When I was an undergraduate student at SUNY New Paltz, in New Paltz, New York, I remember my former professor having a tool that looked eerily like an old credit card. I saw them using it to add texture to the surface of a ceramic pot, and I asked them
about it. They told me they made these homemade tools to fill a niche that they couldn’t find in a commercially made tool. I quickly decided to take an old, hard-plastic card lying around and make my own. I’ve made many of these tools
over the years for handles, textures, and refining the rims of bowls, and I think that it’s a quick way to modify and adjust a form that you couldn’t do as easily with another tool.
1 Suggested tools: permanent marker, scissors, tape, paintbrush handle, hard-plastic card, and 120-grit sandpaper.2 Cover the card in tape, mark your rounded profiles, and cut with scissors.
The custom rib I find myself using most often is one that I made to refine the rims of bowls. Sometimes I cover my work in plastic, and the plastic will tug on the work and make the rims a little wonky. Instead of scrapping the whole piece, I use this
tool to refine the rim to match the other sides of the vessel. I often create these out of old credit cards, or any other thick plastic card, like a student ID or a transit card. To make them, I mark the shape in Sharpie that I want to remove (1),
cut out that area with scissors (2), and then refine and smooth the cut edge with 120-grit sandpaper. Usually, I will wrap the sandpaper around the end of a paintbrush to help me round out the cut space evenly (3). To use the rib, drag it over the
rim of a piece and notice how the clay takes the shape of the cut profile (4).
3 Sand edges to remove any rough spots.4 Use to refine any rims or feet to fit the profile cut into the card.
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When I was an undergraduate student at SUNY New Paltz, in New Paltz, New York, I remember my former professor having a tool that looked eerily like an old credit card. I saw them using it to add texture to the surface of a ceramic pot, and I asked them about it. They told me they made these homemade tools to fill a niche that they couldn’t find in a commercially made tool. I quickly decided to take an old, hard-plastic card lying around and make my own. I’ve made many of these tools over the years for handles, textures, and refining the rims of bowls, and I think that it’s a quick way to modify and adjust a form that you couldn’t do as easily with another tool.
The custom rib I find myself using most often is one that I made to refine the rims of bowls. Sometimes I cover my work in plastic, and the plastic will tug on the work and make the rims a little wonky. Instead of scrapping the whole piece, I use this tool to refine the rim to match the other sides of the vessel. I often create these out of old credit cards, or any other thick plastic card, like a student ID or a transit card. To make them, I mark the shape in Sharpie that I want to remove (1), cut out that area with scissors (2), and then refine and smooth the cut edge with 120-grit sandpaper. Usually, I will wrap the sandpaper around the end of a paintbrush to help me round out the cut space evenly (3). To use the rib, drag it over the rim of a piece and notice how the clay takes the shape of the cut profile (4).
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