Clay Soap Pump Finishing Tips

Video Transcript

"So, I'm going to want the top of this neck to be just a little bit bigger than the collar that I'm going to use for the soap pump. The reason for that is that clay shrinks as it dries and gets fired. It shrinks throughout the entire process. Most clays shrink about fifteen to twenty percent. You can calculate your own clays shrinkage rate by measuring a piece when you first throw it, measure it when it comes out of the kiln out of the glaze firing. And, then you'll know. Do the math and you can find out the percentage of shrinkage is. So, for this what I'm going to do is I'm going to go ahead and collar in this neck. Get it nice and moist. Make sure this is an upward motion as you pinch with your fingers. Because, if it's not you'll knock this rim right in. And, you can do it with both hands from the inside and outside for part of it. And, then for part of it do it like this. Just whatever you need to get it to be the size that it needs to be. Take your hard rib. Keeping your left finger underneath again, always. And, get the shape that you're looking for. And, then check your size. That's a little too big yet. So, I'll push it in just a little bit more. That's about the right size. But, as I said earlier the top sometimes gets a little bit uneven. Take your needle tool and just push it in using your left finger as support. And, cut off a piece so that the top is nice and flat. And, this rim is going to be it's not going to be showing. Because, it's going to be covered up by the soap pump in the end. So, it doesn't really matter if it's rounded or squared because, it won't show in the end."