Making a wire tool

I've been plugging' away this week on this and that. I had a chance to go back and look at my some of my old posts and figured no one really wanted to see the same old production that I've been making for the last year. I'm kind-of just working on the same big bowls, covered pots and mugs. Maybe if I get some good pieces out and we have a good sunny day, I'll show you what I've been doing. I do have some new things I want to try but I'm trying to just stock up on the basics before digging into to new things.

On the mom front, school is winding down which means lots of concerts and events that I'm having to part-take in. I'm also planning on teaching a summer camp for the high schoolers and discovered that the schools wheels are in much need of repair. With gas being the way that it is I have been spending of a lot of time conserving all my trips into one so I have had less down time at home for blogging. Summer will soon be here and I plan on staying close to home.

I thought I'd post a little "how to" for anyone that has always wondered how one makes those cool swirls on the bottom of their cups. I don't buy my pull-string but instead go to Micheal's or Walmart and get some jewelry wire.



Step #1 Here in the photo's I've attached you'll see some fishing bobbers that a student gave me. You can pretty much use these or large bolts from a screw. You need to be able to tie two pieces of jewelry wire to whatever you want to hold onto while pulling the wire under your pot.

Step #2 You than take a large wad of clay and put it in the center of your wheel head with the bobber/screw ( that has the two pieces of wire attached to it)and securely stick it in the middle of your clay wad.

( hey, this kind of looks like a chocolate pie with whip-cream and a cherry!)
Step #3 Hold onto the two ends and start your wheel. As the wheel goes around the wire will twist and you just hold on till the end.



Step #4 After you have twisted the wires together, let go of the slack so it can relax a bit and tie the end with another object you can hold onto.



Very simple!

Tonight is class so I'm off to go plan for the night!