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Rae Reich

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Everything posted by Rae Reich

  1. Sponges, chamois, plastic, all sorts of tools over the years in our ceramics lab recycle in college. Those chamois really disguise themselves! In commercial clay, a supplier, who was gradually going out of business, ran their rusting pug mill to the bitter end. We found chunks of rusty pugger in nearly every bag. No major injuries, but a challenge to throw. I was able to complete an 8” vase while leaving a 1/2” square of pugger in the wall, about halfway up, even while ribbing it out (carefully) as much as possible. We were curious about how it would fire. The fragment melted out and left a trail of mostly iron down the side beneath a tidy hole. ;p That Franklin Adams clay was really nice and a dream to throw, even so.
  2. A thicker rim will hold its shape better, if you can work that into the design/construction. Q: is it strictly necessary to have a perfectly round rim? The intriguing soft appearance of your sculpture does not, to me, require a perfectly circular rim.
  3. Nice work! I like the color, glaze technique and surfaces.
  4. Plates take up a lot of kiln space! The skills to make consistent, flat, even-bottomed thrown plates need as much repetition as the other forms, so as many failures as need to be expected can be ‘time and kiln space’ expensive. I like hump-molded slab plates with a foot ring of a coil added . Foot ring can be thrown on if the mold is attached to a bat. Remove from mold immediately before clay begins to shrink by flipping it over onto another bat. I put a few sheets of newspaper (please support your local newspaper!) or dispenser-type heavy paper towel on the drying bat so that the plate can shrink/dry without sticking to the bat. Placement of the foot ring can help or hinder the flatness of the finished plate. Look at many examples carefully to make the best choices.
  5. @Reza Hosseiny, that will depend on if your gold luster matures enough at ^019. Generally, that rule applies to planned application of layers. You might try for a temperature a little closer to the previous one, if you have that much control over your firing.
  6. Lusters are tricky because they are so sensitive to firing temperatures and each subsequent firing has to be just a little bit lower than the last to prevent burning off previous work. Refire the piece to a bit higher than the first gold firing to burn it off and start fresh.
  7. Small changes, many notes. If there are sweet spots, you can plan around them. Nice to have a red that is acceptable in oxidation.
  8. Generally, pouring all the water over all the dry can result in a lump of dry stuck to the bottom of the bucket which is a bit harder to mix in - @Kelly in AK’s solution is another instance of patience doing the work while we do something else.
  9. Probably be helpful to use red stoneware for the cone packs to better gauge reduction.
  10. Old credit cards make good bench-scrapers and ribs. They can be cut into any profile needed for shaping and trimming pots, smoothing seams and surfaces. Notching the edges of the card will give you many kinds of texture possibilities.
  11. Since you have a deadline, it may be impossible to remake the piece in time. In that case, I would go ahead and fire the piece. Those cracks are not likely to expand to the point of destruction unless additional stress is put on it during the firing. You may need to accept the modifications to your piece as part of the process, maybe even emphasizing stress lines with glaze or coloration to incorporate them - an “I meant to do that” approach If there’s a possibility of completing a new piece in time (using and improving on what you have learned so far) I recommend that you make two or three at the same time as insurance, or at least the greater likelihood, of a piece completed as you envisioned. And maybe you’ll have a series!
  12. As long as you only make matcha it will be fine. The seepage of tea into the cracks enhances the pattern. However, don’t use with beverages that contain sugar or milk as these tend to encourage bacteria. I’m guessing the price was lower because of the cobalt smudge in your first photo, which would make it a second.
  13. Do the members of your studio make their own glazes and/or clay bodies? If not, the materials could be donated to a local school with a ceramics department.
  14. A Soft brick damper is easier to slide, but can drop debris onto pots on the top shelf (speaking from experience). Keep top of kiln as clean as possible.
  15. Hard to imagine a flue-plus-damper situation for that kiln. Think you’ll find that even minuscule adjustments of a damper will make a difference. Patience required in your observations and note taking. Not sure about your Venturi design, but mine do have a threaded section at the bottom to adjust primary air. Again, minor adjustments and patient observation. Try just the damper first.
  16. If the clear glaze formula is the base for the white glaze, you probably could, with the colorant exceptions noted by @Hulk, but why would you want to? If your oxide decorations are sometimes changing your glaze surface, try mixing a little of the glaze into the oxide.
  17. I don’t know how much of the colored porcelain you have, but it’s clear you don’t want to waste it. Is it a small enough amount that wedging the whole batch seems doable? If not, do you have access to a pugger? Definitely, tests of the proportions of clays, colors, firing and shrinkage can be measured and assessed. At the least, you’ll have a small batch of special clay or your tests could result in a formula for your own blend.
  18. On matte glazes or unglazed surfaces, colored lusters like Blue Pearl aren’t iridescent but more like colored matte metallic. The basic mother-of-pearl doesn’t look like much.
  19. I think I got my red silicone at the auto parts store
  20. Chuckling at the idea of your family huddled around the kiln - they do put out a lot of heat, even well insulated. After we calculated what we’d need, my plumber called the Gas Co and told them we needed a million btuh and they decided what size of meter was needed. They will take into account what your home has been using. We also have the kiln line running from the meter separate from the house supply so they can run individually without affecting each other. Kiln line can be shut off by itself if necessary for line service, etc. Just to be prepared, though we’ve never needed it yet (earthquake country), we hung a wrench on the meter for emergency shut-off. Best wishes!
  21. I think it’s better to overbuild than squeak by barely. When we built my original large catenary - 8 Venturis- we told the gas company our plans to possibly add a raku and we wanted no gaps in flow. They installed a massive meter (at no charge here in residential Orange, CA, ymmv.) and we ran 55’ of a separate 2” line to the kiln area. The Gas company still sent a man out during the first firing to see what the large increase in gas consumption was about, then they added a note to my meter reading information Theoretically, I could fire the big cat, the raku and the small Geil simultaneously with no loss of pressure. The Gas Company was very helpful. (Note: here, kilns require no extraordinary permitting and are classed by the Fire Department with barbecues.) We did the digging, wrapping and installation of the pipe which was inspected and approved by the Gas Co. and the City. Additionally, I invited the local Fire Station crew to see a firing and inform them and Dispatch that there might some reports of flames and possibly smoke. Also invited neighbors to see and be reassured.
  22. Regarding the printers’ blankets that @LeeU and @oldlady swear by, I’ve never seen one, but from what @oldlady described you need to find a printer who still uses a printing press. They replace the blankets often and discard the used ones. @LeeU, can you confirm?
  23. With that prep and bisque you probably won’t have to worry about explosions
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