Jeff has started off the new year with a couple of orders for vessel sinks. I was in the studio and with my phone so I decided to take some photos of him in action.
The studio has a small area near the back door that is lower then the rest of the room. It's sort of an awkward space and it's where we keep our glaze buckets. Jeff has made the two levels work to his advantage for throwing sinks. He moves one of the wheels to the edge of the higher level, putting the wheel at a good height for him. The stand up wheel that he uses everyday is higher than this. He uses his whole body to center this large amount of clay, which means his clothes have to be hosed down outside before going into the washer!
Jeff uses a torch to stiffen the clay while making sinks. It allows him to finish throwing them at one sitting. You'll notice that he throws them on a large plaster bat, attached to the wheel head. They are ready for trimming in one to two days. They take forever to dry so he usually loads them into the electric kiln and keeps it under 200 degrees for a few hours. The next morning they are ready to bisque fire, but still going very slow at the beginning.
If you'd like to take a look at some finished sinks, this link will take you to Jeff's Etsy shop:
I love the sinks, and it is nice to see Jeff at work making them, I had a look on Etsy a few days ago. I had an amusing mental image of "whole body" centring... and I do also get quite messy when working on the wheel. It is funny looking back at photos of Bernard Leech and others of his era. I can never understand how they manage to work at their wheels dressed up in what look like tweed jackets and cloth caps!
ReplyDeleteAlso glad to see from your previous post that you have been able to tackle the painting, and were enjoying it. Kind Thoughts to you both, P
Good to see you both doing well. The sinks look great! Tell Jeff I said Hi!
ReplyDeleteOnce we build the little addition on the back of the house, I hope to be ordering a sink from Jeff. They're beautiful!
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