Advanced Throwing: Extended and Altered Forms with Robin Hopper
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If you’re into throwing, you know there’s so much to learn. Beyond the usual fare of cups, bowls, mugs and vases lies a vast world of challenging forms. In this Advanced Throwing: Extended and Altered Forms DVD, Robin Hopper demonstrates a variety of extension throwing techniques for making large pots, as well as altering shapes to produce innovative forms. DVD 60 minutes Add Advanced Throwing to your DVD collection for only $39.95 and receive FREE SHIPPING when you order online |
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| The video is in two sections—extended forms and altering forms—with a number of techniques demonstrated in each. With extended forms, Robin explains that while you can produce single large pieces with one lump of clay, dividing the task into smaller throwing segments saves extra strain on all your muscles. And with altering forms, you don’t have to stop with the usual round forms naturally created on a wheel. |  |
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| To extend a form, Robin demonstrates the technique for throwing a basic form, allowing it to set up to leather hard, then adding large coils to the top to extend the walls even higher. This technique, originating in the Far East, is used to create pieces as high as six feet (although many of us would stop below the two foot level!). In his demonstration of this method, Robin allows the clay to set up naturally, but also using a blow torch to force dry the work. A variation of the coil method is to use flat strips of clay to extend the walls. | ||||||||
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Another method for extending a piece is to combine two thrown sections to form a larger piece. Robin demonstrates what he refers to as a “feather basket bowl” inspired by a rain hat used by Native Americans in the Canadian Northwest. Here he adds another dimension by using multi-colored clays as he creates a bowl form and adds a tall cylinder, which is then flared almost flat to form an almost impossible rim. | |||||||
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Order the Advanced Throwing: Extended and Altered Forms with Robin Hopper DVD |
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| One of the more traditional techniques is throwing two large sections and combining them. Unlike adding two leather hard sections together, Robin adds a freshly thrown piece to a leather hard base then continues to throw the form to complete it. In a variation of this technique, he uses the Westerwald Method, a German technique for quick drying the base using an alcohol burner to rapidly set the thrown base. |  |
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Altering wheel thrown forms is a great way to break from the usual round forms offered by the wheel, and also a way to get flat surfaces for decoration. The technique Robin describes isn’t difficult and provides a lot of opportunities not only for bowls and mugs but also platters. He demonstrates squaring a bowl then moves to the more challenging squaring of a sphere, which can be used for forms such as teapots or bottles.
He concludes the session by making a footed parabolic bottle, a sculptural form that combines both extending and altering. This tall altered form made from two thrown sections has its origin in a sketch Robin made while attending a funeral in Mexico (like the feather bowl based on a hat, ideas come from the strangest places in Robin’s world). |
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Order the Advanced Throwing: Extended and Altered Forms with Robin Hopper DVD |
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“The camera angles and the movement and pace of the technical aspects |
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| You may also be interested in Robin’s books | ||||||||
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