terrim8

Oh you're trying that too, eh? I started mine at about 1. 

terri, were you ever a weatherperson in florida???  their vocabulary list contains only two words,  "chilly" or "warm".  it is NEVER cold or hot.    i think your temp reading places you in the definitely instantly freezing category.

should have said "a tad chilly" like the Brits

Back in the day, one issue with Gerstley was its variable chemical content. Natural materials are always variable over time , depending on what part of mine it came from, etc., but Gerstley was variable from batch to batch, and some even gave it the nickname Ghastley Borate. When Laguna bought the whole mineyard (but not the mine, nothing new coming out of the ground anymore), they processed it all at once and thoroughly mixed it all. So now the many years worth stock in the warehouse is all pretty much the same. But also slightly different than what it was 20 years ago. The published analysis of the current stock compared to ~1999 show somewhat less silica than before, but other fluxes are about the same +/-. So get some Gerstley and make a test batch of your glaze recipe to see if it needs any tweaking.

Terri:

given your background: study ulexite.

another evaporite mineral! - I just bought a 50 lb bag of Laguna Gerstley Borate so I didn't need a substitute. Started mixing up glazes today. Will add a few touches to the raku kiln in the morning so I can operate it by myself, then I'll have more pictures for the gallery.

ya- me too. I have wet pulled handles. I thought about a week- more or less. I'm not "speedy gonzales". I wonder where that came from- speedy gonzales?

oh- just googled it- a cartoon character.

You're a young one terrim8. LOL or you just didn't watch cartoons on Saturday mornings.

its Sunday. Anxiously awaiting pics.

tired from the drive but i put two up before i left. Have to rest so more pictures tomorrow.

found a couple more- going for a nap now.

See that picture above . That's from heavy reduction at Medalta. That was fun. So's the new kiln 

I kept the avatar because of the similarities. 

Plus I'm cool like that 

sounds nice !

I am not too short just getting old.  I put a false floor in my electric.   I laid old firebricks with space between them on the bottom being careful not to cover my vent holes and then a shelf of top of the bricks.  The shelf was one that had broken in half  so I made sure it had a nice gap.   I called Skutt about it and they said they didn't think it would fire properly.  I think it fires  more evenly than it use do.   I have a dual pyrometer and really had to adjust for a cool bottom and hot top.  Now there is a minor difference.   Denice

sometimes things work out for the best!

It seems to dry/absorb so slow- its still in there! It was the right SG too so I'll keep it right side up . I may have complicated it all by having a paper-plaster mix behind the solid wall.

Can you send some pix?

with the next try-  decided to start again- back to the model to remove any imperfections so it will be totally smooth & then I'll insure its a smooth one-shot pour for the plaster.

Snow and ice here in PA, seems like one storm quits and another is behind it. 4hrs a day shoveling and scraping just isn't fun.

best,

Pres

Maybe you folks can build snowmen and creative with your carving tools to make it interesting....

Spend too much time in the snow as it is. The ice is granular, and not very carvable. It does not pack, and is very heavy. What bit of snow is there is between layers of the ice.

mugs and lamps so fingers crossed. (i.e. mid fire grey clay and some porcelain)

it worked!

Great!

I have a A82B Paragon kiln that I fire to ^6 without any problems. It has actually saved me when my big kiln went down.

Unless the electrician checked the ohms on the elements. And the condition. I don't think he could make that assessment.

believe it or not, it was a bit of kiln brick fragment stuck way deep in the sitter.  Its fixed now. 

I should start shopping for a used nice electric kiln with a controller. Maybe I can find one in the US and ship it back across the border????

Mold making all week with different kinds of machinery!

Jealous! Are you going to check out that store with the weird spray painted tumbleweeds again?

No- I didn't have time! The course was extremely concentrated time wise. i even showed up early as the key fob lets you in- like 6 am once! It might have been easier if I had some experience with it but I didn't and it moved fast. only 1 lathe too so I tried to get in early for that. And it was HOT!!!!!! I didn't even have time for carrot cake!

I hate cookin. Problem is I like eatin.

so do i.  proof is making potato salad from the pot of potatoes that i forgot and let burn .   sorry looking potatoes with half an inch of black burned skin and meat make fine food when the black is cut off.   don't know what to do with the pot.

Hope you feel bettrsoon terrim!

   ...soak that pot, soak it goood

ashamed to say that I called in one of my kids to help- I used word - which I'm used to and she'll convert it to pages that has a prettier template- Some days...............

That's what kids are for  I used to type up most of my mums stuff because it would take me 1/10th of the time.

Problem is the conversion from Word etc. to Pages etc.and vice-versa is not always a two-way street. It is hard to shift from one system to another when one way is virtually automatic from years of experience and the "new" one has been perversely set up to be "backwards" & everything is in weird places. I feel your pain! 

Speaking of Plainsman, have you used any of their clays in ^10 soda?

For salt & soda : P700, H570 & H550. I like them all but 570 mixed with 550 is my favourite & it has a few speckles - Callie recommended that mix. The P700 is nice and even translucent a bit in part,even covered with slip when you hold something up to the light! I guess so far I have only used their clay. 

Plainsman doesn't get involved in exploration, other than within a short radius around Medicine Hat.

Thanks Terri! 

I thought of that but I currently have a brick up (then brick down) style door and part of that  is scavenged soft brick. Looks like a few "denaros" would be required to build a door. 

The bricks can be coated on the insides. You can then spray the salt in thru the burners via a garden sprayer.

the ITC stuff??? Or is there another product? Do you have to be concerned about it falling off into the ware??? Do you use it?

When you are dealing with temperatures around 2000 F, for a ceramic firing, you are ready for anything.

A couple hundred degrees, in the kitchen, autopilot is engaged...

ouch! hopes it's minor! 

just two small spots 

wish I had a mini kiln for tests

ebay, Craig's List, garage sale, estate sell, etc. There's on out there waiting for you. Never give up looking.

get a copy of Ian Gregory's Kiln book. I forget the exact name of it, but it has all types of little test kilns. I want to do the soda kiln.

What do you plan on burning?

anything I want! I now have 220,000 BTU's

That's not a burner, that is a flame thrower. Cooker deluxe!

I had a student /rancher that said Plainsman clay got their clay from her Montana ranch. I don't know what part of a clay body it is. I have used M340 when I taught in Billings.

interesting- they are close to the border so I guess they operate all around the area.

Your wheel work is outstanding from what I can see on your Instagram site. I like the Raku yarn bowls and tea light holders in particular because I've gotten requests for both recently. Your work is an inspiration for me! As for the mold making, like anything else in ceramics, there is a definite learning curve. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to spend the time on that side road of your journey...

Thank you ! Got up this morning and had a look at yesterday's disaster & thought of another way to tackle it. You're right about time and having to just do it to learn.

Mold making for me is not as immediate as wheel throwing. I make lots of mugs, each a little different even thought they start with same amount of clay. Making all the same would be boring on the wheel, but mold making not so much if I could get through the first part to the second part. However, I am not really interested in going with all the slip casting process.

best,

Pres

It would save freezing our butts off. 

wouldn't it be great if that actually worked?  (butt freezing) Like that "cool sculpting" you see advertised all over the place

But then we couldn't get all ragey about the guilt tactics that diet manufacturers and health clubs use this time of year!

Have fun!

Marcia

Keep those skis together!

wow- I was pretty shaky yesterday. Have to go every day now to get my ski-legs back.

Sounds like a good day at the pottery mill.

phew! glad to hear you got good lab results : )

I will be planting roses this week and mining with each rose.

the foot is kind of small- about 6 inches diameter. It's handbuilt- not thrown.

Depends on the clay, wall thickness. The fact you are not sure, suggests maybe you should.

Let us know what you do and the outcome. I always wonder about those things.

stay warm. Nice town. Very cool ceramics center. we close on our house 10/31. are you still looking?

Yes but looks like we have to wait. Commitments here will take some time. You'll have to post pictures of the new digs, new kilns...

send me your email.