THE EQUIPMENT for concrete pottery is simple, and much of it may be pressed into service from material to be found about the house or workshop. Inventive ingenuity on the part of the worker will find clever uses for many discarded kitchen utensils and unused tools.
Following is a list of convenient things needed to produce pottery. These may be added to or elaborated through personal requirements.
WORKING EQUIPMENT.
- galvanized iron pans about 2 x 3 feet
- 2 large spoons
- 4 or 5 pans
- 2 ladles
- 1 large file or rasp
- 2 table knives
- 3 pieces of ordinary glass about 12 x 18 inches
- 1 palette knife
- 1 lb. modeling wax
- 1 bristle brush ½ inch wide
- 2 small sable oil brushes, No. 1 or 2
- 1 small clay-modeling tool
- 2 pieces of thin wood for mixing paddles
- ½ doz. small saucers or butter dishes
- strips of thin metal
- thin soft wire
- 1 sifter
- 2 pails
- muller and pestle
- several pieces of surfaced wood about 12 inches square.
With a flat table to work on, running water or a pail of water handy, a box to receive waste plaster-of-Paris and cement, the proper environment for color cement is set.
GALVANIZED IRON WATER TRAYS can be made by taking a three-inch by seven-inch sheet and cutting a two-inch strip off of one end, reserve for making scrapers and other useful tools. Cut the remaining metal into three rectangular sections for trays.
To make the trays, lay one of these pieces over a strong box with an even edge and hammer into tray shape as shown in the accompanying plate. The corners should be bent so as to make the trays waterproof without soldering. A wooden mallet should be used for hammering the metal as a metal hammer may cut the metal.
MOLDING CASE. Several pieces of board hinged together with one series of edges coming so that they will rest evenly on a flat surface, will produce an adjustable case to use in making molds. A strong cord will keep it in place. A strip of metal (tin, brass or iron) may be used as a cylinder, the circumference being pressed in and tied to conform to the dimensions of the object to be molded.
MIXING PADDLES. Paddles for mixing plaster or cement can be made out of firm wood strips and handles shaped to fit the hand.
INCISING TOOLS. A nail hammered into a piece of firm wood and the head snipped off with nippers then sharpened with a file or emery stone until it is a tapering wedge point. Nut picks may be filed down slightly for this purpose. Two or three points of varying widths will be handy to have, particularly when some of them disappear occasionally as all small tools will.