For crafters (non-needle)

Oh, what could be cuter? I'd be so delighted to see my own pets on pottery! And I love the dog's tongues sticking out. Looks like little mice with the dog bones as a border? Awwwww.....

I've never tried pottery, 'cause I thought supplies were too expensive. Tell us more about equipment & such!

I bought a pottery wheel (motorized with a built in stool and table) Its operated by a knee rhesostat. Its very cool. I paid 35 bucks and a 10% buyers premium. I havent used it yet. Its waay to cold out in the barn where I have it stored.

I do a lot of woodworking and my watercolors keep me busy. Ive been working on some small hanging corner cupboards my wifes sisters saw some that I made and really liked them so, Im commited. Trouble with furniture is that you run out of room before you do ideas.

Damn, great price, farmerman!

I haven't done pottery on a wheel since high school (hmm, does "pottery" refer only to that which is done on a wheel?) but took several classes in my old town which were just so fun. We were given pretty much free reign, a cool and helpful teacher who had lots of great advice and tips but we did what we wanted. I did mostly boxes, clocks (you'll see), ornaments, and one mongo bowl that's my favorite thing so far. The class cost something like $65 for an 8-week (?) session, and that was it. All the clay, underglaze, glazes, and firing was done by them. I took ~three classes and made a ton of stuff. Gave almost all of it away. (That's why I'm so dependent on finding my photos for this, I nearly always make things as gifts so the only record I have is the photos if I remember to take them.)

The above was done at a paint-your-own-pottery place, they have them all over now. I just selected the greenware plate (fired once but unglazed), painted on the design with glaze, and they fired it for me. I forget how much it cost, not exhorbitant but expensive enough that it didn't cross my mind to make a full place setting for example. Maybe $15 total for that one? (Price was based on several factors -- buying the greenware, some sort of general service fee, etc.)

The cats on the plate were mine before I left home, the dogs were acquired later, so easier to portray them since I know 'em better. Barney's a big lug, kinda dumb, easier to characterize. Maya's more sweet and refined. Tillie was the queen of the universe, nothing phased her. Jasmine (her daughter) was the opposite, a total scaredy cat.

farmerman, that's a bit beyond craft as I define it, but would love to see the cupboards when you're finished.

I have one of those heavy, cast iron pottery wheels. The old foot-powered type. It's sitting out in my garage right now, wrapped in plastic. I suppose I should dig it out.

Just re-read sentence above, should've been "all the clay, underglazes, and glazes [as well as miscellany like glass beads, stamps, etc.] were provided by them, and they did the firing.

Gus, you've mentioned carvings, would love to see some. Your pottery wheel sounds great.

I suppose I could put some of my carvings on here, but I'm better with a knife than I am with a computer, so it may take some time.

Just as long as you don't carve the computer, Gus, we'll be happy to wait.

lovely lively plate - waiting to see more

Would love to see woodcarvings, Gus! Always thought that would be fun, and no shortage of wood around here. But usually I can't pick up a knife without accidentally cutting myself.

Do you buy the wood, or find it? Do you "season" it first? How's that done, really?

We have lots of hardwoods here....Oak, Sycamore, Maple. Then Sweetgum, Hickory, Magnolia, Pine, and tons of exotics.... Just burned enough from the hurricanes to make a whole roomful of furniture!

I've noticed folks who make very good $ on eBay carving wooden bobbins for lacemaking. Hardly carving, really, as I think they're turned on a lathe.


Farmerman, can you post some of your watercolors? Or are there any on the Original Art forum? I love watercolors, and have done many paintings in the past.


Is there any real difference between pottery & ceramics???

My problem has always been taking a photo of a painting and posting it through some server. Ive not learned , or taken the time to do this. I did have my secretary post a pic of my Polish Rooster, Jerry Lee, on an agricultural pbb but this didnt work so Ive quit until theres an easy posting site to transfer images. There used to be a how-to-post-a-photo tutorial on a2k I thought.I seem to have misplaced it

Gus, I carve also, but I use a Foredom tool, I dont have any feeling in my left hand (old wounds heal slowly) and Ive already cut myself badly with a whittling knife, with a Foredom, I wear a thick Oshkosh work glove on the left for "hogging out" and then I made a small pattern makers vise to hold the object in wooden jaws for finishing work.. Ive been playing with intarsia of pithy sayings also. Ive done my old signature line
"The priest makes demands, not the gods". It was my first attempt and it was pretty rough. The hard part of letters is that , unlss you make them purposely crude, you have to be vewy careful or the letters look bad dovetails, Big gaps in some places and narrower in others. Ive found a new technique that I glue 2 pieces of sheet stock together and cut through both with a scroll saw. Then One set of letters fits tightly inside the "negative space" of the other. Ill use walnut and maple together. Theres a veneer company in Chester County where I can buy sheet stock of 1/4 to 3/8 thick.

soz-I am so looking forward to doing some pottery this spring. I took some pottery courses when I was doing a BFA and I enjoyed the process. Ive done some work in the recent years through a community center that has a bunch of electric pottery wheels.

Your work has a "Newcomb" fel to it. The early Newcomb Pottery was high glazed and it had very wonderful figures of animals of the swamps of Louisiana. We have some pieces that we bought when we lived in Nawlins and its our favorite look.
..

I use a Dewalt scroll saw, farmerman. A very nice saw.

What's your choice?

That saw paid for itself on the very first job. A contractor friend was renovating a house in Galena, Illinois and wanted the old profile boards for the wrap-around porch duplicated. They were a kind of reverse hourglass figure, so you would have the negative/positive imagery. I had to cut 284 boards.

I dont even know the brand of scroll saw. Its a 2 speed and the dust blower dont work. I bought it at an auction about 20 years ago, and shes still working well. Its got a deep 24" throat. Its been banged up so often. Once the boy drove a small bunch of our rams through the building as a short cut and the rams knocked the table with the saw over , It took awhile to get it realigned and now its mounted on a sears work table..
Were these profile boards like individual struts that fit under the roof overhang like in old victorian porches?

I buy very few new tools, Im an auction junkie and have bought lots of Pro level power tools (Dewalt, Milwaukee, Conover etc) and I usually pay cents on the dollar. My feeling is that, if I inspect a workshop wherein the deceased has made his own workbench and nice cabinets, he takes really good care of tools.

I never buy tools from contractors cause they get beat up. I have a Conover lathe that sells for 3500, and I got it for under 500 and its the smoothest running lathe Ive ever played with..Yep, yankee frugality rules. Course , this rule never works with used cars. Garage mechanics cars are usually just wired together .

Thought they used gum & spit? DH is an auto mechanic, and Hates cars that have been worked on by "Shade Tree Mechanics."

But my favorite of his jobs was when he worked at Chevy, doing new cars. An old lady came in & said the horn didn't work. He tried the horn, worked perfectly. The lady acutally did not have the strength to press the horn. "You mean, this horn?" Hoooonnk...


Back to topic, I just started using Imageshack.com on Panzade's advice. So far it's been really easy & has worked perfectly. Here's the link:
http://www.imageshack.us/

Are you talking about corbels? No, the boards I cut were for the porch railing. This was an enormous old house built in the 1800's. Somewhere over time the wraparound porch was destroyed or removed. My friend, working from old photographs and from a few pickets he found in an outbuilding (one of which I used for a pattern) rebuilt the entire porch in such a manner as to look original. The pickets were about four feet in length, with an hourglass shape cut eight inches or so from top and bottom. Then, when assembled, you had the two images -- the hourglass shape, and the profile created by the empty spaces. Does that make sense?

And, getting back to that intarsia, I've messed around a little bit with intarsia, not too much, but if I remember correctly, by beveling the saw slightly you'll create a much better fit.

Perfect sense. Sounds gorgeous.

Did you make your pine counters?

I assisted. My brother did most of the work.

Those are cool. I take welding. I am currently making a bridge.