Look at what my son Steve has made for me! A skookum cheese-cutter. When I make slab plates in bisqued forms I need a nice sharp wire to cut off the excess clay at a 45 degree angle. Walter Ostrom showed us how to make plates and platters in this way when he taught the 3-week Summer course at ECIAD back in 1993. I’ve been using a rubbishy collection of dollar-store and junk shop cutters over the years but now Steve has designed one that is strong, rust-proof and has a replaceable wire. He designed it on his computer and has had it laser-jet cut from aluminum. In theory he could make hundreds exactly the same. The wire is a D guitar string and he’s made it so that little bolts can be loosened and the string replaced, if after years it wears out.

I think he’s now going to make one for himself to use for cheese!

I also use the cutter to slice a ball of clay perfectly in half and use the semi-spheres to make bird eyes. The requirement for that is that the wire must come flush with the working surface to make a clean cut.

Thanks so much, Steve! He tells me he showed the prototype to his students and explained the process of manufacturing it. Hmm, what else can I get him to design?