Ginny C

I must not have explained my question well. I am talking about tinting Laguna B-Mix 5 clay with 2 colors—a brown Mason stain and some iron oxide hoping for a camel tan color, and using the white B-Mix plain for the 3rd color. (Using the same clay for all 3 colors keeps it from separating.) I originally used an iron oxide my son sent me from France (not Spain after all.) I don't have it any more. I'm trying to figure out what to order that might make a nice tan color with the white clay. The iron oxide bit I do have was a powder someone gave me that I had mixed with water for writing on b

My Magic Water is finally used up. I think my 2 pints lasted for 15 years! Time to make more. My sodium silicate is thick and gummy, not a liquid. It will probably dissolve in hot water, but do you think it is okay for magic water? have soda ash powder, and hope I don't need to buy new sodium silicate. Thanks! ginny This is really a question, not a reply! Should I start a new one?

Years ago I made a marbled free form dish from a slab of white, brown and tan clay. I can't remember how I got the tan. I use B-Mix 5. Brown stain for the brown, obviously, but I think I used some red-iron oxide that my son sent me from a trip to Spain. It's all gone. I have a bit of a different dried up RIO from somewhere...Will a little of that turn the B-Mix a nice tan color? I've attached a tiny bit of it...tried to attach the whole thing but kept being told (scolded) that the file was too large. It finally accepted this tiny bit. Sorry you can't see the dish, but at least you can see

OH! Just make little balls of clay and put them underneath?! What fun! How far apart...I'm guessing about 1 inch apart...so 8-10 for a platter with about 4-5 inches diameter flat area on the bottom? ginny ( I love the interest in this, and the advanced scientific discussion some of you have brought into it!)

Are you saying you fast-fired to ^5 for a bisque firing? Or do you mean to ^05? If you fast-fired to ^5 from greenware I'm not surprised it cracked. Chilly, Oh good grief. Sorry ! I was just talking about my glaze firings there..and the fact that the kiln slightly overheats. The bisque firing under discussion here was to cone 04! Sorry for the confusion. ginny

Chris, Yes, it's sharp! Would take a lot of grinding to not look like just a broken piece! And, Babs...maybe a garden piece is a good idea. Nerd & Chris, thank you for all that explanation! I've never tried to use my kiln without just the built-in settings. It's an Excel with a Select Fire board. I set it for cone 5 (but when I use a witness cone it shows cone 6 was reached) and I usually choose slow or medium speed, but this time I used Fast...maybe that was the problem!!?? It looks like about 6 inches of the platter rested on the shelf. (No foot ring on this piece.) I will o

Chris...I guess I do not understand how to post a photo. Thought I followed the directions to attach files, but evidently I need to do something different! Or, can you see them now? ginny

Lots of work went into this large (15" diameter) agate ware platter, but it broke clean in half during the bisque firing! I had it sitting on sheets of Bullseye kiln liner paper to allow it to slide on the kiln shelf. I'm sure it is now headed for the driveway, unless someone can suggest another use, or even a way to repair it. (Ha!) Just to show what it would look like with a clear glaze, here's another piece I made earlier: FYI, the patterned clay strips are placed on a thin slab of the same clay (Laguna B-Mix for cone 5) and rolled hard until they are basically one uni

Oh I love the phrase plug shuffle! What a variety of answers to this question...wonder what that proves, besides the obvious one that the impatience quotient varies among potters. Do those of you who open early get more crazing than if you'd waited?? Of course crazing is pretty, but isn't it bad on the inside of pots that will hold food? I'm a new potter, 72 years young and after taking classes I've now had my own cellar studio for one year. I LOVE making pots! Electric kiln in the garage, and I agonize every time about this kind of question. How about the other end of the firing cycleâ€