These pots take a long time to make since I have to throw the neck separately from the body and wait for them to set up for a while before joining them. Next I have to cut them into quarters and carefully suture them back together. After that they have to be bisque-fired, then glazed and re-fired.
During the cutting and reassembly stage I have to tie a piece of plastic around them to hold them together while suturing. Each one of those "sutures" is a piece of nickel-chromium wire that I have to cut and form into a staple before inserting it into the clay. When the pot is fired the clay shrinks around the wire and holds it firmly in place.
I have recently been challenged to make larger versions of them. The first problem with that is that I will have to use larger gauge wire. That creates the problem that the clay will probably crack around the larger diameter of the wire. To remedy that I would have to wedge more grog into the clay to make larger particles to help with shrinkage around the larger wire. One change can cause multiple changes in the process. We'll see if I pursue it.
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1 comment:
Your creation, Dr Frankenstein, is a worthy adversary.
Keep it up.
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