| When you're building up your ceramics workshop | | | | have made or acquired your own molds, you will |
| you're going to need a litany of tools including a | | | | need an assortment of heavy rubber bands to |
| wedging wire, wedging board and soft hair | | | | hold together multi-pieced molds while casting |
| brushes for decorating your work. Though these | | | | greenware. Cutting cross-sections out of old, |
| tools are important, there are other tools that will | | | | discarded innertubes should supply you with more |
| help you create wonderful ceramics including | | | | than enough. |
| plaster bats and banding wheels. | | | | Your studio should also have crocks or large glass |
| A plaster bat is much more desirable work | | | | jars for holding moist clay and slip. The one-gallon |
| surface for beginners than an oilcloth. It not only | | | | jars used for packing pickles can be utilized for |
| provides a sturdier support, but it also keeps | | | | this purpose. |
| objects moist while you are working on them. | | | | A sieve is also among the much-used workshop |
| Unglazed biscuit tiles, 4x4 and 6x6 inches, are | | | | implements. The obvious use of the sieve is to |
| adequate for most projects. They may be | | | | strain partially hardened lumps and impurities from |
| purchased from a ceramics supply house for a | | | | slip before pouring it into a mold. |
| few cents apiece. | | | | Closely resembling the strainer is the scratch-box, |
| The plaster bat is a porous platform on which you | | | | which is used for a much different purpose: to |
| can work. By sprinkling it with water as you work, | | | | level the irregular edges of pottery. A scratch-box |
| you can keep the piece on which you're working | | | | can be quickly made by nailing together four |
| in a moist, plastic state for a long period of time. | | | | 18-inch boards to form a box. Across the top, |
| By the same token, a bat can be used for the | | | | tack down a sheet of grit cloth. By holding a piece |
| reverse purpose - to dry a piece of clay, which is | | | | of greenware perpendicular to the cloth abrasive, |
| too moist for immediate work. The porous | | | | and carefully rubbing it across the surface, you |
| surface will extract excess moisture from the | | | | can even up the bottoms and tops of pottery. |
| clay. | | | | If you want to get the most out of your tools, |
| A whirler or banding wheel is also a sound | | | | you should take good care of them. Keep them |
| investment for the ceramist who has advanced | | | | clean. Don't leave them soaking in water but wipe |
| far enough to furnish his own studio. Primarily such | | | | them with a damp cloth and then dry them |
| a wheel is used for decorating pottery. The top | | | | thoroughly. Metal tools should periodically be wiped |
| turns freely and so makes it possible for you to | | | | with an oil-soaked cloth to prevent rusting. Plaster |
| rotate your work constantly. By holding a | | | | surfaces such as bats and wedging boards should |
| paintbrush against the surface as it spins, you can | | | | be kept dry and clean. When you are through |
| paint straight and even bands of color on such | | | | with them, you should wipe them dry with a |
| things as vases and mugs. A whirler can also | | | | damp sponge to remove clay particles. |
| double as a small potter's wheel for forming | | | | All tools deserve good treatment and any |
| pottery pieces and small ceramic figures. | | | | ceramist worthy of the name has as much |
| After you have reached the stage where you | | | | respect for his tools as for the clay. |