One reoccurring problem I have had was making large pet dishes (7+ inches or larger in diameter). In almost every single instance, I would ruin the pet dish when taking it off the bat.

I hate it when this happens.

I had some extra time over the winter to research alternative ways of taking large pots off of the bat.  I came across a discussion thread on potters.org: “How to get it off the bat?” . In short, the brilliant solution was to use a piece of canvas or heavy denim on the bat.  Throw the pot on top of the canvas then . . .

. . . let it air dry to the appropriate hardness . . .

. . . place a bat on top of the pot and flip it over.

Take the ‘top’ bat off (which used to be the original bat plus canvas) then . . .

. . . peel the canvas off the bottom of the pot!

This works WONDERFULLY! No more wiring through my bottoms!

Success! I can now make larger pet dishes due to this new technique 🙂

‘Tis a lesson you should heed:

Try, try, try again.

If at first you don’t succeed,

Try, try, try again

~ William Edward Hickson