Denice
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Everything posted by Denice
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Turning your hobby into a business
Denice replied to ceramicjames's topic in Business, Marketing, and Accounting
I can lose a day working in my studio, even recycling clay and cleaning time fly's by. My husbands loves to work on cars but hates lawn work. We hire a man to help us with outdoor work, last summer the front end on his car broke. My husband agrees to fix his car instead of paying him for his work that day. The hired man comments later that he has never seen someone so happy to be working on a car. My husband spent his life writing technical books on amusement rides, plane, trains and construction equipment. But is happiest when he is working with his hands. Denice -
I don't have any unusual tools but I do use tool tray inserts that I store my tools in. They are to be used in large tool chest, the plastic is heavy you don't need any support. They stack inside of each other and are easy to wash out. I am kind of a tool hoarder so I have three of them filled. Denice
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Our local art museum would have a exhibit for children with impaired sight, they could pick up and touch the art work. I thought it would be great if they had a permanent exhibit for all children to enjoy touching the art work. I would be happy to donate pots to it. I love to observe and touch pottery, it gives me a feeling of being grounded to the earth. Denice
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Turning your hobby into a business
Denice replied to ceramicjames's topic in Business, Marketing, and Accounting
I am also 70 years old, I purchased a new Paragon Caldera test kiln a few months ago and I installed a new LL kiln with the same Genesis 2.0 controller on it this week in my kiln room. I purchase the test kiln because the one I was using needed work and it was old and didn't have a controller or thick walls. My old Skutt started giving me trouble at the same time. I thought long and hard on whether it was a sensible thing to do at my age it invest in new equipment at my age. Maybe I should give it up, I just couldn't imagine myself doing anything else, sure I could find something to piddle with but I would lose interest quickly. My interest lately is testing the same glaze on eight or so different clay's. I can see myself delving even deeper into glaze to put on small pots. Someday I will have to quit working in my studio, I will at least know that old age didn't stop me from doing what I love. Denice -
You will need to start this journey a small and large thumb, a medium wire tool to cut out excess clay and a rubber rib to smooth clay. You might want to make your first piece before you buy anything to get a feel for the tools you will need, your hands are your best tool. Look around your house and garage and there is many objects you can use. A old credit card makes a great stiff smoother, you can make a them out of plastic bottles also. A couple of homemade wire tools I bought are the best wire tools I have ever had. I have seen a small cheese slicer used to cut off excess clay. The thumbs will have to be whittled out of wood, using a dremel grinding stone on a piece of soft wood like pine it makes pretty quick work of it. I made a small thumb once by gluing a stack of popsickle sticks together and shaping on end like a thumb. Have fun! Denice
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I hope you get some throwing done this summer. Work and family can keep you busy, I have been busy buying new equipment, I bought a new Paragon Caldera test kiln a few months ago. I just got a call and the shipping company is delivering my new LL kiln tomorrow. I sold my big Skutt last night to a new potter, I told her I would help her with her first firing or answer any questions she had. Denice
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Wow that cargo van can really hold a lot! I had PT cruisers for 20 years, I traded my last one in 2022, If you took the back seats out it had a flat floor and you could fit 8ft boards by sliding into the front. I packed it to the ceiling many times and even moved my large kiln in it and friends houses. You could register it as a truck if you wanted to pay more taxes. I will have a 65 El Camino to use when my husband gets it painted, it is easy to load much lower than new trucks and has a metal bed cover. It won't have a heated steering wheel but it will have a custom leather interior and air conditioning. Denice
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I used to have a stack of pots that I really didn't like and I would let visitors to my studio take one home. I would watch them ooh and ahh over them and it slowly started to sink in that people can have very different taste in art. Some people would look for the piece that had the most imperfections, now I know not to throw those away. Denice
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We had our computer bite the dust on our trip to Galveston TX, we paid the computer tech $100 to unload our old files to the new one. I had all of my glaze formulas printed out and in a binder in my studio, my husband hadn't saved anything. Denice
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Good that you managed to save the files. Luckily I use Linux and you can boot into the operating system from a USB stick and sort it out from there otherwise I might have been doing the same and taking the drives to the local tech.
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My first throwing class we were only allowed to keep three pieces for grading purposes. It was that way until I was in advance throwing, mostly the class threw and cut. We also had to mix clay, help load kilns and clean. All of the pottery classes were full and the department was overwhelmed with clay needing to be made and glazed pots sitting everywhere waiting to be fired. Denice
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How to transform a fired high gloss piece to satin?
Denice replied to Jimself's topic in Studio Operations and Making Work
Sharp sand sounds like a great idea, is it a special sand? -
I get some heat from the house it is enough to keep things from freezing. I have one of those radiator looking electric heaters, first thing I do is turn it on in the morning. I also turn on a couple of small fans to move the air around. I am unable to warm it enough to work out there when it is 0 and below outside. I catch up with chores in the house on those days, fortunately the southern part of Kansas only has 2 or 3 weeks of intense cold each year. I know that doesn't sound that cold to some but we get strong winds with it. Even people from colder states complain about the cold weather here. Denice
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There is a little bit of my life in everyone's answer, life just gets in the way. I am just thankful that I am 70 and can still work with clay. I am unloading my big kiln today and start glazing so I can fire tomorrow. Who could ask for more! Denice
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Ever regret selling a piece?
Denice replied to shawnhar's topic in Business, Marketing, and Accounting
I don't get very attached to my work, I am a process oriented person. I like the process of making it but once it is finished I can let go of it. I think I am this way because of my childhood. I had four sisters and we lived in a 600 sq. ft. house. We each had a drawer for our clothes and toys, we would have to clean it out every month and give the toys we hadn't played with recently to the salvation army. Denice -
The utility cabinet I use is vented, I purchase 2 of them 13 years ago for 80 dollars. I bought two because I wanted to make sure I had enough drying space. I have never used the second one, my husband uses it in the garage. I was recently in a lumber yard and noticed they had the same cabinets for 40 dollars. they haven't change prices in 13 years. Denice.
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You could try it but be prepared for warping or cracking, the lowest temperature on my oven is 180 that is awfully hot for clay. I took a summer throwing class we would take our pots out and set them in the shade out of the wind. It was 105 out that temperature was pushing the edge of the thrown pots tolerance. Denice
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The utility cabinet I bought doesn't cost much here but you may not find one where you live. The college I went to made up a wooden shelf unit with slat shelves, they would wrap it in heavy painters plastic put a fan and light bulb in in. I wouldn't leave the light bulb on unattended, I just had a lampshade frame break and it fell against small low wattage bulb and melted. Denice
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It can be humid in my area so I put a small desk fan or a light bulb in the bottom of my cabinet, the fan cannot blow directly on the pots. The cabinet I use is a utility or laundry room cabinet, it is all plastic with adjustable shelves and is vented. I have to put wire racks on the shelves so I won't have a build up of condensation between the shelf and the bottom of the pot. I pick up the racks at estate sales, you have to know the size and make sure the wires and to far apart. I bought one for tile that is called a pie rack , 3 shelves that stack on top of each other and then fold up to put away. Denice
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We were told not to breathe the dust buy not why. This is a good topic for people with flourescent bulbs in their studio's, I am about to replace my bulbs with LED's and my husband is also replacing the ones in his garage. Now we know to take them to hazardous waste instead of our trash can. Thank you Min for your information and help, not questioning some ones sanity. I am glad I mentioned that class I have learned something new that helps prevent soil contamination. Denice
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This was part of a demonstration on how broken bulbs fired in the clay create a clear glaze. He had us find old bulbs and break them over a trash can outdoors because the powder in side of them was dangerous to breathe. We washed them and brought them to class, this was part of our assignment. I handbuilt my pot, we had only one wheel in the class, my teacher would pick one boy to teach him how to throw. Girls weren't given this honor we were too weak, I was a head taller than my teacher. had broad shoulders and large hands. The glaze it made was a ugly dingy clear. In the late 60's many of the psychodelic albums were played during class and I am pretty sure my teacher was smoking marijuana in his pipe. After I left he somehow managed to burn down the classroom, they rewarded him by replacing the electric kilns with a big gas kiln. It was a interesting and fun time of my life and I didn't do drugs, smoke or drink. Denice
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The sawdust will burn out, it depends on how coarse it is on the texture the clay is after firing. It depends on how sensitive your skin is when it comes to throwing it, I threw a large bowl with large grain sawdust in it, wasn't to bad. I had a teacher that demonstrated throwing clay with broken flourescent bulbs in it. He got the vase thrown and had tiny cuts all over his hand that were bleeding. He wiped off the blood and said no big deal. Denice
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Looking for Clay Bodies that Present Raw like Japanese
Denice replied to ThruTraffic's topic in Clay and Glaze Chemistry
Saw dust gives clay a rough surface after it's fired, you can press chips of wood into it when you are finished throwing it for bigger gouges. I have a pot made by a man and wife team, they gave everyone a unsigned unglazed small bowl from the seminar. The top of the bowl has a beautiful tear. they were using a Cone 10 stoneware. I think you can mix sawdust in any clay you have. It has been 20 years ago so my memory may be a little off. Denice -
Ordered a new LL kiln today from Neil. He helped me decide on the model that would work for me in my elderly years. Great service and price. Now I have to sell my old kilns and wait. Denice
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Thanks, Denice!
Cone offsets allow you to adjust the temp for any cone. So for instance if you notice it's firing too hot at cone 6 but not at cone 04, you adjust the temp for cone 6 without affecting any other cones.
Thermocouple offsets allow you to individually adjust the thermocouples if it's firing too hot or too cold at all temps, or if you notice that one section of the kiln is firing too hot or too cold. Larger kilns often need the bottom thermocouple adjusted to prevent the bottom from running cold.
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Thanks for reminding me Neil, I forgot to state the offsets were for the cone firing to so there could be multiple offsets just for different cones.
Thanks again for reminding me,
best,
Pres
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Offsets sounds like the firing method I have for a kiln that is firing to cool on the bottom. I put a C5 instead of C6 in the sitter, when it clicks off I turn it back on. Then I adjust the temperature turning the knobs manually watching my dual Skutt thermocouple until the whole kiln is the right temp. I will take a look at my Caldera manual and learn how to do offsets with a thermocouple that is programed. Denice
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I also have it my glaze book but I don't remember the 20 minute hold. What temperature do you hold it at? I bought myself a XL Caldera test kiln recently, I have already ran 20 test firings. Using it has inspired me to buy a new kiln. I bought a kiln several years ago for $300, it had only been fired once, there is a lot of things I don't like about it. I think I will start shopping after I get my new mural fired. Denice
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Looking through your old pots can help sometimes. Like Old Lady I dislike or even hate them but occasionally I will run across a piece that I really liked and forgotten about. I wonder why I didn't go further with that design and decide now is the time. Denice
