View Larger Image Tips and techniques in our weekly series "Great Ideas for Potters" come from all levels of experience: studio artists, production potters, students, teachers and industry experts. Photo courtesy of Collwyn Cleveland, Brooklyn, New York.

August 31, 2007

Tip of the Week: Hand Stretch for Fitness

by Ceramic Arts Daily | Read Comments (3)

Each week, we provide you with a selection of helpful hints and ideas drawn from suggestions submitted by Ceramic Arts Daily subscribers and Ceramics Monthly readers. Some are quite serious (especially those directed toward health and safety precautions), while others are more lighthearted. You'll find ideas for forming processes, decorating, glazing and firing, along with tips for outfitting your studio and creating and using tools.

Tip of the Week, submitted by Becky Yaeger
Here's a great follow-up tip to our fitness feature a couple of weeks ago: This easy hand stretch will help alleviate stress in your arms and shoulders. With fingers pointing up (like you're telling someone to "stop") place your other hand pointing down into the palm of the first hand. Now, pull back ever so gently on the fingers of the first hand stretching the lower arm muscles (and actually muscles all the way up into your shoulders) then reverse hands so that the other arm gets the same stretch. Thanks Becky!

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Other helpful tips

• If you use cookie cutters or press molds where quick release is desired to enable faster production, try sprinkling the clay slab with ordinary flour just as you would when baking cookies. The flour burns off in bisque firing. Some powdery residue may remain on the surface, but can be easily brushed or blown off. This technique works well on even the wettest of clay bodies, and will greatly increase production.
• For fast but even drying of large pieces, wrap them with cloth instead of plastic.
• Save the water from a dehumidifier to mix into your glaze recipes. It is distilled water and helps avoid problems caused by not-so-pure tap water.
• For test tiles (like those mentioned in this week's feature "Glaze Forward") try using extruded cylinders of clay. Long sections (in various diameters) may be extruded very quickly and cut to any length. Stood on end, these cylinders simulate a pot by providing a top rim and vertical glaze surface. If wax is applied to both ends so that the glaze adheres only to the middle, the cylinders may be stacked in the kiln like posts. Also, testing with an extruded cylinder makes it easy to tie the test to the glaze bucket.
• A large piece of slate (flagstone) makes a good wedging board. It is strong, easily cleaned and will not absorb appreciable amounts of water from the clay.