Homemade Pottery Tools

I've been making a bunch of pottery tools lately. These are just a couple. The strips of wood are slab rolling strips 1 inch wide, 24 inches long, and 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch thick. Of course the sponges are just sponge sticks. Easy to make and fun to use, as are all my homemade tools, because I made them. I also made a bunch of wooded trimming tools and a bunch of cool textured paddles. I posted photos of those on my other blog Coulee Region Art. Check them out.
Anyway, if I'm not getting muddy in the studio, at least I'm getting dusty.

A Few Raku Pieces to Fire

Just a few raku pieces that need to be fired. The two figures were made last year. The little one was carved out of porcelain. The other one was just my regular stoneware clay body. Both were glazed with clear crackle raku glaze. The covered container was dipped in clear crackle raku glaze and the top portion and lid dipped in a "mystery" scrap glaze. The masks are porcelain and were made from plaster molds. They're fragile right now. I'm not sure how they'll handle the raku kiln. All three were dipped in clear crackle. The two tea bowls are glazed with clear crackle and the rims dipped in different "mystery" glazes. I also have some other tea bowls to fire. Two of those are glazed with TAK White raku glaze. It is supposed to be a thick fat white glaze but the first time I used it it came out as a smooth glassy opaque white, not very "fat" at all. This time around I applied it super thick. We'll see what happens.

For the past two weeks I've been glazing a lot of pieces that I fired in the electric kiln yesterday. I fired to cone 05 and it took me 6 hours start to finish. It probably would have taken less than 6 hours but I noticed that two of my elements are either burned out or not working properly. Anyway, I'll open it up today and see how everything came out. I haven't used any of these glazes before. They are Amaco matt and gloss glazes that were given to me because they were "old." Yeah, they must have sat on the shelf for a few years or more, probably more. They were all brand new, never opened, but the water had evaporated and I had to spoon out each glaze, reconstitue, and run it through the sieve a few times. It took a lot of work, but they were free.

I have a few olive oil bottles, some coffee mugs, some incense burners, a spitoon, a yarn bowl for my mother, and a bunch of other small stuff.
I'm out of clay so hopefully I'll sell this stuff real quick, buy some more, and get back to kicking the wheel.

Raku Firing Video

I posted an awsome video of my last raku firing on Coulee Region Art Blog. Check it out. Many thanks to Allen for shooting the Video, Brian V. for editing and Brian S. for all the rest of the help I needed.

Barrel Kiln

Time for a new barrel kiln. One of them is snowed in at the back of my friend's property, one is just plain old and rusted out, and the other one was run over by a wild man on a skidsteer. And No, that wildman wasn't me. Anyway, I threw some vases and some other pots last weekend and I thought a winter barrel firing party was in order. Planned it for this coming Saturday so I had to get cracking on the new barrel.

I have discussed the making of the barrel and my method of firing several times before on this blog but have learned a couple new things that make things a bit more easier and more efficient.

First of all, drilling holes was a pain in the butt on the last three barrels. Even though I used a brand new metal drill bit, I had to use a punch, create a mark, and then start drilling. It was a chore and it was hard on the drill batteries. On the next barrel I used another brand new metal drill bit but used an electric drill. It was still a chore. The end result was I did not drill all the holes that I wanted to. Tip #1---use a "Uni-bit" or a stepped up MultiCutter bit. This type of bit is the cat's meow, the bee's knees, and makes drilling into a brand new barrel a breeze. As you can see in the photo I drilled holes 5/8-inch in three spots on the barrel spaced 4 to 5 inches apart. I didn't measure. I just eye-balled it and drilled.

Tip #2---Don't drill holes in the bottom or the floor of the barrel. The reason I say this is because I believe that it creates too much draft or air into the base of the kiln which tends to cause the saw dust to burn up too quickly. I like the sawdust in the bottom because it seems to give better blacks and better flame patterns on the pots. I'm not positive on this but it just seems so.

Oh, one last thing. If you need to cut the lid off the barrel a sawzall works great. It rattles you around a bit but works really well.

I'm going to soak-up the left over oil in the barrel with some sawdust, dispose of it "properly," and light a small fire in the barrel to burn up any left over slime. Will be firing this kiln this Saturday.

Little Rocketman Kiln

Yes, I know, I haven't posted anything for a while but Happy New Year and here is this year's first post. I have been keeping busy. Besides my paying job I have been doing a lot of stuff at the studio and stop everyday, although I haven't been making any pots. My newest project is the construction of a wood burning kiln that I am calling "Little Rocketman." It is a smaller version of a kiln that was designed by Mike Weber quite some time ago. I found a photo of it a few weeks back on Dave Zdrazil's website and thought to myself---"Too Cool! I can make a smaller version of this and start the fire this Spring."

My first experience with wood firing was with Tony Ferguson in 2005 and his kiln is the same design, but bigger. In Fact, I think both David and Tony were students of Mike Weber. Anyway, I'm just now starting to build the form for this wood burning, cantenary arch, tube anagama.

It took me a while to come up with the shape and final size of this Little Rocketman. All I knew is that I didn't want a kiln the size of Tony's, as it would take too much time and effort, not to mention money, to build and fire that dragon. Dave's kiln looked like the best fit for me but I ended up drawing my own plans based on standard firebrick brick sizes, and kiln shelf sizes. What I came up with was a kiln that I could afford to build and also one that I thought I'd be able to fire by myself in relatively a short amount of time (anything less than 24 hours). So I came up with these dimensions: 6-feet overall length that would incorporate approximately 36 square inches of flat kiln shelf space in the rear of the kiln, 36 flat square inches of firebox/ash pit area, and with interior arch dimensions of 36-inches wide by 31-inches tall. These measurements allow me to crawl into and out of the kiln for loading and unloading without it being too much of a pain in the ass. I know because I created a cardboard template to test it out. I came up with the cantenary arch by cutting out a bunch of wooden templates of standard straight bricks, #1, #2 and #3 arch bricks. I played with these wooden cut-outs until I came up with something I liked. Stay tuned for more info on the construction process. Next step is building the form.

Korean Potter's Wheel

Well, I've finished the wood/carpentry work on my Korean potter's wheel. This is about 45 pieces of cherry wood, 5 pieces of black walnut, and 4 pieces of pine (the four supports) all glued together and sanded. I've got to say--It is really pretty--REALLY Pretty.

The hardest part was placing the four support dowels and I couldn't have done it without the help of my friend Darrel--He is the the "Wood Man," and it was his shop where I did all this work.

Anyway, this wheel, whether you call it an Onggi Style Potter's wheel, or a Korean Style Potter's wheel, is 17 inches tall. The wheel head is 18-3/4 inches in diameter and the flywheel is 19 inches in diameter.

The next step is having a machine shop weld my 1-inch cold rolled steel to a round piece of 3/8 inch steel and when that is complete I'll be making pots on this beauty.

Handmade Pottery Tools

Yesterday I made a bunch of new pottery tools from scrap wood laying around the shop. I made the two ribs (upper left) out of a piece of pine molding that I cut to size and sanded . They're each about 5-1/2 inches long.

I also made a bunch of different types of trimming sticks. I made them out of left over cherry wood from my Korean kick wheel, which I'm still working on. The trimming sticks are about 10 inches long. I really like the size of these and have come to the conclusion that the ones you buy are too short and not as comfortable.

The bigger tools are my "Onggi" tools that I plan on using when I start throwing on my Korean Kickwheel. The calipers are about 10 inches long and made out of oak. These are really sweet. Nice looking, nice and smoooth, and feels good in the hands. I used a galvanized wing nut on this pair because it was the only thing I had handy at the shop. I'll replace this with a brass wing nut and use brass in all the future calipers I make. No particular reason for the brass other than it just looks better.

The Korean kick wheel is coming along. I now have the flange bearings for the wheelhead and the flywheel and tomorrow I'll get the the piece of 1-inch cold rolled steel for the shaft. The next step is to drill a hole in the center of the flywheel and then drill and set the dowel rods which will connect the wheelhead and the flywheel. Hopefully I'll get this done this weekend. Stay tuned.

Korean Kick Wheel

I'm still working on my new wheel. Yesterday I spent about 2 hours hand sanding the outside edges of both the wheel head and the flywheel. I'm actually not done with the sanding and I'm hoping that I only have another hour at it. I'm using fine grit sandpaper now to eliminate any remnants of the bandsaw. It is also really making the wood grain pop out and man is it smooth.

Both the flywheel and the wheel head have been tapered, or "shaped" to change the profile. Not neccessary but I thought it added a lot to the wheel as a whole. The name of the machine used to make the tapers is called a "shaper." Basically it is an oversized upside down router.

I'm still waiting for a friend of mine to give me some 2-inch diameter dowel rods. I am going to use these as the supports between the wheel head and the flywheel. When I get the dowels, we won't need the bucket and I'll post a photo when the next step is complete. Once I complete the wheel I'll post a complete materials list and the final dimensions.

Onggi Wheel

I made a lot of progress this past weekend. I finally got all my pieces glued together and sanded smooth. I had to spend antoher $4.18 on more glue. I now have about 12 and a half dollars and about 18 hours into the project.

The wheel head is stacked on top of the flywheel in this photo. It is 4 layers of cherry wood. The bottom layer, the fourth one down is about an inch smaller in diameter than the rest of the pieces.

The flywheel was originally 4 layers thick but I added another layer to the flywheel to make it approximately 3-1/2 inches thick. Once the boards were all planed they were a little thinner than I had originally planned on. So, I used a piece of walnut, not only to add some more weight to the fly wheel, but also to give the wheel a little more character. I thought it would make a nice contrast once oiled up and polished between that and the lighter cherry wood.

The next step, I think, is to add four round 2-inch dowel rods. These will be used as supports between the wheel head and the flywheel,. They will be drilled into each piece approximately 1-1/2 inches and glued in place.

Although I do have a drawing that I am working from, I'm basically just building this off of images and bits of information I have found on the internet. If anybody wants to share any information they have about this type of wheel I'd love to hear from you. I am still keeping a photo-diary of each of steps of this building process on my facebook page, if you're interested.

Korean Kickwheel

I have about ten hours into the kickwheel now and have spent 10 dollars on Elmer's wood glue. In fact, I need to pick up some more glue after work today. I should mention that I did not have to pay for any of the cherry wood I have used. I would guess that if I had to buy it, select cherry wood would cost about 300 dollars.

Anyway, I have cut all the rounds out for the wheel head and the fly wheel. Here I have glued the pieces together. After this I will have to glue these two pieces together. The wheel head will be a little over 3 inches thick.

After I planed all the pieces for the fly wheel I decided to add one more layer of wood to make it about 3-1/2 inches thick. I dedided to use walnut and add it to the middle layer of the flywheel. I think the contrasting colors of wood will really look nice. I'm keeping a good diary and posting step-by-step photos on my facebook page. Seems like I'm making some good progress now.

Korean Kick Wheel

I started building a Korean style kick wheel a couple weeks ago. A friend of mine gave me about 25 board feet of cherry wood and I started cutting it up. I have all the pieces glued together now and am going to be planing each layer this week. I've run out of photo space on blogger but if you are a facebook member you can follow my progress in my Korean Kick Wheel photo album. When I get it all done I'll also post the photos somewhere else for public viewing.

Homemade Studio Equipment

Last weekend I built some new equipment for my studio. I built a mini slab roller that works really well, I made a couple plaster reclaim slabs, a nice photo shoot table and even threw some coffee mugs on the kickwheel that I built. I posted photos on my other blog site, Coulee Region Art. If you'd like to see the photos just follow the link and then click on the photo of me at the wheel.

Black Coffee Mugs 1992

Who is the person that has a neighbor that has a set of black coffee mugs with unglazed bottoms and is marked Jeffrey R. Guin 92? This comment/question was posted on this post last week. I would love to find out where the mugs are today. You can email me at jguin@wkbt.com
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Raku Kiln Fire Box

Well here is the fire box for my wood burning raku kiln. This picture does not show the roof but the roof will be a piece of 1/4 inch stainless steel plate. I found it in a scrap pile and it happened to fit pretty well. I'll try it and see how it works.

Anyway, the box is made out of hard fire brick laid on a base of cinder block, which sits upon a slab of concrete. I used half in rebar for the grate. I've decided to add a few more bars spaced about two inches apart. Next step is to build the firing chamber. Stay tuned.

Homemade Pottery Wheel

Well, here is the finished product. A homemade pottery wheel for under five dollars. Except for the stainless steel drain hole in the upper right hand corner of the table top the entire wheel was constructed with recycled or reclaimed found materials.

This was a really fun project, so much so that I am going to build another wheel with a slightly different design.

If you would like to see additional photos of the building process you can check out my slide show at my other blog that I write for work (my paying job), Coulee Region Art.

Build Your Own Potter's Wheel

The potter's wheel works. This wheel was constructed out of materials found lying around the shop. The only thing that was purchased was a stainless steel drain hole that was mounted in the right hand corner of the table top to make cleaning easier. I'll post some step by step photos of the construction a bit later. There is still some tweeking to do. It still needs some paint and a spring operated footpedal for the motor assist but otherwise the wheel is done.

Raku Vases

Here are a couple of raku fired vases that I fired about a week ago. These are slab constructed and I used a wax resist technique in the leathaer hard stage to create some interesting texture. Click on this link to see a photo of the wax resist in the leather hard stage. I used black underglaze on the vase on the left and then glazed it with a clear crackle raku glaze. The vase on the right was glazed in an unknown glaze that I had in the studio, but it is very similar if not "reynolds wrap raku glaze."

Kids Day

Friday was kids in the studio day. Natalie made a small bowl on the wheel all by herself. Pretty amazing for a first day on the wheel. I can remember learning to center--took me quite a bit longer. She just did it on her own with no help or direction. Anyway, today is "clean up the studio day."

Will also be firing up the raku kiln. Both Natalie and I have a few things to fire.

Barrel Fired Bottle

Here is a photo of one of the bottles from my last barrel firing. This bottle was burnished with a metal spoon while it was in its leather-hard state. Burnishing with a spoon takes a long time to do. Too long. I'm going to have to try terra sigalata. I've heard this will buff up to a nice high sheen real easy and real fast. Once again, no glazes on this bottle. the colors come from a mix of miracle grow and copper carbonate, which I sprinkle throughout the bottom of the barrel prior to firing. I think the next barrel firing I do I'm going to have to try firing a piece or two in a saggar.

A Successful Barrel Firing

Last Saturday I had a very successful barrel firing, or at least one that I was very happy about. This is one of the hand constructed vases that I fired. All the pots had the exact same colors, the red, the pink, black and white, but had different flame pattern markings. Two of the vases I fired did break which isn't that uncommon. I do pile about two hundred pounds of wood on top of the pots.

I really like these hand constructed vases. I've got to get some more clay and start cranking these forms out. I plan on raku-firing a couple that I didn't put in the barrel last Saturday. I have one barrel fired vase that didn't have the markings I was happy with so I plan on refiring it in the raku kiln. I am going to glaze it with a clear crackle glaze. I'm interested to see if the red will stay on the pot. I'm sure the blacks will burn out but I just want to see what happens.

I also learned some new tricks with this last firing and will reveal them after my next firing.