Tile Spinner Pottery Bat System
Pottery Bats
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Why the Tile Spinner is the best Pottery Bat System on the Market
1. Price
When it comes to price, there’s no beating the Tile Spinner as a pottery bat system. You can pick up small 4 inch tiles at Home Depot for only $.13 a piece. The Daltile Restored Bright White 6 inch tile is what I use for pottery bats every day. These run $.38 apiece or $14.50 for a box of 50. That’s almost 100 times more pottery bats and better value than traditional pottery bats. Large hexagon tiles can be purchased at Lowe’s for under two dollars. I use these large hexagon tiles for all my larger vessels like bowls and plates. The large Tile Spinner pottery bat system can accommodate for all three of these sizes.
If you want to go even cheaper than commercial tiles from Home Depot, you can make your own pottery bats from clay in your pottery studio. First, roll out or slice a slab of clay. Then, use our tile maker template (included with your purchase) to mark and cut the appropriate size for your clay body. Before firing, I like to add texture to one of the two sides for additional grip on the wheel head. Commercial tiles have ridges on the underside of each tile. They are there for the tiles to stick firmly to grout when being laid on a floor. However, on the pottery wheel we use wet clay similar to grout to keep the tile stuck to the wheel head while in use. I like to mimic that pattern from the commercial tiles on my DIY tile bats. If you want your DIY pottery bats to be porous you can fire to bisque temperature. If you'd rather your tile bats for your pottery bat system be vitrified (not porous) you can fire your tile bats all the way to peak temperature for your clay body.
2. No Warping
Read reviews on other pottery systems and you will notice one glaring flaw mentioned everywhere. Warping! Warping is the biggest problem for most pottery bat systems. Pottery bat systems use a “snug fit“ approach to secure a pottery bat in a pottery bat system. When the bat warps, it becomes difficult or impossible to get a great fit.
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The Tile Spinner is different. Our pottery bat system uses clay underneath each tile to secure the tile back to the wheel head. It’s even possible, though not advisable, to use tiles without a Tile Spinner simply by using a large amount of clay on the wheel head.
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When using the Tile Spinner pottery bat system, you must lay down wet clay underneath each tile. It's essential for proper use of the Tile Spinner pottery bat system. Failing to use wet clay under the wheel head under each tile bat with the Tile Spinner can result in injury to yourself or others. Tiles not secured by wet clay under each tile bat can fly off the wheel and become projectiles in your studio.
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Try leaving another pottery bat system standing in water overnight. You’ll find the next day a warped, pottery bat or pottery bat system. The Tile Spinner is made from extruded plastic and will never warp from water damage. No amount of water on this system will harm it in any way. Similarly, ceramic tiles will not warp from water damage. Even extreme heat won’t damage tile bats used with the Tile Spinner pottery bat system (unless we’re talking thousands of degrees like in a pottery kiln!). The Tile Spinner Pottery bat system is the ideal pottery bat system for those suffering from warping potter bats or those looking for spend as little as possible on a pottery bat system that will not warp.
3. Compact Storage
The Tile Spinner is ideal for space conscious potters looking to store their pottery bats in an efficient way.
No pottery bat system stores pottery bats better than the Tile Spinner. Six 6 inch tiles, four inch tiles, and even the 10 inch hexagon tiles can store compact and securely in your pottery studio. This space saving pottery bat system is ideal for large workshops as well as crowded community studio spaces. Pottery teachers will have no problem finding places to store these compact pottery bats. This Studio space saving solution is one of the primary reasons our customers love and choose the Tile Spinner as there preferred tile pottery bat system.
I keep over 200 tile bats of various sizes right next to my pottery wheel. So whether I'm throwing a batch of 10 or 100, I never run out of pottery bats. I like to throw six 6" tile bats at at time, placing each pottery bat on a ware board (a 6' cedar fence picket cut in half) to the right of my pottery wheel. When I've finished 6 mugs, I'll place the ware board with 6 pottery bats on the shelf. After wiring off the forms when the vessel is leather hard, I'll scrape the tile pottery bat clean and put it back in it's compact pottery bat storage.