Squeeze bottle, wax runs, tracing designs, frozen foam blocks

APRIL 1989

To save opening a jar and washing a brush when joining pieces of clay, keep some slip in an old squeeze sauce or mayonnaise bottle. After scratching the edges to be joined, just squeeze the slip from the bottle onto scratched area and press together.

When a large coil pot starts to slump, put a piece of cloth around it and pin the cloth with straight pins. The cloth will hold the pot in place and absorb excess moisture.

Hot wax can be difficult to control. If wax is too hot, or the brush is too heavily loaded, a wax run can occur. If this happens on a bisque pot the wax will be absorbed, and scraping will not get rid of all of the wax. This can be solved by rubbing the effected area with petrol and working it in. A perfect elimination can then be achieved.

JUNE 1989

Large garbage bags with a hole cut in the middle of the bottom and one on each side make excellent throwing 'smocks' and black can look quite stunning.

Transferring your design - draw the design you wish to appear on your clay surface onto a sheet of tracing paper. Then with a free running non permanent felt tipped pen go over the outline on the reverse side. Press the paper down right side up, on damp clay form. The inked design will come off cleanly and clearly.

SEPTEMBER 1989

Wet, squeeze out and freeze foam blocks, then carve a pattern into the foam. Great for printing designs on clay. Alternatively, a heated soldering iron will carve a design into foam. If using the latter method don't breathe the fumes. Work outside with a fan blowing the fumes away from you.

A potato peeler makes a great trimming tool, particularly for the bottom edges of hand built pots.

Blutack is a cheap and effective masking material when applied to bisque ware. It can be used repeatedly without detriment to it or your pots. Remove when the glaze layer is dry, wash under the tap, dry and use again.

Clean telephone calls - answering the telephone when you are throwing can be messy. Solution! Keep an open plastic bag near the telephone into which you can dive your muddy paw before picking up the phone. [editor - an up to date version of this can be done in reverse for mobile phones, keep your phone in a plastic bag so that it is protected by the bag]

Tinting hot wax with a coloured candle makes it easier to see.

When breaking down dry clay, hot water works better than cold.

Courtesy COLLECTED WISDOM | 50 years of handy hints from the Ceramic Study Group, Australia