View Larger Image Techniques in our "Tip of the Week" series come from all levels of experience: studio artists, production potters, students, teachers and industry experts.

December 21, 2007

Tip of the Week: Fast and Easy Holes in Clay Ornaments

by Nancy Frank | Read Comments (0)

If you have a bare spot on your Christmas tree (or anywhere else in your home) that's in need of a last-minute decorating idea, here's a great tip to help you quickly and easily make holes in clay ornaments for hanging. First, cut a plastic drinking straw in quarters. Next, take a straw about two inches in length and punch a hole in the first ornament. Then flip the straw around and use the other end of your straw to make the next hole, forcing out the first piece of clay. Continue flipping the straw to make new holes in the next ornament. Thanks, Nancy, and to learn more about other clay techniques, check out Explore the Surface, an upcoming Potter’s Council workshop.

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Other great tips
1. It's always a good idea for potters to stretch the muscles in their hands before throwing. Just immerse your hands in warm water for a few minutes, then stretch. After stretching, apply petroleum jelly or lotion to your hands to seal in moisture and help prevent dry skin.

2. A terrific way to recycle your old telephone book is to use it for weighing out coloring oxides for glaze batches. Pull a page out, crease it diagonally from corner to corner, then lay it in the scale pan. The paper is sturdy enough to support several dozen grams of oxide, and hard milled so that it captures almost none of the finest particles of cobalt. Each new colorant gets a new page, but the pages are consistent as to weight, so it is not necessary to recalibrate each time. For further information on glaze techniques, check out Glazes: Materials, Recipes and Techniques.

3. Most commercially prepared clay comes packaged in plastic bags. Use the empty bags to hold slop and trimming scraps (secured with twist ties) until you have enough to recycle. These bags can sit on the floor next to your wheel. Then when you need a chuck for trimming a large bowl or platter, put a partially filled bag on the wheel and pat it into the required shape.

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You can find definitions and explanations for more than 500 ceramic terms, from agateware to zirconium, in the Ceramic Arts Daily Glossary.