Trimming a vase using a trimming tool, Kunstkeramik Luzern A.G. , c. 1950/60.
Andreas Heege, 2021
The so-called “trimming tool” is one of the main potters’ tools. It is used on leather-hard vessels to reduce the thickness of the walls, to burnish the surfaces, hone the contours or trim the feet (Blondel 2001, 130-131). It is not to be confused with a potter’s rib, which is used when throwing a pot to sculpt it or smooth its surface.
Using a wooden potter’s rib at Kunstkeramik Luzern A.G. , c. 1950/60.
Trimming tools have been in use in Italy since the 16th century (Lightbown/Caiger-Smith 1980, 38, Picollpasso, I tre libri dell’arte del vasaio, 1548).
Trimming tools (left) and potter’s ribs (right) from the Röthlisberger workshop in Langnau, Oberdorfstrasse, c. 1900/1930.
German: Abdreheisen
Französisch: Tournassin en fer
Bibliographie:
Blondel 2001
Nicole Blondel, Céramique: vocabulaire technique, Paris 2001.
Lightbown/Caiger-Smith 1980
Ronald Lightbown/Alan Caiger-Smith, Cipriano Piccolpasso, I tre libri dell’arte del vasaio = The three books of the potter’s art: a facsimile of the manuscript in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, London 1980.
