, you pick up your bat and you store somewhere. That's what bat is all about, okay. For throw something that you don't want to touch it, and you don't want to mess it up, so you just pick up your bat and then put it on the shelf. That's what the bat is all about, okay. And for the bat, because some of them has been used for years, it's becoming loose, but it's kind of shaky, wiggle, so that's what this is all about. You put this underneath of your bat, so your bat is more stable because it creates friction right here, right. You put it underneath, and then you put your bat on, and it's in position, so your bat doesn't shift while you are working on. So that is what the bat man is all about, okay. So for you to wash your car, it's like chamois. See that once you soak it in the water, it's like that, and you can start to wash or clean up your car, like the material like this. So that is the bat mat or bat gripper, and this is my own bat gripper. I bought it from the car wash section. They come in with a big sheet, and then I just trim it to the size, and I cut two holes. Okay, so that's good to go. And then bat, let's begin with the bat. So we have several bats here. So this is made of MDF wood kind of material, and it's okay, but personally, I don't like to use this kind of a bat because they tend to warp because, and you can see this one here, it's already warping, warping like this. So if you are putting this kind of a bat, put it on in the wrong direction, like that, that, two holes, it's not catching the pin. So once you go, you start with the spin, it might come off and fly away. So if you are using this kind of bat, make sure you do that part here on top. Okay, this curve, not this curve. Okay, so you put it right here. And the reason why it warps is because people tend to wash this bat, let's soak the whole piece in the bucket and wash it. And once it's soaked in the water, it already has lots of water, and it warps. If you don't press it, there's no pressure on top of it, it starts to warp in one direction. That's why this bat isn't very good, isn't very good, but it's the cheapest one. So you can see that most of the studio, they have this kind of bat. Okay, so that is an MDF bat. And then also we have a plastic bat. This one is a little bit better, but the only problem is it's super hard to line up the hole and then assemble it on because you won't be able to see the pin. So you kind of wiggle around and then find it here, and then you find there, and then you lock it. So that, this is the bat that made of plastic, plastic. And if you are using this kind of bat, make sure you orient it at the right direction. Here, see that we got four holes here, and we've got three bumps here, and the one bump there, right. So if your wheel is 10 inches pin, a bat pin space, use three spots, which is, it's the same as the other wheel in the studio. So if you are using this kind of bat, do find three spots there, and then you set it up. Okay, so that's good, and then good, right. So that is the setup. If you have a smaller wheel head, they might come in like eight inches, and then use one spot, one dot. Okay, so that's the bat, and the same thing here. Why they have a square one? Because this is also for space saver. So if you're done with your throwing, it only takes this area, so it's saving a lot of room on the shelf. Okay, so it's called space saver, so square one. And the same material, I think it's the same manufacturer, they are making this kind of a bat. Plastic bat, it's good, the only downside is, it's very hard to find the pin. This square one is easier, but then the round one is harder. And also the downside for this is that they, if people are using that, when they can wait for the piece to be dry, they use a heat gun or hairdryer to dry it, and then it's made of plastic, so it warps. So that's the downside of it. And then, so this is my bat. Okay, I designed it, and it's also a plastic one, but it's like a fiberglass inlaid, so it doesn't warp. Okay, and a little bit of heat, right, the heat is not going to work. Okay, that's my bat. Okay, and you can stand on it, stand like 120 pounds of weight, it's not going to bend at all. This is the bat. And here is also another one, it's made of aluminum. So this is also the space saver. So what you do is, you set this up here, and once you're done, this is the tile that you just pick it up. Okay, so after you're done with it, you pick it up and save space. Okay, right, so that is the bat. And now let's start with the basic drawing. And then first, make sure your clay is nice and round and circle. And if your bat is wood, made of wood, okay, so when you set it up, you want to place your clay in the center, the more center the better. And here is a trick, if your bat is made of wood, MDF, get a sponge, there's a circle there. And because of the wood, so your clay, you add water here, it's easier for your clay to stick on this kind of a bat. If you don't have water, right there, your clay does not stick, right. So a little bit of water, it helps stick better. That is this kind of bat. A wooden bat, add a little bit of water, but the plastic bat, no water at all. Plastic bat, like this one, or any non-porous, meaning non-absorbing water bat, no water at all, no water in between. Right, so that's good. And make a circle, and if you are using this, you can get a pencil to draw several circles there, so it's easier to find the center, okay. And this other side, I already have circles, so when I'm placing my clay there, I have a guide, and then make sure the clay is, the more center, the better, okay.