LeeU

I use the printers blankets (free/low cost/different sizes from printers) that Old Lady turned us to, as well as (depending on project/purpose) slab mats. I use drywall for ware boards. I use a canvas covered large cement paver for some things. like cut & slam wedging.

I use the printers blankets (free/low cost/different sizes from printers) that Old Lady turned us to, as well as (depending on project/purpose) slab mats. I use drywall for ware boards. I use a canvas covered large cement paver for some things. like cut & slam wedging.

I use the printers blankets (free/low cost/different sizes from printers) that Old Lady turned us to, as well as (depending on project/purpose) slab mats. I use drywall for ware boards. I use a canvas covered large cement paver for some things. like cut & slam wedging.

Roughage!

More reading:
Very paranoid about Silicosis - Studio Operations and Making Work - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
Silica Dust Exposure - Studio Operations and Making Work - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
Can air purifiers remove silica dust from my Ceramic Studio - Studio Operations and Making Work - Ceramic Arts Daily Community|
Dust Collection For Small Studio - Clay and Glaze Chemistry - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
Toxicity (digitalfire.com)
Dedicated Studio shoes/sandals, no tracking clay into the house!
For if/when clay gets on clothes, have a few clean sets handy in the Studio.
Change rags when there's any dry clay on thar, bag or drown in water, along with dusty clothing! ...else, wet that rag.
Wipe down clay smear/bits inside the clay bags with a big ol' sponge, then spray a mist of water in thar before closing up the bag.
Dry clay on plastic sheeting/bags -> instant dust!
Handle the dried out empty clay bags outside, away from the Studio (clean inside and out, save for reclaim!).
Some forum regulars are using air filtration systems, also centralized vacuums (where the exhaust is routed outside/away).
My overhead kiln vent doubles as a glaze mixing station fan.
I'm handling the glaze material outside, away from the Studio door - repacking from the sacks and bags into lidded containers - then hosing the area down later.
Find a P100 (or equivalent) dust mask/respirator that fits you well and wear it when doing dust things.
Check/clean surfaces regularly. Note where dust accumulates, and how much - that's why I believe wedging and trimming are what generates dust in my Studio.
How else can one assess the dusty-ness of the working space?
Heh, I've posed this question several times over the last five years or so...

Yup. A gold and luster eraser. 
https://tuckers-pottery-supplies-inc.shoplightspeed.com/gold-luster-eraser.html

You will love it! I had a friend make this simple metal base (it's what he had for free) w/a wire attached and it has saved my wrists and made prepping clay so much less of a chore!

Well, clearly a schedule can be worked out, but to me, the whole thing about inadequate wheels is just wrong, wrong, wrong. However the college tries to justify cheating the students like that, and regardless of whether students are paying or getting credit. It's just plain wrong. I can't even fathom walking into a wheel-throwing class and students not having full access to a wheel--whether I was the student or the teacher!  Maybe it's time to make some noise!

Much of my work I make while "blind" (voluntarily-I am sighted) so that the tactile experience comes to the forefront and the piece can have an delibertly expressive  "feel" regardless of whether or not anyone can see the coloration.
 
 

You will love it! I had a friend make this simple metal base (it's what he had for free) w/a wire attached and it has saved my wrists and made prepping clay so much less of a chore!

Take your claybody that the pots are made with and run it through a 60 mesh screen to remove most of the grog / sand. Brush that onto the feet of the groggy clay pots. After glaze firing rub the foot over with a diamond sanding pad.

Yes, I too mostly wire and stack, it is more efficient and more effective at redistributing the uneveness of any clay that either just came out of the bag or has been sitting around longer than an hour or two. I always finish with a quick few times around of ram's head wedging, mostly just to make the squarish chunk round - it throws better when it is round... The ram's head method is more or less symmetrical  left and right, as opposed to the spiral method. After ram's head wedging it, I turn it to the left and stand it on end, rounding the end a bit to roll out any air pockets. Then it is ready to throw on the clockwise wheel, with the spiral from the ram's head rotating in the proper direction to tighten the spiral. For you, Pye, you are already doing all of this up to the very last step. Instead of turning the ram's head to the left, you turn it to the right and the spiral will be oriented properly for you throwing on a clockwise wheel.

Slabs are easy and fun--they can drape thin circles over upturned cans/bowls to make free-from bowl shapes (flatten an area on the bottom while still soft). They could make pendants, either free-form or using cutter-shapes (I don't suggest the key fobs tho--that was a bad idea LOL).  Large free-form spoon rests and shallow catchall dishes are also fun. Stamping the slabs 1st before forming makes them look more dramatic when glazed.  Also tea light holders are easy-just need to be flat on top, don't even need a well (top left in the spoon rest pic). If there's no time to get good clay stamps, Home Depot has plenty of drawer knobs that work well. 

Images from this week's glazing.
I'll charge up the "real" camera for next.
There's just enough light in the Studio for working at the wheel, but not so much at the workbench and glazing table*.

Bowl, where liner glaze has been poured in, then (carefully, somewhat slowly, two or three turns) swirled about so there's glaze right up to the edge, then poured out, wait, wait, then, holding the bowl upside down, dip the edge.
At about two o'clock, there's slight overlap ridge, which past experience says will be almost imperceptible on this white stoneware.
 

Mug, where liner glaze has been poured in, then poured out.
I try to grasp the mug the same way each time; pouring past the handle is almost last, where the angle is greater/greatest and hence the handle doesn't get tagged.
The leading edge of the pour comes around, then follows the initial trailing edge, leaving a fairly uniform coating.
A full "wind up" of the lower arm almost does it; I grasp with the right, steady with the left, then shuffle the grip just afore the end, where the rotation is slowEst.
After outpour, wait, wait, then dip the edge, run the drip around and around, wet a finger and smooth any drips when they are still shiny wet, but the surrounding glaze layer is losing its sheen. A smoothed drip is visible here; again, past experience says it'll be fine.
The top of the handle often gets a kiss of glaze when the rim is dipped - typically I'll just leave it there.
 

Liner glazed jars have been waxed on the rim and down the inside ~3/4"
From there, I run a razor knife around the rim and sponge away remaining liner glaze (credit Tony Hansen's article and video clip on liner glazing).
The chattery marks are filled with glaze or underglaze, which provides some highlight/contrast and to ensure the cuts are wetted with glaze all the way to the bottom.
Aiming for a thicker layer of glaze on and just below the rim, as that's where it seems to thin the most, gravity...
Next, outside glazing!
 
*Picked up a hanging LED shoplight yesterday, that should help.
The pending remodel to include flush mount LED fixtures in the ceiling...

I learned how to dip. pour, & spray but now I mostly just brush, sometimes sponge, unless I want a certain effect like making a spatter. 

I learned how to dip. pour, & spray but now I mostly just brush, sometimes sponge, unless I want a certain effect like making a spatter. 

Much of all of the above from all of the posts, tailored to home studio/low production.  While not a "tool" per se, my most crucial non-pottery-intended item is my  UpCart that "climbs" up and down stairs-a dolly-the econo model can handle over 100 lbs...had it for years and it is essential for getting things in/out of my house & studio. I can barely lift 50 lbs of clay anymore-and even 25 is hard on a bad day, so this thing is a real blessing. 

I learned how to dip. pour, & spray but now I mostly just brush, sometimes sponge, unless I want a certain effect like making a spatter. 

I would have told myself I had less time than I thought and not to wait for "permission" - also to find a doctor who would start treating my Addison's disease IMMEDIATELY and not 40 years later, LOL!

I'm using Squarespace and like it a lot! Easy to use, modern templates.

Seems like a medical question---personally I would want to do some research into the specific condition and choose carefully what type(s) of health practitioner(s) I consulted.  Mainstream medicine did nothing for the type of arthritis I have, in a segment of my neck/shoulder, and in my right hand, but a year of  (insurance-covered) expert chiropractic treatment reduced it significantly, proven by x-rays. It is not gone, of course, but in over 3 years it has not progressed from that reduction and is nowhere near the pretreatment degree of pain and restriction of movement.  I am absolutely not offering a medical opinion--just sharing what has been the case for me, which has been counter to what I was being told by M.D.s., including that progression was inevitable.  Keeping my hand/fingers/wrist moving-including working with clay-is a recommendation for my ongoing flexibility. I do not throw very often; I handbuild. My most significant restriction is wedging, and I have found that the cut & slam method is the best technique for me.

since a kiln is really only a brick box that contains heat,  ask evenheat how you could convert it to fire to cone 8, higher than cone 6 to allow for long term use at cone 6.  you will use it for years.
 one of our members,  Neil  Estrick,  sells and repairs kilns and can explain how it can be done if evenheats MANAGER  (not just whoever answers the phone) cannot take it back.   do not talk to anyone without the authority to make a reasonable adjustment to a general rule.   that is why Managers make the big bucks.
send Neil a private message since he has not seen this yet.

Perhaps mom would understand, once the "technical" issues are explained to her, if you simply/honestly said you need to sell it in order to get the right equipment. Since it is new, it shouldn't loose  monetary value, and you can still affirm your delight in the receiving of the gift,  which will just morph into a different object.

For inventory, I use a spreadsheet. I head the columns to tell me what I want to know  and use separate worksheets for each broad category (ex. Bowls and Trays)   I use alpha codes for types of ware (ex. BW = bowl, TR=tray) and then a number (BW13; TR11). I take a pic of the piece & insert a tiny thumbnail in the sheet row for that piece. I write the code (Item No.) on masking tape & put that on the bottom of the piece.  I make columns for the other things I want to know, like glaze/clay body info, size, type of fire, price, physical location (in storage/box4,  or at Lisa's Boutique, etc. , whether it's on my webpage,  plus status: sold-NFS- gifted, whatever I want to keep track of. Always have a col. for Notes (like TR11 is in storage, but needs refire)

On my IPad, the facebook “add a comment box” is right in the middle of the page, obscuring text. The dropdown menu also tends to not want to disappear automatically: I don’t know if this is part of the template code, or if it’s something you are able to adjust on that platform.
I don’t know if you need every click within your website to open a new tab in the browser. It’s a good idea to use that setting if you’re sending people to outbound links, but it clogs up a browser unnecessarily when navigating “in house.” 
The formatting on your blog page appears to have a spot that’s supposed to hold a thumbnail image or a logo next to your name. It’s showing as a question mark.
Other than that, it functions like it ought to, as far as I can see. The format doesn’t have a lot of unnecessary negative space and everything is legible.
 
Other suggestions, which you can take or leave as you see fit:
Navigation-wise, I’d suggest clarifying for yourself what you want the website to do for you and how you want to structure your online presence. Right now you have a combo of casual/personal stuff that I’d expect to speak to an audience you’ve personally cultivated, and some more formal elements we learned in art school but aren’t super relevant outside of what I’d call an institutional art audience. (Gallery system, academia, etc.)I would suggest tailoring your website to whichever of those groups interacts with and buys from you the most. It makes it easier to write website copy and make design choices.
If that audience is mostly institutional folks, tidying the bio and statement to be more in line with those expectation and moving your more casual stuff exclusively to social media. If your audience is more a group you’ve personally cultivated, consider removing the larger bio and statement, and leaning into the story you have in the Flower and Ash section currently. You can still incorporate your credentials into that writing, but I think that’s the piece that will land best with the wider public. It’s a lovely bit of storytelling. 
I also noticed a mention on your blog that you thought you should be blogging once a month as opposed to posting more frequently on FB.  While blogs have a bunch of pros over social media, I think you should do whichever one you can make consistent. If a more casual FB post gets made every week or every couple of days, that’s better than a spotty blog you do because “that’s what real artists do.” 
Whichever audience you choose:
-I’d pick one font for the whole website and using it throughout. It’s a small detail, but it’ll tidy things up a surprising amount. Right now the home page has 2 fonts, and the sans serif header and sub header are outweighed by the serif text font. There’s no emphasis on one piece of info as more important than the other.
-The header image on the home page wasn’t taken with incorporated text in mind. If you don’t have an image you can crop to have 2/3-3/4 negative space in those dimensions so the text is the focus, it’s worth taking one for the purpose. Or changing some layout choices on that page.
-The one place everyone should be really UN-creative is with your menu names. They should be as clear and concise as possible. Eg, Miss Elainie is a great name for a jewelry line…or maybe your cat, who might be instagram famous as your cheeky studio sidekick. While I 100% support a studio pet picture gallery if it brings everyone joy, if I’m new to your page or on a mission for something, the lack of clarity is a barrier to me finding what I want. The dropdown title should be Jewelry, and the subtitle on the page can be “Miss Elainie Jewelry Line” with a 2-3  sentence blurb. And of course, images. 
In that vein:
-Studio is a bit too broad: I suggest retitling it “gallery” with listings of “Jewelry” “wood and raku” “new work” (when it’s ready), and consider combining “Before and After” into “Studio Shots” for a look at the artist in her environment.
-Consider using the same format for all the gallery pages. Right now you have a slideshow for wood and raku, but all the rest are stationary gallery pages. Some of the transitions in that template are odd. 
-Under About, I love that you actually put your face on there! Not enough folks do. I don’t love the picture you’ve chosen though. You’ve depersonalized it by using a shot of your own computer screen. Please consider enlisting a friend to help take a bio pic during the golden hour. You’re such a vibrant person, and that image seems colder thanu the Lee we know here. 
-Unless you’re talking mostly to a Fine Art/gallery clientele, the expanded bio under About isn’t necessary. You can talk about some of your background in blogs or on social.
-Your artist statement is extremely well written and should be on your home page, not buried under About. It doesn’t need to be formally titled as your artist statement if you do this. 
-Again about heading clarity, I’d retitle Flower and Ash in the dropdown to “Philosophy” or “Background on the Work” and have the Flower and Ash be the title of the page. 
-I think shop policies should be easy to get to, but not the first thing you see when you arrive on a website. Having their own header listing suggests you’re anticipating a bunch of problems right out of the gate. A lot of people have a footer menu now, with things like shop policies, an FAQ list and social links. If you don’t want to create a footer menu, put a “shop” header title in the policies spot for your eventual update, and put the policies under that.