Thrown Cylinders

 


Thrown Cylinders



    This project introduced the ideas of both throwing on the wheel as well as utilizing glazes for cone-10 firing.  It was a huge challenge to create cylinders in the first few weeks without having the clay rip apart in my hands as the wheel spun under my hands.  

Throwing Process:

  1.   Gather 2 lbs of stoneware clay, preferably a mix of wet and dry.  
  2. Wedge the clay thoroughly to remove air pockets and align the platelets for rotation. This video explains it fairly well.

  3.  Place clay on center of wheel and begin to rotate 
  4. Wet clay and apply pressure with both hands to center the clay
  5. Use thumbs to bring in the center, creating a sort of donut shape
  6. Pull the edges out slowly while pressing further down, use a needle tool to assess depth, you want about a half and inch of clay at the bottom
  7. Continue to pull out interior edge, making sure an even surface so that a cylindrical shape is possible
  8. Brace the interior with your non-dominant hand near the bottom
  9. Brace the exterior with your dominant hand, using a sponge to soften your area of contact
  10. Slowly raise the base of the clay, making sure that the surface remains even with each rotation
  11. Raise the clay up to just under the lip, keeping your head above the cylinder so as to raise towards your eyes.
  12. Repeat process, taking care not to let any part of the cylinder get too thin.  Keep hands at a steady distance from each-other.
  13. Add water as necessary throughout process.

April 3rd:


April 6th:


April 13:



Note: When cylinders have had a day to dry,  dampen the bottoms and use a metal rib to smooth off any uneven texture from the process of removing the cylinder from the wheel.  If bottoms go un-smoothed, they can get very sharp or uneven, when can affect the usefulness of the cylinder as well as the process of the baking.  


Glaze Application Process:

  1. Use a cup to pour desired glaze into the interior of the cylinder.
  2. Empty the cylinder back into the glaze container, rotating the cylinder to apply the glaze evenly around the lip.
  3. Allow a minute to dry
  4. Holding the mug by the bottom, submerge the cylinder upside-down into the glaze container, using the air to prevent the glaze from affecting the already-applied interior.  
  5. Take care not to get glaze on the bottom 1/4th inch, as this could cause glaze to fuse to the kiln shelf during firing.
Alternatively:

  1. Wet bottom of cylinder to get water into the clay for easy glaze removal.
  2. Use tongs to fully submerge cylinder.
  3. Empty cylinder, rotating for even coating.
  4. Do not allow glaze to make contact with cylinder for more than 4-5 seconds ideally or it will oversaturate.
  5. Use wet sponge to remove glaze from bottom of the cylinder to avoid issues with damaging the shelf when firing.




This has a Tenmoku coat on the outside with a white interior.  The exterior turned nearly entirely black, with some orange coming through, perhaps something to do with the oxidation process of iron componenets.



The Tenmoku interior dripped down the side a bit during application, which came through in the finished product from underneath the carbon trap.



I really enjoyed the effect that the Rutile had on the example board shown below, so I wanted to see how it would look if I coated the entire mug.



This last one uses a Black interior with the Rutile around the outside.  The Black somehow came through from underneath and created a beautiful green effect around the lid.





 






Are the cylinders thrown to 6” goal?

 Yes

What skills are reflected in height, wall to floor thickness, 90-degree, flat bottom and lip treatment?

 The wall-to-floor thickness is fairly even at about 1/4 and inch throughout.  Each cylinder has a flat bottom with a 90 degree join to the side, avoiding any bowl-like curves.  Lips have been smoothed out, with one cylinder having an uneven cut from using a knife to try to correct the lip on the wheel.  The bottoms could have used the most improvement.  I was making cylinders constantly up until the firing date as I struggled with the process quite a bit, they kept breaking apart due to the walls getting too thin.  I don't think my cylinders had enough time to dry, as I had stored them in the damp room, and so attempts to smooth the bottom were mixed, the bottoms were still fairly damp.  This is the area I could use the most improvement on.

How does the glaze application look? 

 Each cylinder has a unique glaze application.  The Tenmoku interior dripped significantly on the left-most cylinder, which wasn't intentional although I'm noticing that almost every accident has a certain aesthetic appeal when it comes to glazing.  The cylinder with the Tenmoku interior has a great transition to the white interior.  The black to Rutile transition created a surprising green color on the smallest cylinder, making it my favorite.  Each leaves a 1/4th inch separation from the bottom, preventing any issues with firing.

Are they completed through glaze firing to be considered a completed assignment?

Yes 

Blog Entry- Is this process and completed piece posted as requested?

Yes



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