MAKING THE CUT

I have to be honest, cutting feet by hand is a real struggle for me. What I should say is that instead of putting the pot on the wheel and "trimming" it as the wheel spins with conventional tools which is what I am used to, this foot was cut with a loop of bamboo "bark" and a splinter of broken wood from out of our wood pile for the wood stove. This approach is anything but conventional especially given my background studying with various Leach trained potters and a definitive Western perspective but I still try my best to match bowl to foot and in this case the foot was carved out with the same tool that quickly faceted the bowl itself.  As you can see in the photo, I let the clay set up to just the right consistency so that each cut would leave a sharp impression and would show even after the bowl was glazed and fired. I have to admit that this certainly takes me out of my comfort zone and not every foot makes the cut so to speak but I guess in another couple of thousand I might at least feel more comfortable in the process.

"I don't like to be out of my comfort zone which is about half an inch wide."  Larry David