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
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