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Two similar elements connected in series will generate one/half the heat of one element alone. Two similar elements connected in parallel will generate twice the heat of one element alone.

Hey everyone! I run a high school studio and have been using cone 6 Highwater Desert Buff, mainly because that's what was left when I took over the position last year. I find that when recycling the clay, it is coming up short and losing plasticity. I reclaim bone dry clay with throwing water to maximize the plasticity. On 'For Flux Sake', they mentioned some commercial midfire glazes have nepheline cyanide instead of potassium based feldspar. Due to it's relation with sodium, it is causing a lack of plasticity during reclaim and even in some cases growing hair on drying pieces(which is happening as well). All of this to say, has anyone else been having trouble with this clay keeping a good plasticity when reclaiming? Do you have any tips or any other economical midfire clay recommendations for a working community studio? Thanks everyone!

Hello, am Edward from Africa, Am really glad to be on this educative platform. Am here for the first time and am already appreciating your contribution to various questions... Kindly assist me solve my current puzzle am really burning inside out with a dilemma, I've constructed a kiln from scratch. It has 20 heating elements. Each element has the power rating of 2400 watts drawing power from a 240V. I designed these elements.They have the same resistance. My problem is that when I connect the coil in series or parallel the heat produced is very low as they do not heat up red hot. When I connect a single element to the power source,the element really heat up very well. How do I connect the 20 elements so that I get an even heat distribution? ( I want it to operate on a single phase) Please assist me. I will really appreciate your contributions.

Often, that clicking sound indicates the bat is not securely fastened to the wheel head because the bat pins are not securely fastened, and both the pin and the bat are wobbling. I lot of potters I have observed believe it is sufficient to just stick a bat pin in the hole and it will solidly stay there. Until it begins to wobble in the hole with the varying pressure on it while centering. Others know that the pin will be loose in the hole and try to accommodate that by wrapping a bit of paper around the pin before shoving it into the hole. Until the paper gets wet and the pin begins to wobble in the hole. The solution is wing nuts to tighten the bat pin to the wheel head from underneath. Wing nuts take some facile finger work to get them started on the pin, and more finger/thumb strength to twist them tight. Sometimes they will work themselves loose and the clicking is the signal to stop and tighten them again. As for the one oblong hole on the bottom of the bat, note that the oblong dimension is aligned with the radius (diameter) of the bat. That allows one to get the first pin set and still be able to move the bat crosswise to set the other pin. The movement is restricted to across the diameter of the bat, not tangentially around the circumference of the bat. Once set the bat should not move either crosswise (because the hole for the other pin exactly fits) or around the wheel (because the oval hole does not have any tolerance in that direction). Thus, the only possible movement is a loose pin not firmly tightened against the wheel head.

Also make sure your bat pins are tight.

Hi Kalyssa, welcome to the Forum! A few of my bats clunk; the fit on the pins isn't tight. The clunking goes away once the clay is closer to being centered - that's been my experience; once the force on the clay is constant and even, the bats don't move. You might need a few more bats? Compare/contrast your problem bat against one that fits snugly to confirm?

The knocking is likely from the bat slipping. The oblong hole is not ideal, but that's how Brent makes them. There are other bats on the market that do not have oblong holes, like Northstar, but another solution is a BatMate or Bat Gripper. There's a few on the market but I know Xiem and Bailey both have a version. It's a think piece that sits under the bat and gives it more grip. My students love them.

Hi! I'm fairly new to pottery and I've been using the bat that came with my brent wheel. One side of the bat has an oblong hole. This seems to make the bat move a bit when I'm throwing. It seems that I can't center (even though I've centered fine in a previous pottery class). Also, when I'm centering, the wheel is almost making a knocking sound. Is the bat the problem? If so, how can I fix this?

Hi tman! Can you elaborate on what you are aiming for? I'm not clear on the bottom - are you leaving it bare? Are the glazes you are using fluid - do they sag and run? Are you aiming for a thinner glaze application at the bottom to "catch" running glaze? Almost all my work is functional and rests on a bare clay foot ring. I use masking tape for a clean sharp line. Pulling the tape while the glaze layer is still moist minimizes dust... Dipping upside down, the glaze is thickest at the rim, thinnest near the foot. Wiping away glaze - seems easier when the glaze is still moist, especially if the point is to wipe some, but not all of the glaze layer away. When the glaze if fully dry, wetting it, then waiting a few moments for the moisture to penetrate is almost same...

Hi! I wanted to ask to see if anyone has any pointers on wiping the glaze off the bottom of a large piece without ruining the application on the glaze on the piece. It’s about 29 high by 15 wide and pretty cylindrical. I plan on brushing the glaze on (about 4 layers) and I was thinking of doing 3 layers towards the bottom section, wiping the bottom off, then doing four on the rest with some slight overlap on the already glazed bottom. (A little worried where there is overlap there will be a lot of glaze) Was also thinking doing three layers on the whole thing, resting it on foam or something like that and wiping bottom off, then do final layer…the only thing with this is worried moving it onto foam might mess the glaze up. Would appreciate any input! Thank you

Thank you all for the advice. Much appreciated

Do you ever use roof flashing for casting of simple one piece molds? (just curious)

Hi Henry and welcome to the forum. Since you are in the countryside then zoning/regulations for a gas kiln might not be a problem but it's something I would look into, also if you have home insurance I would look into that aspect also. Do you have someone or somewhere that could walk you through firing with gas?

Hi and welcome to the forum. There is a thread linked below discussing iron speckles and granular manganese that should be of help. There are some images of both iron and manganese speckles. https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/26989-how-to-add-speckles-to-a-claybody/

I figured out what was causing this, but wanted to allow for a lot of firings to make sure. It turns out that inside the digital controller that I added, the 'wire-end' of the compression terminal on one of the internal wires was a bit too close to the controller's metal housing. I disassembled the controller (which was bought in one preassembled piece), and found signs of arcing. I put a good bend into the terminal, put everything back together, and have had no problems now over many, many firings.

You are all very sweet, thank you. Nice to have a community where we try to help each other out, share info, and encourage one other. Many I time I've asked for help around here and gotten great input. So I'm glad if I can give a little something back.

Hi all, First post here, hi :-). I have been interested in pottery for a long time, and now finally have a chance to set up a small studio and spend more time doing it. I have started planning the studio and the first thing I am trying to decide on is my kiln. I was wondering what you all would recommend for a kiln starting out: Gas or Electric. I live out in the countryside (middle-of-nowhere eastern WA) and could build a gas kiln next to the studio no problem (or buy one and put it there). Or I could run some more heavy duty electric to the studio building and buy an electric kiln. I am more interested in cone 10 clay and glazes and reduction firing, but if a gas kiln would be too much for a beginning potter to handle I would be willing to do some learning on an electric first. I imagine that in the future I will end up going gas, but in that case I guess I could just use the electric kiln for bisque firing so hopefully it wouldn't be a waste. Or maybe I would end up loving electric lol. So many things to think about, any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Hello, new to the forum and pottery in general. I picked up some iron oxide spangles today whilst at my pottery supply shop. I got them because they looked pretty..... Thing is I don't know what different things I can do with them. The guy in the shop told me they'd still be sparkly if I wedged them into my stoneware clay but I'm dubious about this?? Sparkly clay?? Can anyone give me tips or ideas that I can do with this product please? Google search brings up so much stuff that is completely over my head. Thank you in advance.

Definitely build it right on a kiln shelf. I'd also put it on a waster slab. It's okay if the waster breaks, it'll still work. Keep the kiln shelf up on bricks or something that will allow you to get your fingers under the edge to pick it up without having to tip it.

I was recently asked about a pouring box for mold making. Here are two versions I use in the studio. The image with the bulbous object is my main pouring box. The pieces are 3/4" plywood cut into 5"x15" boards. I then screwed 1"x1" strips onto the ends which provide a lip for the small "C" clamps. Very quick and easy to assemble a box in any dimension. The second image shows another box variation that I use often for flat castings. The sides of the box are 2"x2" pieces of pine. (In his case I also used some 1"x2" strips.) The 2x2 pieces are labeled as "turning blanks" and come in a variety of wood types. (Woodworkers use them to make stairway balusters.) Because they are square and stocky they don't need much bracing other than a little clay at their base. The mold on the left I free formed and did not use the box to limit the plaster. (I shaped it by hand.) The mold on the right I filled the box with plaster and then ran a straight edge along the tops of the wood pieces which resulted in a mold that was evenly thick.

Years ago I made plaster molds for a customer who then used my molds to make clay tiles. The clay tiles would be fired and then used as COOKIE molds. (The tiles had a slight relief that would make for very interesting cookies.) The process, I was told, was to lightly oil the fired tile and then place a little bit of cookie dough on it. Put both in the oven and bake for the normal amount of time. As the dough softened, and baked it, would lay down on the tile and take the relief. Then, once the tile cooled enough, the cookie would lift off the tile easily. I've often thought of making promotional cookies, for studio events, but haven't taken the time to do it yet. Making chocolates sounds fun but challenging. Let us know how it turns out.

Commercial glaze makers have tuned in to the cone 6 market very well in the past twenty years. You can be assured the claims they make hold true most of the time. I’m impressed to see color charts and samples fired to cone 6 of products originally marketed as low fire. The formulas are proprietary so there’s no way to know if or how they’ve changed them to accommodate the higher temperatures. They “just work.” Cone 10 is different. In fact, they don’t make many claims about that, other than “it might work.” This kind of firing usually happens in a gas kiln and a reduction atmosphere. Cone 10 firing in an electric kiln is unusual. The atmosphere makes a difference. Finding a different clear glaze may be a worthwhile chore. Another avenue to pursue is using slip. The easiest course is to use your clay body and add a significant amount of black Mason stain (6600 is my go to). Unfortunately, I can’t suggest a percentage because I haven’t personally fired those test tiles yet (Coincidentally, they’re slated for Saturday, 20% 6600, 80% B-mix5. It’s in a soda firing at cone 6, rather different from what you’re experiencing, but I’m still shooting for clean blackness like you. I’ll let you know), fortunately, you shouldn’t have to worry about fit issues because the slip is mostly the clay body, unfortunately, you’ll have to apply it in a wet or leather hard state to be safe, fortunately, you’re doing sgraffito which suggests you’re already doing that, unfortunately, you’d have to mix up the stuff yourself, fortunately if your current clear glaze works with the clay body it should work with a slip made mostly from the clay body, unfortunately, maybe those bubbles were there already and you didn’t see them until they were over a large black surface and it is just the glaze… Fortunately or unfortunately, this is ceramics. It only gets better.

True artist. Brava!!! Brava!!! It’s a special place we have here. Thank you for the saga. Inspiring.

Build it on a shelf. I think that’s a great idea. Taking rings off the Skutt is a solution to the next problem, you’re thinking it through (You really need a car kiln or front loader for this!). Wheeled carts are brilliant. I struggle with this next bit, because I would rather do things on my own and screw them up (It’s a blessing and a curse) than have either help or an audience. This is a large piece. Having another pair of trusted eyes and hands is indispensable, enlist help for the critical move if you haven’t already considered it.

Don’t fire on drywall it will smolder and burn once calcined. Used to be type X 5/8” - approx. 60 minutes, 120 minutes to sustain a flame. I like the shelf idea and unless once firing, you can grog / silica the shelf after bisque. Many of our large format sculptors would build on a very straight shelf on top of a four wheeled cart.