Denice

I am afraid I have already lost my favorite tool. I bought several handmade tools at a potters estate sale. One of them was a trimmer with wire wrapped around it, the wire was heavier than the factory made ones. It was fast at trimming and you could make some great lines and grooves with it. It is lost because it got old and fell apart, it was old when I purchase it, I used it for 20 years I don't think it owed me anything. May it rest in peace. Denice

I also use my lighter shelves on the bottom and the heavier one on top. I would like to find someone to mentor, they could learn from me and help with heavy lifting. I had a couple of people in mind who started in clay during Covid. Once things got back to semi normal they lost interest in it. It would also be good to have someone that could put the studio equipment to good use when I am no longer around. I would rather give it to someone who is a serious clay person than sell it. Denice

Loading my test kiln tomorrow with my red calico clay and slip test. My husband is still down and out, thought is was a bad cold. Now he has no energy or spark, I think it might have been Covid. Suppose to be warm tomorrow great day to be in the studio. Denice

I taught a summer ceramic class one time, it was a level two throwing class. I was surprise that most of the students didn't know about body movement and the type of tension in the hands and arms. I was just filling in the regular teacher was there with injured hands she guided them with the assembly of parts and glazing. Denice

If I see a brush on sale I usually buy it, the brushes I get at my ceramic supplier usually end up my favorite. I recently finished a couple of handmade brushes for slip work, I think I need a sidewalk to practice on. I didn't have any bamboo available in this area, even Ebay didn't have any listed. I decided to get some cheap Chinese brushes and use the handles, worked great. Between the cost of the handle, deer fur and glue I have about $7 in each one. Etsy had them finished and ready to buy between $75 and $100. I will stick to my homemade ones, I still have enough supplies to make more. Denice

Sorry you can't hang on to your equipment, if anything I would sell the slab roller. When my son was in his teens he wanted to play the drums, so we bought him a nice set. We knew other drummers and they said at one point he will quit playing but don't let him sell him drums. They said he would want to drum again someday, twenty three years later and he went back to the drums. Denice

When my husband started repairing my kilns he would watch the Skutt repair video's just to make sure he did everything right. My dryer quit working several months ago, he didn't want to work on it just wanted to buy new one. We bought Speed Queens because they were so easy to fix, I look up a video and check it out. There is a hidden door on the machine, open it up and there is two parts right in front of you that could cause the problem. He went to the supply store and told them what he was working on, the clerk grabs a part out of big box and says you want one of these they break all of the time. Fixed the dryer for twelve dollars instead of spending three thousand on a new set. Denice

Hyn I love the lego's being used for the walls of your mold. The old shoe boxes I use don't make a very pretty mold on the outside. I gave away my son's lego's to a child with learning disabilities. I gave him all of my son's educational toy's, I was saving them in case I got grandchildren. That isn't going to happen so I found a new home for them. I never new the back end of a horse could be so beautiful. Congratulation great work. Denice

Remake it is the only answer, a crack like that will only widen when it is fired, You might have had a chance if it was smaller but the twisting and movement of the clay will separate it. Denice

I am sure I could learn how to repair my kiln if I could just get over my electricity phobia. When I was eight years old I attended girl scout camp, the next week a girl with my name was struck by lighting and killed at the same camp. My parents received sympathy calls for a week. Between my dad's bad wiring and the death of the girl I felt like some day electricity would be the end of me. Denice

Christmas lights are a great idea. I only try to save one plant every year. It is a Whale's tongue agave, it will tolerate down to 11 degrees unfortunately it will get down to -10. My husband built a huge 2 inch thick styrofoam box and we put two lights inside of it. The plant is 7x7x4 feet, we are hoping to live long enough to see it bloom. We have had it 10 years and it takes 25 years to bloom. Denice

I appreciate the info that L&L has good customer service. I haven't had mine for a year yet, I only have 15 firings on it. I use my other smaller kilns more because I can't wait to fill the L&L. At my age I don't think I am going to get better at waiting. Denice

I have some test tiles on my work table with different white slip formulas on black clay. Not happy with them. picked us some Laguna brown clay that fires black and Red Calico to test fire with some more slips. Next week will be warmer I will be able to get out there and get some work done. Denice

I am pretty good at maintaining the shelves, stilts and vacuuming out the kilns. I use to have my kiln repaired for me by the local ceramic supply store, now that my husband has retire he has taken over that job. Now that I think about he didn't start encouraging me to buy new kilns until he took over the kiln technician job. Hmmm I probably could of done it but I have a problem dealing with electricity. My dad had our house wire badly, you could get suddenly shocked anywhere anytime. One time I got a bad shock washing dishes. When I was young the fire department would safety check houses in the neighborhood. My dad would make us hide and not open the door. Denice

Isn't it annoying how life gets in the way or working in the studio. I wanted to test some more slip recipes, I was getting my glaze materials together and realized I was out of it. The next formula I was missing a material for it. I decided to go pick them up the next day. It was such a beautiful day we ran errands and went out for a nice Valentines dinner. Today my husband woke up with a terrible cold, I got up and discovered the home we left in a mess. Grocery that we had pick up were all over the counters, the dishwasher needed to filled and ran and the laundry I had started was all over the laundry room. To top it off it was trash day. I spent the day putting the house back together. Maybe tomorrow life will give me a break. Denice

I would estimate around 30 times a year, I have past that number and my year starts in another 3 months. I bought some clay Friday and started some hard blocks softening, I hope to get some work done tomorrow. I don't know if there is any football fans out there but it sounds like the 4th of July here. My husband and I aren't sports fans but we watched the last 5 minutes of the Super Bowl. The entire state of Kansas are fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. Denice

Marc commented on using liner glaze, I have had this happen to me in the past. I like the looks of liner glaze it gives the piece a higher quality look and the liner gives it a visual break that separates your inner space from the outward spacial design. Denice

I have a utility cabinet that I bought as a drying cabinet. It works great it dries very slowly, if I want more moisture I put a bucket of water on the bottom. I will wrap or bag anything to keep them wetter. Denice

The only reason I sold my kickwheel is because I was 68 at the time and was having trouble kicking up the wheel fast enough. I also had my knee separate on vacation, a doctor took a x-ray of it and wrap it up. He told me that I had extremely strong bones in that leg and asked how I did it. I told him it was my kicking leg I used on my wheel for throwing. I used that wheel for forty years and it has gone to a new home. I think a potter should use the wheel of their choice, to me a wheel is personable. Denice

On the subject of venting is your kiln going to be located near a outside wall. In my kiln room I have a dual Skutt exhaust system that works on two kilns and exhaust through the wall. My test kiln and doesn't need one. It is located close to a window, I also have a exhaust fan in the ceiling to clear out some heat that is vented outside. Even with all of these exhaust features I usually keep the door open to my studio to let some heat escape. Sometimes you can still get some odor from the firing but having a room reduces the odor. This may be important because of the apartment in the same area. I connected kiln duct work to a dryer vent in a basement years ago, It had a baffle on it to close off the dryer vent when the kiln was running. It only had a 3ft run from the baffle to the house. Denice

If you don't care about the tray you could melt it off. I believe it is lacquer or paint thinner, you find the info on the internet. Denice

My work doesn't require large amounts on one glaze, I make up a gallon batch. I have been making murals that have a lot of different color and texture glaze. I keep my clay in 5 gal buckets and roll them around on casters. I bought a bunch of them at Menard's lumber store last spring, only $3.00 each on sale. I am really impressed with the casters, heavy duty and handles a full bucket of clay easily. When my husbands runs out of automotive casters in his garage he steals some of mine. If you have a Menard's in your area check the spring sales. Denice

My ceramics supply store fix kilns, you had to haul your kiln to the store and then wait 3 to 6 months. You could probably stretch your repair schedule out a little, your customers will wait. I didn't feel confident working on the kiln myself, my husband had no interest in working on my kilns. When he retired he decided to give it a try and decided it was easy. It would be easy for him, he wrote operation and repair books for a living. Denice

I need to do some more testing before I know what direction I am going. My first test firing had miserable results so I an going to try a different clay. I was going to work on it this week but I just got scheduled for some radiation treatment on some facial skin cancer. I have to get treatment for five days, the doctor said it might make me tired. Caught it early so its no big deal. Denice