Jen WC

Wow, Thank you ALL!!! You hit the nails, bits, bats, and blocks on the head!!! Cumulatively - I feel well-prepared now. If I remember, I´ll be back with a photo. Won`t be for a bit as we´ve got guests coming for the next 10 days. But I am even more excited now to do this!Thanks again, Jen

Hi Everyone, I searched but didn`t find this discussed elsewhere. I hope someone or more will help me meet my challenge. I am new to throwing, but determined. I bought a used, but excellent condition, Shimpo/Nidec pottery wheel (whisper) with the 14" wheel head. Everything I´ve read suggests that having using batts will make it easier to use the wheel - but the wheel head doesn`t have holes. I bought batt pins - but I really don`t know where to start. It seems really hard to turn the 45 kg wheel on its side to start the process of removing it. Has anyone done this before? Can I use a template I have, mark 2 holes ten inches apart and use an appropriate drill bit to drill through - without removing the wheel head? I´m comfortable with my measuring and use of the drill - but I was hoping to get ideas, feedback, encouragement and/or things to watch-out for before I take this risk. Any and all help appreciated! Thanks so much, Jen

Thanks for replying Madeleine, Yes, it would be in reasonable amounts each time. I currently make colored porcelain clay routinely so I feel like I have a decent system I can replicate for the 25 liters. It´s really a question, I guess, of whether analyzing the content is a "thing" that is doable. I guess your answer to that part is "yes"? 8^)

Hi All - Like many of you I suppose, I found a clay that was a perfect match for my glazes and me - kismet! But then I moved overseas and if you know about costs of transporting from one country to the next the last decade, you will know I can`t get any of my absolute favorite clay here where I live. They used to produce and sell it dry, but I never got around to buying it that way (still heavy) and now they´ve stopped. But it seems to me that I ought to be able to make the clay, or very similar (water is different here etc.) if I can find out the content of the original mud. Am I barking up the wrong tree here? Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks in advance!

Hi Neil, A year late, but I hope you`ll see this. If you suggest that I start a different thread, I can do that, but as you mentioned it . . . When you say that you`re only firing your porcelain one time; do you mean that you are shaping it, drying it and glazing with clear and then firing it? Or firing it without glaze? Thanks in advance. 8^) Jen

Following. Great thread! But I keep lamenting my inability to buy an L&L here in Europe. They now have a distributor in UK, but UK is not in EU anymore! >hits forehead with open palm< Well, like I said, really good discussion!