[Alumina And Wax]

Pugaboo;

I had a problem similar to this last year. I had porcelain trimmed feet sticking to the shelf. The term is called "plucking". I have a small dish of alumina hydrate and water. I mix this up so that it is in solution, then brush it on. While the piece is still centred, I brush the wax on over top of the alumina. You cannot drip any alumina on your glaze, as it is refractory, and will not melt.

TJR.

[Teaching Ceramics to Adults]

Hey, there;

I taught Adult Pottery at the local city art gallery for eight years. I also taught kids classes on Saturday mornings. Taught Gifted and Talented drawing from 9-11, half hour break, then taught a clay class to 9,10 years olds, then taught a clay class to 5 and 6 year olds. So that was 5and a half hours of teaching on Saturdays, and 3 hours on Wednesdays. I was able to put myself through the after-degree Bachelor of Education program. I have now been teaching art full time for 27 years.

The thing with clay classes is that you have to have STRUCTURE.The class was 10 weeks. I had 14 students and only eight wheels. We started with hand building. Pinch and coil one week, slab the next.My theory was that if you weren't successful throwing, then you could go back to hand building. When teaching throwing, I would demonstrate, get the students going, and then leave the room for 15 minutes. When I came back, I would demonstrate again.and the students were WAY more attentive for the second demo.

I always had a syllabus -centreing, cylinders, mugs and jugs with handles, lids,bowls, plates, glazing and decorating, and then some catch up time.

The adult classes were three hours, allowing 30 minutes at the end for clean-up. There was a technician to load kilns and mix glazes, which was great for me. We fired to cone 6.

After I started teaching high school, I couldn't do the evening and week-end classes. It was just too much. I really enjoyed my time there.

TJR.

[Teaching Ceramics to Adults]

Happypots;

You have to make the class more structured. As the previous poster said, start with cylinders, then bowls etc. You don't mention whether this is a handbuilding class, or a throwing class.I always started my clay classes out with the basics-coil, pinch, slab. Then, if she gets frustrated on the wheel, she can go back to building by hand. Learning to throw is difficult, as you know. You make a good point about her being the only one in the class, so she doesn't see that others would feel just as frustrated.She cannot make your work until she learns the basics. Hang in there.

TJR.