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Sponge Holders


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This ones for Babs who asked for a photo of these-the mug photo will have to wait.

As to your questions

I can stuff 86  into a square small box. You see this wholesale order about $1,300 (includes some other forms as well). I take 1000 miles to a show this weekend and pass off to another potter who is at show and he takes them another 500 miles home and the gallery owner picks them up as well as his order at his studio and drives them about 150 miles north to Near a famous spot on the California coast callers Hearst Castle. The fellow we sell to has a gallery in a tiny town nearby on highway 1.

so I can get 86 in a small 15x15x15 box 

Now back to these they all have neoprene self stick bottoms so they do not slide around or scratch . I jig cut them with a small wooden box and a large bow cutter Sherrial mud tool .

I tend to make about 25-30 at a time.I sell lots of them along with other smalls in my booth.Most potters do not work with massive volumes of smalls much especially after so many years but If you want to make a good living smalls are another successful tool and they work for me.These sell almost as good as spoon rests .

Heres some before boxing up today. I take  150 to this next show this coming weekend.

Thanks for the Ginger cookie recipe.I will be making cookies for my trip in a few days.Its one of the things I do connected to shows.The cookies are not for customers but for me.

My electric is in background and I just looked at my log-Its been fired 8 times to c08 this year as I hardly ever fire electric compared to my gas kilns

Mark

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Right! They were not what i envisaged. I make a footed cylinder, notches cut into the foot, holes in the bottom of cylinder which sits on a saucer to catch the drips. Haven't made them for a time so maybe this week I'll do some more. Dish washing mops, bottle brush and sponges squished can fit into them , plugs and sieves nestle around the pot in the saucer. Or some people buy them as  a small plant pot. They are glazed. Because of the saucer they can be placed,as mine is, on the window ledge above the sink.

Mark biscuits maybe should be in a hotter oven, as stated I use wood and  not sure of the temp of oven.

Great mugs inthe background, Mark, You using a credit card rib forthe bottom of your pieces? You said somewhere you don't trim much.

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Simple but with great glazes, love the gold/blue on the left. Is that a sponge demo in the picture? They are much bigger than what we tend to use in the UK.

Yes thats a demo I put there for you guys for scale

sponge holders do not need to drain as they evaporate after you squeeze the sponge-We use two and they never have water in them. These are porcelain just less than 3/4 of a pound thrown.

I buy the bottoms 3600 at a time from a manufacture so the cost is low per piece.

You may ask but I have ordered them twice so you see I make a lot of these.They sell for around 10$ on average.

Mark

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Sponges don't need drainers makes perfect sense. Your variety of glaze combos is inspiring. I think you have just saved me a heap of time re. need to throw saucers for my model. This design would be easier to clean also. Hmm well thought out.

Have a great sale, thanks for your replies.

And you're cutting both sides in one swoop?

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Yes with a jig-its a small square box from 1/4 inch plywood I made -open at top and bottom box and you use a wire cutter (mud tools) to cut both sides at once-I cut 35 today after a few minutes in the sun to firm up.

Put box over them on the bats and cut -let dry till firm relaese them and sponge edges.

These are all over the planet by now-I know mine are in Australia and europe as well as Africa and New Zealand and Japan

A Japanese potter saw mine and sent me one he knocked off a bit more elaborate with a panda on it.

If you are looking for smalls check out my spoonrest thread fron years back these also bring in spare $$$

http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/2407-spoonrests-or-top-ramen/

Mark

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Just visited the above link and again, impressive stuff. Small plaster bats are beginning to look attractive to me, just normal plaster? Dold her eas Potter's plaster or can I pick up cheap stuff from the hardware store?

Just back from dentist for crown... watch out witht he cookies best to dunk them in your big mug!

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I only use pottery 1# plaster but thats me and my time has value for me-its works the best. I also have it for press mold work.

The bats are made from mini pie tins. I have a shop full of them. The regualr pie tin  plaster bat is used for work over 5#s

I'm not a cheap stuff guy but remember this is a living for me.I never go to the dollar store and for crowns its gold ones as the most noble of metals works the best still.

Dental advice is a new field for me. 

As to the 34oz mugs I never use them I just sell them.

I actually like a small mug myself.

Mark

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Just noticed over the years that some stuff as soon as it's used in the art/craft field takes on a different price. So Potter's plaster is a different beast? I have a bag of it ,or best part of, which I use for molds so I will use  that for the bats.

Dental gold is an Alloy I think, told my dentist I wanted my old gold back and he thus informed me....I was thinking of getting a jeweller friend to remodel it, but he wouldn't put it near his crucible because of the contamination, can't remember what the other metal was, but a hardener I think. Prob get a nice effect on a pot.

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Jig for cutting the sides out is a good idea. I've never made sponge holders but after reading this thread I'll give some a try. Have not had a customer request for one so it will be interesting to see how they do here. Is the neoprene really necessary if the base is smooth and non scratchy?

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I may be being a bit slow on this, or perhaps it's a UK thing, but what exactly is a sponge holder used for? Other than a potter, who would use one? I can see from your photo Mark, what they look like, but can't envisage them in use. I've never come across anything similar this side of the pond, either in name or appearance. Given your sales figures, folks in the U.S. know exactly what the are for. I feel I'm missing out here!

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I may be being a bit slow on this, or perhaps it's a UK thing, but what exactly is a sponge holder used for? Other than a potter, who would use one? I can see from your photo Mark, what they look like, but can't envisage them in use. I've never come across anything similar this side of the pond, either in name or appearance. Given your sales figures, folks in the U.S. know exactly what the are for. I feel I'm missing out here!

 

These sit on or next to the sink and hold a sponge for doing dishes or counter cleaning .They keep your sponge clean and dry and handy for use.

Maybe in the UK sponges are not used???

Mark

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I may be being a bit slow on this, or perhaps it's a UK thing, but what exactly is a sponge holder used for? Other than a potter, who would use one? I can see from your photo Mark, what they look like, but can't envisage them in use. I've never come across anything similar this side of the pond, either in name or appearance. Given your sales figures, folks in the U.S. know exactly what the are for. I feel I'm missing out here!

I too wondered what/where/how/why till I saw the photo.  My sponge/brush/plug live in the basket in the "waste disposer" narrow-sink between the sink and draining board.  Can't imagine that I would ever use anything else.  I preferred the image I had at the beginning of this thread of a place to keep cake.

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I may be being a bit slow on this, or perhaps it's a UK thing, but what exactly is a sponge holder used for? Other than a potter, who would use one? I can see from your photo Mark, what they look like, but can't envisage them in use. I've never come across anything similar this side of the pond, either in name or appearance. Given your sales figures, folks in the U.S. know exactly what the are for. I feel I'm missing out here!

Celia I'm with you I thought they were for sponge cakes before I was educated! Born Brit, made in Australia, I was thinking food.

 

 

I may be being a bit slow on this, or perhaps it's a UK thing, but what exactly is a sponge holder used for? Other than a potter, who would use one? I can see from your photo Mark, what they look like, but can't envisage them in use. I've never come across anything similar this side of the pond, either in name or appearance. Given your sales figures, folks in the U.S. know exactly what the are for. I feel I'm missing out here!

I too wondered what/where/how/why till I saw the photo.  My sponge/brush/plug live in the basket in the "waste disposer" narrow-sink between the sink and draining board.  Can't imagine that I would ever use anything else.  I preferred the image I had at the beginning of this thread of a place to keep cake.

 

It IS a Brit thing, food must have been scarce in the post war era. \Now I AM going to make a sponge holder for a cake... big cheese dish do?? Keep the blue bottles, just to confuse our american friends, off the cake!!

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So you can eat whilst doing the dishes!

Imagine sitting out under a shady tree with a lovely jam/fruit/cream filled sponge cake... Need a cover to stop the neighbours covetting your cake, wasps landing in the cake etc, sponge holder, could even be on a pedestal, akka big butter dish, not the french ones.

Not for me of course, i only dream of such food, that's not true either. I dream of sitting under a shady tree but will prob be permanently horizontal before I can even do that for more than a couple of minutes, high metabolic rate, restless spirit. 

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i think the same kind of cake is called angel food over here.  hasn't made angels out of us, though.

 

(what is that purple berry that seems to flavor lots of candy and soft drinks in england?)

 

and anyone in australia who could mail me some Violet Crumble will get a nice present in return.  (i do not make sponge holders, though.)

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Blackcurrants? These are the fruit ingredient in Ribena (blackcurrant cordial), the only purple soft drink I know of. High in vitamin C - mostly a child's drink, but "Rum and Black" (rum with blackcurrant cordial) used to be popular in the 60's/70's - don't hear of it much now! Even though I'm a bit of a sweet freak, I'm not familiar with any/many sweets (candy) with purple colour, here, so not sure what you're thinking of oldlady.post-13648-0-69077900-1412235111_thumb.jpgpost-13648-0-99421900-1412235272_thumb.jpg

We've gone a bit 'off piste' with this thread, but hope it answers your question! If I knew how to add an emoticon it would be smiling! The are enabled, but I can't see where to find/use them.

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i would be happy to show you how, it is one of the few things i can do on a computer.  i just sent one to reply to you but the post would not pass the limit on emoticons that is built in.

 

when you hit "reply" a heading with a smiling face comes up.  if you click on it you will see a border of emoticons appear at the bottom.

 

click on one and it will appear wherever the line representing a cursor is located.  like here             :D    or 

 

here                        :rolleyes:

 

the trick is to understand what they mean.            ;) is identified as a colon and a capital P.     whatever that means.  i will try with the three i posted.

 

edit   i entered the colon and P and a different emoticon came up.  well i THOUGHT i knew.  apparently the limit per post is 4.

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