Small Interior Rib, Stainless Steel S2A

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MKM rigid stainless steel rib S2a

being used on the interior of vase form. Rigid ribs, either wood or steel, work exceptionally well to move the clay way out on vase, jar, and bottle forms. Usually I use a flexible rib on the exterior to precisely control the contour of the form.

The low amount of friction exerted on the clay wall by a good steel or wood rib allows the clay wall to become very thin without ever torqueing the clay.

There are three tricks to making these forms well:

1) bring up a very even clay wall. Do this quickly so that the clay does not become too wet or fatigued.
2) leave a slightly thicker wall of clay at the top; this allows you to have some clay to narrow the mouth of the form with. It also acts as a sort of keystone to the form, and keeps the ever expanding walls from getting too wobbly.
3) Depending on how far out you wish to go, you may find it helpful to use a heat gun or blowtorch to dry the wall. In any case, once you have achieved the height you want with your cylinder, use your ribs to immediately strip the wet clay slip off the interior and exterior of the wall. A wet saturated wall will be wobbly and difficult to control.

And don't forget to practice. Also, MKM Ultimate Throwing Sticks are very useful for this kind of form once it becomes awkward to move or control the wall with your handheld rib.

Ribs are to clay what brushes are to paint -- they move the medium. Only more. They also achieve form, control surface, compress and stabilize clay, and allow for reproducibility. Outside of your hands, they are the most powerful tool that the clay artist, and especially the potter, has available to them (with the exception of the wheel for those who throw).

Production potters have specific ribs for specific forms that they produce in quantity. However, MKM ribs are designed for more general use -- plate forms, cylinders and forms derived from cylinders such as jars and vases, bowl forms, teapots, and other thrown, coiled, or slap built forms.

There is no limit to the functionality of the rib. Nonetheless, in your own repertoire of forms you will find that you use just one or two ribs per form. Plates are more easily achieved with a plate rib; large bowls use large bowl ribs for the inside, and perhaps a separate rib for the outside; large bellied forms such as jars, vases, and bottles need a cylinder rib, and then an interior rib for pushing out the walls, with a flexible rib being used on the outside.

SKU: S2A

RETAIL PRICE: $6.95

OUR PRICE: $6.26