Back to the pug mill, I am going to use what is available to me and modify the design accordingly and will post my progress here. Yesterday I priced scrap metal, custom cutting and visited with an old friend who is somewhat of a “Yankee Machinist” , blacksmith and metal worker. He is 88 years old he still works in his shop every day. He said he is not up to helping build the pug mill but will allow me to use his tools (most of them he made) and give adivce. He put together the jolley arm I use based on the plans from the same book and yesterday I gave him some finished plates made with it.

It turns out there isn’t any such thing as 8″ ID thin wall pipe, Harry made his own pipe and his directions are based on that size. I can hower get 8″ OD thin wall pipe and this changes the internal diameter of the pug mill by 1/4″ and all internal parts will need to be resized. Also, I can get the pieces cut at a local steel recycling place with a plasma cutter for $100 an hour and if laid out correctly all the pieces could be cut to size in an hour. So the process begins. My reason for doing this is mainly financial, a new manufactured deairing pug mill costs in the neighborhood of $5000 and I think I can build one for a tenth that price.

The next step is to mount the template on the jolley and set the thickness, I use a couple of Palm Pilot styli placed on the jig and then tighten the bolts (not pictured). I roll out a slab on the slab roller thicker than I want the finished piece and cut it to approximate size. It can be slightly smaller in diameter than the finished piece and will expand when compressed that way there is less waste in the jiggering process.

The finished jiggered plates setting up until they release from the plaster.   

The other side after being removed. They will be placed on their rims to dry. 

Due to the large amount of table space required to dry the jiggered plates the next step in this process will be to build some racks that will allow me to work with many more plates at a time in less space. I am looking at building something between a bat rack and a ware rack that would hold the plaster bats vertical with space between each for drying and storing with shelves above to hold the jiggered plates until they set up. Once they have set up I will move them to a ware rack that I am building with about three inches between shelves. In an area about 6.25 square feet I will be able to dry anywhere from 80-120 plates (depending on size) safely and still have room in my studio to do other work. As a potter I have to wear many hats and it is time to put on the welding hat. I will make the racks with 1″ tubular steel and angle iron with plywood shelves.

My personal goal in this exercise (order) is to demonstrate that hand made pottery can be as refined and elegant as manufactured china ware. Often people do not believe I am hand throwing my pots because of the consistency and thinness of the work, somewhere along the line they have been led to believe that handmade pottery is heavy and a little coarse by nature. The fact of the matter is that the chinese were throwing pots paper thin a long, long time ago, pots where half of the thickness is the glaze. A practical reason for making pottery thick in times gone by was to avoid losses during shipping, this was a time when shipping costs were low and there was no such thing as bubble wrap or air ride trucks. I digress, back to my goal.

I determined that the right size wet (clay shrinks up to 15% during drying and firing) would be aboutn 4 1/2″ wide and 3″ tall. Next I needed to determine how much clay it would take to make a cup that size. Knowing that I use 340 grams for an 8 oz cup I decided to use 228 grams for these. The cups are more wide open like bowl and allow for presentation effects in the foam to be showcased. The thinness and delicacy add to the feeling of a special event when drinking from this type of cup (think tea party). The handles had to be thinner and smaller than my normal cup handle to stay in proportion and to keep the delicate feel of the piece.

Now for the saucers, I determined that I could make a raised ring in the middle of the saucer that would allow the cappuccino cups to fit inside the ring and the other, larger cups the foot ring would go outside the raised ring. This kept both sizes from sliding around on the saucer.

I am going to post a picture of the cup and saucer in the “green” state, unfired clay, and later will post pictures of the completed glazed pieces. The order was for 25 but I made around 50 of these (once the size and weight was determined I can throw 50 of these cups in about 90 minutes and the saucers even faster). I use a reference marker that swings out of the way to set the height and width for consistency. The saucers are made using a plaster bat shaped like the inside of the saucer and a slab of clay is pressed down while the wheel is spinning.