Denice

My shop is attached to my house so I get some heat from the house furnace it is just enough to keep it from freezing. I have been using a oil fill radiator for years. I turn it on early in the morning and it is usually warm enough to work in by the time a get out there. Denice

Unloaded a bisque Friday, mixed up some test glazes yesterday and firing them today but nothing on my work table. I am going to start putting my chemicals in new containers today, my old containers were from a deli and they had potato salad in them. The containers are still good but the lids are hard and brittle, I can't complain they lasted 40 years. Denice

Just a small coil pot waiting to be finished on my table, I am making some small pots to fill the nooks and crannies in my kiln. Denice

I did manage to graduate with some decent throwing skills, I was more interested in hand building. I throw something once in a while , I am still into hand building I will never be a master thrower or even a good one. Denice

I have a half finished coiled pot on my work table and a drying cabinet that is nearly full. I am surprised I am getting any work done at all. My 95 year old mother in-law has been in the hospital and my son and his wife are back from their European tour. Denice

I don't know if this is from a bad habit or frustration. I have been making coiled pots for several years now and would usually have to flatten the bottom when I finish the piece. This would leave me with a rough service to put my name on because of the sandy groggy clay. I tried stamps and and writing my name in stain and you couldn't read it. If i can't read a signature on a piece of pottery at a sale I won't purchase it so why would someone purchase my unreadable signature. I decided to scratch my name in block letters and come back and fill the lines with black stain. I have just started selling some of my work, the customer turns is over to make sure it is signed and usually says good I can read it! Denice

Soda firing is also my favorite glaze effect, I fell in love with it in college. I work in C6 oxidation now, I always have my long lost love from college to remember and lust over. Denice

Finished a nice moon shape pot yesterday which isn't easy when you coil. Put up new lights for my studio, better color and brighter lights, it made most of the studio look better. I had one corner of the room that had damaged sheetrock from a roof leak suddenly it stuck out like a sore thumb. I have it remudded and taped and will probably paint it today. Denice

We still use the dinnerware set that I threw twelve years ago, it its getting a little scratchy looking. I have been thinking about putting one of the plates in a glaze firing. It might cure the haze on the plates or make the puddle. I will give it a try in my next firing. Denice

I was rejected at a show because I didn't have a bachelors degree. It was a local show, I had gotten my work put on slides just like the instructions in the application. When I was paying the fee and they were looking over my application. I was told I shouldn't bother applying I didn't have a degree so I wouldn't be taken very seriously. I took my $25 and went home. I attended the show later and found very few local artist included in the show. Denice

Unloaded a glaze firing last Friday and finished a coiled bowl today. My sister left this morning she and her husband has been visiting for a week so I haven't spent much time in my studio. They are on another long RV trip planning to be back in Sacramento by Thanksgiving. Peace and quiet until my son and his wife get home from Europe at the end of the month. Denice

I did a little ceramics when I was young but really got hooked on it in high school. This was the late 60's so everything was pretty groovy. I went to college a couple of different times to finish my bachelors in Ceramics. Besides what I learned in the ceramics department the other classes I took help me develop as a potter and artist. Classes like Geology, Astronomy and History are the ones a pull from for design inspirations. I found out that I was a pretty good painter, I love life drawing, and art history brought out my inner researcher. The only thing I would change is I wish I had a more advanced materials class and that my professor was around. He was retiring my senior year and I was pretty much on my own. He spoke to me after my Senior Show and told me that my work was really good. He said it made him realize that he didn't even know what I was doing and he was sorry he wasn't around. Denice

My best handmade tool is also a extruder, I found the directions in a Ceramics Monthly probably 20 years ago. I built it originally according to the instructions and have changed a few components over the years to make it stronger. I make the dies for it from dies for cookie presses, I find cookie press sets at estate sales for a couple of dollars. I even have a really heavy duty cookie press that will extrude handles for cups that I paid a dollar for. Denice

Yappy I have started carrying a letter with my from my neurologist that I am disabled. I haven't applied for a handicapped tag yet, I am not ready for the abuse people give you when they don't think you are disabled but are using a handicapped parking spot. MS is one of those invisible diseases also unless you have progressed to a wheelchair. I was buying clay the other day and the lady I usually deal with was having trouble putting the clay in my car. He hands were curled up so tight from arthritis that she couldn't grasp the box. I helped her pick them up and told her that two old ladies could do it if we worked together. She laughed. Now that my husband is retiring I will have help. Denice

It hasn't been that recent but I added some vermiculite to some clay I was using for a mural. I thought it would make it lighter and give it that rough look I was wanting. It succeeded on both of those but failed in burning out. It was only fired electric to C04, I took a dental probe and dug out all of the powdery vermiculite on the areas that were visible. It might of burn't out if I had fired it to C6. Denice

I am not a big mug maker but when I do I end up with a extruded D shaped handle with enough room for two or three fingers. I have monster hands so if I can get two other people will be able to get three. I tend to make handles that blend into the rim and foot, more of a contemporary look. The handle is wide enough you have a secure feel when holding it not a rolly polly cup. If I made mugs for production I would probably use a different handle, these require more fussing than other type of handles. Denice

I usually do a quick cleaning once a week and if I change colors of clay I do a thorough cleaning. I also do a thorough cleaning before I glaze. I need to clean right now but I had a frozen bottle fall out of the freezer and smash a toe Monday. Maybe today, tomorrow or the next day. . . . Denice

Igusten can you explain the process of using the slab roller to wedge clay, that is something that would be of great help to me. Denice

Many of you already know I have Multiple Sclerosis, my first relapse was when I was throwing a vegetable bowl. I had just finished a set of tableware and decided I didn't like way the glaze came out. My right arm wouldn't work right and I was in a lot of pain, I was sent to a neurologist because my GP thought I had pinch a nerve in my elbow. The rest is history. I wasn't going to let this disease take away everything I had worked for so I started making tile murals. I made those for about 7 years and I got to the point where I needed more and more help from my husband in moving them and installation. It wasn't fair to keep him away from his car restoration projects. I decided to go back to my love of ancient pottery and do some coiling, I have been coiling now for three years. Recently Mark C found a Brent wheel on E-Bay in my area so he sent me a message about it. I bought it and sold my kick wheel that I could no longer use. I have been throwing small bowls and mugs trying to retrain the neural pathways in my brain the way they do with stroke patients. My arms are pretty weak, I hope practicing builds my throwing muscles. I have a back up plan in case I get to the point I can't work in clay anymore. I have been growing gourds and drying them, they look like pots and you can carve, paint, cut and stain them. Don't let aches, pains or a serious disease take away the work you love. A woman in my neighborhood was hit by a car, her daughter was on the other bicycle and was killed. The only part of her body she could move was her head. A helper would set up her paints and put a brush in her mouth and she would paint beautiful still life's. She never let her disability get her down and was inspiring to everyone she met. Denice

I was taught that the balance and design between the rim and foot was the markings of a well made pot. I work with C6 glazes and only have trouble with running when I layer them. I liked the looks of that foot, I think I will give it a try. Denice

Mark is the first ridge on your bowl for catching any running glazes? Denice

Pres those teapots look like they would be fun to make, I love making teapots. I hope I can retrain my brain and arm connection so I can throw them on electric wheel I just bought. I just had the foot pedal adjusted so that made a huge difference. Losing the ability to throw was the first thing I lost to MS , I am slowly retraining my brain , I can throw small bows and cups now. Mark C found me the wheel on E-bay so I sold my kick wheel and forging forward with my quest. Denice