Denice

It seems to me that your firing time is appropriate for the cone you are firing to. I have been firing manual kilns for 50 years and replace my elements when my glaze firing time is around twelve hours. Some potters have a firing schedule of twelve hours and consider a 7/9 too fast. I usually end up between 9/10 hours, it depends on loaded the kiln is and also how much soaking, hold and down firing I do. Denice

I think designing and making a surface decorations that goes with that form is the most important part of the process for me. I make a lot of coiled and slab type pieces and for some reason after they are fired they don't look as well balanced as they did in the green ware stage. A good design on it distracts from many imperfections, I am usually the only one who notices them or cares. Some people call me a perfectionist, I have gotten better at tolerating imperfection. I use to go through my shop and throw away all of my work and start anew on a regular basis. Denice

I will share with anyone who asks, I decided that even before I had any knowledge. It is very hard to copy someone's work, your own personality comes through. I did have someone copy my work in college, I felt sorry for him. I was working on my bachelor's degree and he was working on his masters. I didn't know him, a friend of mine had seen the work at the masters show and thought it was mine. I was working at home and only coming in for critiques, I had to fire my babysitter for mistreating my newborn son. I had some of the pots in a soda fire, he probably unloaded it. His piece had a little more detailed work on it and was more refined. His personality came through and improved the design.

We have dined at several of our local restaurants and been charged credit card fees. We have also been charged on quite a few of our online purchases. I have a 2 percent back credit card, as long as you keep your credit card paid off every month you are only paying 1 percent. Denice

My next project is a landscape mural, I haven't started rolling out clay yet. I am waiting for my knee to get better before I lift a bag of clay, I have the drawing blown up to the correct size and all of my clay. I am working with 6 different clay's they are different colors and textures. There will be very little glaze on the mural, I am going to make up some new test tiles to make sure everything works together. This is my smallest mural so far, it is only 3x5 feet, it is a exterior mural so I am using stoneware clay fired until it is vitrified. I don't know if I will ever start working small again. I have big hands and starting to get arthritis in them. Taking zoom photo's of your work is a great idea, I haul a tall ladder into my studio and climb to the top and take photos of the mural I am working on. It gives me a idea of what it looks like from a distance. Denice

I love your photos of the progression of your work. Years ago I made small pieces of sculpture, I sculpted the work out of plastilene and made my own plaster molds, I buy the 25lb plaster bags. I used a C5 porcelain type slip. I like working with it because you could bisque fire it and then clean off the molds lines with a Dremel tool, the mold line would totally disappear. They also had the slip in black , the main reason I started working with it. Glad you are back in the studio. Denice

Harbor Freight has some big blue plastic tarps that are inexpensive, sometimes they have a sidewalk sale and give them away. Put your wheel on one and hang a couple on the wall, clean up everyday so you don't track clay around. Throw a little drier by just wetting your hands not the clay, keep a small wet sponge in your hand to squeeze some water on the clay. I had a professor teach my class to throw this way. When I trim clay that is starting to get too dry I have a bigger mess. Winter is many months away, you have plenty of time to plan your throwing inside. Denice

I was taught that trimming the bottom of the pot was part of the balance, stand and overall design of the piece. I enjoy trimming, if I was a high production potter I am sure I would find it tedious after awhile. Denice

Years ago I made several nativity sets out of bone slip that I purchased. I made the molds myself and had a lot of joints which made many seams on the pieces. I bisque fired them and clean up the seams with a Dremel tool, then I fired them to C5 using setters where they were needed. I heated them in the oven before I glazed, I know three firings is excessive but the process of cleaning the seams was very easy. I used a Celadon type low fire glaze and you couldn't find a joining seam on the pieces. Denice

We haven't had large group of deer hanging around across the street for awhile. We probably won't see them again for several years, a large development of houses is being built on the other side of the creek. Their is a shortage of houses in our area so the big fields we drive by are turning in apartment complexes and houses. We will still have our view it is owned by the county. There is a heron rookery in the same area I imagine all of the heavy equipment will scare them away. Denice

Must be nice to have all those trees, not many trees in Kansas. I have tried planting them a couple of times and the deer manage to kill them. We have a creek about 3 blocks from our house with a large population on deer. Did anyone else get snow yesterday, it looked like Christmas card snow. Denice

I have had a Christmas cactus in a south window in my shop for years. I love it, you can forget to water it for a month and it comes back to life when you do. It has double blooms that appear in December. Denice

I have a small fan in front of my heating/air conditioning vents, they tucked beneath a countertop and need some help . I put a fan in the kiln room window to exhaust some of the heat out side when I fire . I don't even open the windows in the summer, I live in Kansas more dust outside than inside my studio. I clean the area I am working in but I don't tackle every area of the studio. Denice

I have a similar view but my snow covered trees are on the other side of a field. We don't get snow that often but we do get a lot of deer, birds and other woodland creatures. Denice

I bought a used Brent off of E Bay four or five years ago. The previous owner had replaced the motor but still couldn't throw very well on it, he was a newbie. When I got it home I noticed the foot pedal was out of adjustment. It was so bad I thought I would have to buy another, while researching on the internet I found easy directions to repair it. It only took a few minutes, I wonder if he really needed that new motor he spent $400 on. Denice

I am lucky, I have a supplier that is about a 20 minute drive. The next closest supplier is in Kansas City which 175 miles from my house. I needed a bag of Flinthill Clay to complete a project, my supplier didn't carry it anymore so I had to order it from Kansas City. They had bought the Flinthill Clay Co., I paid 25$ for one 25lb bag of clay and 25$ freight on it. My local ceramic shop doesn't have much clay in stock right now. I hope what I have in my shop will last me until they get more clay in. Denice

Great set of dishes you have been using them 50 years, I have been using a set I made for 15 years and they are starting to look a little hazy. Your C10 gas fired dishes are more durable than my C6 oxidation fired set. I use a Tony Hansen glaze formula that was suppose to be very durable for dishware. Hard to test and see if the glaze holds up to wear and tear for fifteen years. When my neighbor moved she offered to sell me a set of dishes she bought from a potter in Los Angeles in the 70's. She wanted 300 dollars, she couldn't remember the potters name or what they looked like, she had never used them. By the time she went home she had talked herself out of selling them. I would have liked to see them but she didn't want to open the box, Denice

Couldn't think of just 5 for regular hand building, Coiling or pinch pot you can get by with clay, plastic rib, small wood thumb, a old cutting board to roll on and a slurry bowl of clay to fix dry areas. Denice

One of my college assignments was to make a dozen nice mugs for a Valentines sale to raise money for a NCECA trip. I was in a hand building class so I made mugs that look like hearts on top and butts in the from. They needed a very stylized handle, after I made a few, I realized that it was taking too long. So I made a press mold of several handles and was able to finish on time. I still get request for butt mugs, I am glad I kept the handle press mold. Denice

Looks great, I haven't done any cooking since I fell a couple of weeks ago. My husband does some cooking with a little direction. I had him bake some potatoes, throw some steaks on the grill and heat up some frozen vegetables. He was surprised what a easy dinner it was to make. He made biscuit and gravy this morning. Yummy! Denice

Years ago I watched on interview with Ruth Duckworth that inspired me to work with clay until the end of my life if I could. She was in her studio sitting comfortably and smiling at the interviewer as he asked her questions. In the middle of the questions she excused herself and said her kiln needed a little reduction. She picks up a few small sticks of wood and throws them in the kiln when she opens the door. She sits back down, tells the interviewer that the kiln is taken care of and smiles. She was so comfortable and happy in her studio. I wanted to have that in my old age. Denice

My husband is starting his fourth year of retirement and I think everything that could go wrong did. He had health problems right away, in the middle of his colon surgery his mother was brought by a ambulance to the same hospital. We spent two years handling things for his mom, she died last November, still settling the will a year later. In middle of all this Covid shutdown, I had both wrists and a finger operated on and I have arthritis in my fingers. I haven't given up, I am reorganizing my shop this week, even hanging new blinds. I started on a alternative plan to keep me in my studio ten years ago. I started growing gourds, I know they are not clay but they are shaped like pots and are light weight. There are many ways to get designs on them with light weight tools. If you not into growing them you can buy them in bulk on-line. I have seen finished pieces in galleries and have bought a dozed pieces for inspiration. I bought one that was from a gallery on 5th avenue at a estate sale. My big project this winter is 3'x4' mural. I guess I'd better get to work. Denice

I have a plastic quart jar that I stick the tools I am using at the moment in. The rest of my tools that I have collected over the last fifty years are in trays that are used in mechanic tool boxes. They are tough but light weight and will stack inside of each other. They were also very cheap, the silver rack has inspired me to drill some holes in the bottom to make them and the tools easier to clean. My cutoff wires are hanging by hooks next to the wheel. The rest of the studio might get reorganized, right now it looks like a tornado went through it. We had to move and pull everything away from the outside wall, the termite exterminator is starting today. I don't have to organize electric or bigger tools, that is my husbands domain. He has 3000 sq. feet for cars he restores and different work areas, I have 350 sq. feet. He has offered to let me have some of his space, unfortunately I would just fill it with stuff I don't need. I am going to try to do a deep throw away cleaning this time. I like my cozy studio but it is a little too cozy right now. Denice

Is yellow ocher a coloring oxide? I have used it as a coloring oxide, you have to use a large of percentage of it to get any color in a white glaze base. Denice