A Lesson in Humility

When you try to make a big pot, but the universe has other plans.

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[jamesjuggler]

The bumps are what make that piece awesome.

[aubreytauer]

Those of us who handbuild and sculpt for a living and make large coiled pots or other vessels or sculptures do not only put one coil on at a time and wait until it is leatherhard to add another, that would take forever for us to get anything done even usually with several pieces going at a time, you can add as many coils as the piece can handle until you start to feel that it needs to firm up to support more coils, but absolutely, especially with the first few coils, it can support more coils at one time. Most things can support quite a few coils before it needs firming up. And then most of us use a heat gun or gas torch or even hair drier to dry the lower parts until it is firm enough to accept more coils, this way we can get an entire pot done in one day. Especially if you use paperclay is extremely easy because it regulates air and water flow much better than regular clay so it dries faster naturally (and will also stay at whatever dampness you want easily with covering or putting in a damp box in between things and you can push it back from dry or leatherhard to wet even if you need to). Even if you don’t want to use heat or at the minimum a fan to help the piece firm up (usually keeping the rim covered in plastic by the way as you don’t want the rim to dry out) so you can go faster almost any shape, barring something very asymmetrical or oddly shaped, can handle 3-7 coils at a time depending on how thick the coils are, how leatherhard or at least firm wet the area below is, and the support structure of the shape. And as long as you know what you are doing, using a heat gun or torch or hair dryer will not damage the clay, just make sure you know how to appropriately use them and how dry to the touch the clay should feel, so you don’t create cracks or concentrate too long on one area and over dry it. People coil a lot of different ways, often academically considered the “correct” way is to actually rub the clay down on the inside and up on the outside, sometimes switching if the direction of the pot changes (it curves in or curves out), you don’t usually want to go in the same direction on both sides because it doesn’t provide as good of a bond and the pot won’t be as strong. Same as with usually using slip with the coils except for the first coil. It may seem totally fine not doing those two things but if you go to raku or pitfire a pot coiled that way you would watch in horrors as the already bisqued pot’s coils come apart…first hand experience of someone I know…they had to change drastically how they coiled to make it survive the thermal shock, including more surface area of the coils coming in contact with each other by using more triangular shaped coils, starting to slip again, and often putting thin coils of clay on the inside where the coils joined and blending it in so they were really stuck together. And using very thick bonding slip with sodium silicate and vinegar in it. Sorry the kiln over fired! It is so disappointing when you put so much work into something and for you doing this over a very long time, to have it bloat. The clay is’t terribly dark but definitely has quite a bit of iron in it so may have a pretty narrow firing range before it bloats because of the iron in it getting too hot…definitely one of those lessons you won’t forget though, which is the good part of a piece not turning out…you will never forget to factor the weather/ambient heat into your firing and definitely always using witness cones! Looks like you had success in your next video! I love the profile you developed for the pot, it is a very good looking shape.

[mirstudio]

You make it look so easy. Thank you for sharing. Greetings from San Francisco, CA.

[juliuslove]

Yep, went through something similar weeks ago. Pottery = if learning to throw on the wheel doesn’t humble you, something else in the process will 😩 Thanks for sharing this moment. You can do it again!

[kappagrapes]

6:05 The smear of clay on the table makes a little guy! He's running so fast he left his other leg behind!

[jackiemorrison]

Still a great teaching video... thanks for showing us

[huldaolafsdottir]

You did a beautiful job there! Live and learn😘

[VegasLilliehook]

Thanks for sharing both good and bad results with us <3

[juliejoanlanne]

Sometime it's a win... If not, you'll learn a leason... Thank you for sharing 👍

[littlemargou]

I think it looks cool! looks different than every other pot :)

[annaincolors]

well.. i was wondering why the hell are my glazes still so runny when i set up the 'perfect' middle temperature.. well it was over 30°C outside as well.. thank you for sharing!! now i will watch out for hot summer days not to over fire. love your videos, they are very useful! :- ) (and also satisfying to watch you create magic)

[NeccoWecco]

It took on a new life as a pumpkin pot!

[lauren-fisc]

I made a pot this size a little while ago, it cracked on the outside like crazy cause I had a few mishaps trying to flip it over to add feet. It was a very humbling experience after spending way too many hours on it haha

[stephane]

Great ! May I ask what is the diameter of the extruder jig?

[bz]

Ich finde, der Topf hat was, die Dellen könnte man gut mit bunter Glasur zur Geltung bringen, dann aber Niedrigbrand. Ich würde auf den Topf außen erst weiße Glasur aufbringen und darauf die bunten Flecken

[ixchelssong]

I'm so sorry about that pottery fail! 😫

[anettasimpson]

I sooo relate to this video! When you put your heart into a piece and then you pull it out of the kiln Can I ask you, do you single fire often? You mentioned you put the piece directly into the final fire, so I'm wondering what your ramp schedule was. I'm in France and it's super hot right now here, too, and I have the same kiln and it hasn't overfired yet. I single fire exclusively with both glazed and unglazed pieces (I glaze them raw, when they are between leather hard and bone dry). My ramp schedule is 60c/hr up to 600, then 150c/hr up to 1200. I keep it slow until 600 so that the raw clay has ample time to off-gas. If I ramp up too fast I get bloating, bumps, and blisters. Thanks so much for sharing this video, you've inspired me to try for a really big piece!

[OlesiaDzhoshkun]

Thanks for the video! Could you tell me what do you roll the clay on? Is it a plaster slab?

[pernillejorgensen]

That is a shame…..but tilted right in all white garden it could be cool?

[joe]

I've watched a small handful of your videos. I admire your skill and artistry. But I cringe when watching you use that razor knife. Your left hand needs to be well out of the path of that knife. It's not a matter of if, as much as it is when, something stupid happens and you unexpectedly pull that blade over your hand or fingers. I speak from experience. Please, work safely.