What Am I Forgetting?

[Saki]

Thanks, Nerd! I hadn't thought of that.

[Mark C.]

I always use 325 as it melts better for me in my glazes-yes its a bit more cost.

If that cost is an issue think of your time into the work before this minor cost.

The glaze look is what grabs my customers and thats what I go for.Material cost is is low either way. Its my time that is the true cost.

[Mark C.]

Well my materials came in this week and I started hauling them.So this is follow up post on this thread.

the bill was less than I thought only $5993.06  for 23,653.95 pounds plus trucking at $90.63 per ton. 

My grand total on the check was 7,057.52 today for the whole list at start of this post.

Materials are cheap especially in this larger volume-heck the Cobalt Oxide was only $19 a pound in 20# lots.A #50 bag of alumina hydrate 48.90.My Daves Porcelain  is .21cents a pound

I realize many only play with clay so this list seems excessive but its my annual buy as I make a living from clay. I moved the last 3/4 ton of clay into studio today(old stock) to make room for the new clay for next year in clay shed. I planned last year pretty well to have less than a ton left over.I stack it in clay shed with softest in back (also make it to keep it seperate ) so I work that last as it hardens over time. As I said I order clay in two moisture contents-one extra soft(6 1/4 tons) to use later and one ready now for throwing(4 tons). Its all porcelain .I hired a little help for moving  some of it

[preeta]

great. you got some help.

 

so Mark do you use 10.25 tonnes of clay a year? or 11 tonnes? just curious. i just found out in his heyday warren mckenzie used to throw 12 tonnes a year. 

 

if this is the amount of clay with slowing down how much did you order in your heydays. 

 

your list is a good check on reality. 

 

i didnt even know you could order softer clay vs. ready now clay. 

 

did they send you the right triangular posts?

 

did they have the wood and saggar clay? (is there a chance you might wood fire a few pieces. what do you put in the saggar. rather with gas why do you use saggar?)

 

thanks for the update. really appreciate it. 

[Mark C.]

great. you got some help.

 

so Mark do you use 10.25 tonnes of clay a year? or 11 tonnes? just curious. i just found out in his heyday warren mckenzie used to throw 12 tonnes a year. 

 

if this is the amount of clay with slowing down how much did you order in your heydays. 

 

your list is a good check on reality. 

 

i didnt even know you could order softer clay vs. ready now clay. 

 

did they send you the right triangular posts?

 

did they have the wood and saggar clay? (is there a chance you might wood fire a few pieces. what do you put in the saggar. rather with gas why do you use saggar?)

 

thanks for the update. really appreciate it. 

Yes last year was just over 10 tons

yes this is slowing down as I used to use more clay when I was younger-I used to order twice a year but the university stopped buying it thru my source so now its once a year to keep trucking costs down.

My plan is make this go just a bit over a year.

They sent triangle posts they said they broke the mold on the larger size I like and sent smaller ones-I will have to cut some older lager ones I have down on my wet diamond saw-They will not be offering the larger 2 inch triangles anymore only 1 1/2 inch

They had no wood and sagger clay in small amounts -you can order a 1 ton minimum. I still have some-I like in in others wood kilns and my salt kiln  

[ceramiclover]

I'm interested to hear from folks who have used Babu clay.  What glazes did you like and why?  How do underglaze designs look with a transparent glaze?

[Babs]

Put this as a new post, it's lost here