» Handle Making Video: Can You Handle It? Great Techniques for Textured Handles

January 16, 2009

Handle Making Video: Can You Handle It? Great Techniques for Textured Handles

In today’s video, ceramic artist Tony Clennell shows us how to make textured coil handles for pottery.

I thought I would follow up Wednesday’s post with a video that shows us that optimal function can also be beautiful. Today, In a clip from his full-length DVD, Get a Handle On It, Tony Clennell demonstrates a couple of great methods for making attractive coil-built handles for functional pottery. Tony shows us simple processes for adding texture that help to take the handle from just a utilitarian necessity to an aesthetically integrated part of a piece. We’ve included an example of a finished piece below. Plus as a bonus technique, Annie Chrietzberg shows us great way to create textured handles from slabs. - Jennifer Harnetty, editor.

	The handle on the piece to the left was made using the corrugated cardboard texturing technique that Tony demonstrates in today’s video Tony Clennell and his wife Sheila operate Sour Cherry Pottery in Beamsville, Ontario, Canada. To see more images of their work, visit www.sourcherrypottery.com. Today’s video clip is an excerpt from the full-length DVD, Get a Handle On It, available now in the Ceramic Arts Daily Bookstore.
	Roll the slab onto the textured surface applying even pressure. This is a piece of old tin.
	Create a template for the handle based on the shape and form of your piece, as well as the texture. Cut the top and bottom of the handle with the knife held perpendicular to the clay, and cut the sides at an angle to reduce bulk at the overlap.
Today’s video clip is an excerpt from the full-length DVD, Get a Handle On It, available now in the Ceramic Arts Daily Bookstore.
	Carefully lift slab scraps away from handle.
	Set the slab pattern side down on a soft surface. I use foam pads for this. Start to fold one side into the center (remember to clean your fingertips!).
	Roll in the second side and create an overlap. This is an informal seam-no slip is needed.
	Shape the handle then trim to fit the form.
	Score and slip the handle and the form, then apply the handle. It takes a bit of practice to learn the touch that will put the handle into place and attach it without with out disrupting the texture -start with a robust texture and work your way to a finer one.