Denice

I have used a Majolica Satin Matt C1 for tiles but have never used it for functional work. If you need the formula, I will dig it up for you. Denice

I forgot to mention that I keep some Flinthills black and some dried paper clay around for special projects. Denice

I use Laguna's buff for throwing and Laguna's Speckled Buff, Red Standard , Red Calico and Death Valley for hand building. The handbuilding clay's I use fire to different colors, I like to work with different colored clays in one piece. I use to make my own clay before premixed clay was readily available and affordable, life gets busy and you get older something has to be sacrificed. Denice

I had a basement studio for 13 years, I used wet mopping to clean it. This basement didn't have any windows, have you considered that you might be allergic to the liter or the cats. I am allergic to cats now, I use to sleep with a cat when I was younger. If I am in the same area I cough, if the dander gets is in the air I quit breathing. Denice

I bought a used wheel and it has predrilled holes in it for bat pins. I am not fond of bat pins. I also tend to press a knuckle or two against the wheel head, the plastic bat is a lot easier on my skin. Denice

Me too. I often will leave a large plastic bat glued down with clay for days. I cut off the pot I threw and clean the top of the bat, it is ready for another ball of clay. I am not a production potter, I just do throwing sessions on a whim. Denice

That is the method I was taught to wedge clay. Denice

Ceiling fan is a cheap and great idea. I worked with a portraiture sculpture group for ten years. We made turntables out of formica sink cutouts and ball bearing kits for lazy susans. I have a large heavy duty one that I put together. It will easily hold and turn a couple of hundred pounds of clay. Denice

I used river rocks in college for burnishing, I haven't used them since I graduated. My puppy brought a black round rock in the house yesterday, one side had a polished finish the other side was like sand paper. I thanked him for the presents and quickly put it out of reach. (New wood floors) I think I will try burnishing with it, it has to fit your hand just right to make a good burnishing tool. Denice

I learned my lessons on making pottery as a business instead of a artistic hobby. I designed a set of dishes for a friends severely disabled daughter. Before I know it I had calls from other families to buy a set. I already owned a wallpaper store so I didn't have a lot of spare time and they would get it before the next holiday. I ended up with demanding customers and suddenly my artistic hobby became work. I got the same feeling when I taught a summer throwing class, I wanted to be working in my own studio not teaching. Denice

You are into much bigger kilns than I am, I bought a L&L e235 with the heavy elements and genisis controller. It is a ring shorter than my old Skutt, the L&L has a bigger diameter than my Skutt so my husband put wheels on the L&L. I roll it out to the middle of the kiln room and load and fire it, roll it back in the corner after I unload it. I can touch the bottom now but I will have to size down my work. Happy birthday, 65 is a big event. I just turned 71 in October not a big deal just happy you made it another year. Denice

The blue lights are awful, they remind me of visiting my mother in the hospital. The walls were painted a neon lime green and the blue lights made grey shadows on the wall. I was only 10 but I felt like death was waiting around the corner. My mother was fine she had a baby. Denice

My concrete floors with the foam mats is very comfortable to stand on. I have had crummy feet, legs and hips my whole life so I have to have softness under my feet. If my studio gets really messy I can stack them and wash them with a hose outside and my concrete floor can get a good cleaning. I have areas in my studio where they get thin so I just pull several sections out and replace them. My last studio was in a basement with no windows and a brick floor. I used the mats, painted everything white and used lots of lights hanging from the ceiling. My husband just replaced my florescent lights in my current studio with LED bulbs for workshops or garages. You can adjust the color of white you want and pretty inexpensive, I am very picky about color. Denice

I am afraid that you will have to dump it if the glaze test doesn't come out well. At least you are test glazing it and not wasting your time on the whole load. It happens to all of us. Did you heat up your pieces and then dip them in the glaze for your test firing? I hope your firing is a success. Denice

When I built mine my husband had a extra one in the garage, I told him what I was going to do build. He said I will get you one from a car salvage that is in better shape, he couldn't find any. It works but there is worn out teeth on the rachet. I have a caulking gun extruder that I use for small molding and a cookie press gun that also works well. Fortunately they all take the same size die, I make my own dies out of clear cutting boards. Denice

I built a bumper jack extruder 20 years ago, the plans were in a Ceramics Monthly magazine. As I get old I find it hard to use, I find my self avoiding using the extruder, the arthritis in my hands say no. I was suppose to work on some replacement tile molding that was extruded last week, I just kept putting it off. I'll have my husband look at and see if he thinks it would be easier for me to use. Maybe he will help me build this one, the last one I built on my own and modified it a couple of times. He can build anything but usually takes a year to get around working on my projects Denice.

I usually spray larger pots, dip dishes, poured glaze on 1200 tiles, and a lot of fine brushing a little bit of sponging. I have a turkey baster at the ready for my next adventure in clay. I am still trying to finish my mural, I fired sky back ground tiles a couple of weeks ago and hated them. Fortunately I made two sets of tiles for the sky, I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. I have four vertical feet of a three dimensional landscape finished. My husband and son (visiting us from Costa Rica) said it doesn't look to bad, I am my own worse critic but there appraisal confirmed mine. Between major remodeling on our house and many house guests it is a wonder I get any work done. I am about to fire some new test tiles for this project. Fingers crossed. Denice

Art is a big influence on my interest in history, I hated history in high school. Working my way through my art degree I fell in love with history and how it was meshed together with art especially pottery. If I had taken one more history class I would have had a degree in history and art history. I still have a bookcase full of history books I haven't been able to part with them. Denice

Dig up some research on how art and working with three dimension art can expand a student math capabilities. There are probably articles about the benefits of tactile arts for students. One benefit is that it is very calming and improves their concentration. I started my son with clay when he was 2 years old and he was playing the organ when he was 5. He was at the top of his class in math in every grade. High school isn't to late to improve a students mind, it might improve their self confidence. A student that doesn't think he or she has any special talents make a beautiful piece of art and it suddenly occurs to them that their may be something special about them. That is what happened to me in Junior high school, I don't know what would of happened to me if that art teacher hadn't put that ball of clay in my hand. Denice

Most of my life I had thrown on a kickwheel with a tractor seat, when I bought my electric wheel I had to figure out seating. I first tried an regular padded wooden stool with the front legs shortened. I quickly figured out I need something that swiveled. I was looking at the ajustable potters stool when a near by Menards put some garage work stools on sale. They looked like the potters stools and about half the price and if I didn't like it my husband could use it in his garage. I shortened the front legs and have been happy with it for many years. I still miss my kick wheel but I am to old and cripple to kick anymore. Denice

I had something like that happen on a old Paragon, it was so old the sitter had metal parts. My repairman said they didn't make parts for that old of sitter, but I was lucky that it didn't have any plastic parts. He took it apart and cleaned with fine steel wool two contact points and put it back together and the stainless steel button stayed push in. It has been a least ten years since I had it repaired and it has been retired for 5 years. There is probably a manual that can tell you which parts need cleaning. My repairman did tell me if I had plastic parts in it they would need to replaced and can be hard to find. Denice

I would fire it making sure the bottom is glaze free and a quarter of a inch is free of glaze on the outside edge next to the bottom. This is one of those lessons you learn when you make pottery. Try to make another mug like it, the second one always comes out better. There is a technique called raw glazing, certain glazes are used and white or buff clay's. Red clay has far to many impurities in it, a slow bisque firing is the best. Denice

I have made paper clay several times, I have never found anything that was very good at inhibiting mold growth. My home made paper clay was good for large sculptural pieces but not good for fine detail work. My local ceramic store started carrying paper clay, I bought 100 lbs of it and loved it. It was more like regular clay and much easier to work with. I had about 5lbs of clay left when I was finished with my project, I rolled it into a slab an let it dry. When I need to repair a crack or reattached something I will break off a piece of paper clay. I soak it and then add it to the clay I am working with. I didn't have any problems with the clay growing mold. Denice

I bought a kiln that looks like this one, it also had glaze running down the walls. I paid $100 for it because it had 2 good shelves and 100 stilts that were still in the boxes. I got it home and saved the lid and stand demolished the kiln. Denice

I also use the floor puzzle foam mat, my pathway is a big rectangular in my studio. If I have a area that gets extremely dusty and dirty I will pull them up to clean. If one particular area starts wearing thin I can easily replace them. I had a bedroom in the basement my son used as a hangout, rowdy boys, soda and carpet don't mix so I covered it with foam mat. When we polished the concrete I moved them upstairs to my studio. Now I have a lifetime supply. I even stand on one in the kiln room when I am loading the kiln. I don't leave it there when I am firing. My husband is working on his wood shop and I found a big heavy duty dense mat on clearance. I think it will help his sore feet. Denice