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

I was the same way, I decided to quit looking at other peoples work, magazines and shows were cut. I also decided to work strictly with C6 clay. If I need to remake something in a low fire clay I will use up the clay immediately and throw away any scraps. That way I don't have to worry about contamination of the C6 clay. It has been 10 years and still working with Cone 6 clay, I am tempted to look at magazines when I am at my ceramics supplier but manage to control myself. Denice

It really depends on the humidity level where you live. I live in Kansas very hot, windy and can be humid or dry. I took a summer throwing class, we would take a freshly thrown piece outside and place it in the sun. The wind was always blowing, we would take breaks and turn the pot until it was stiff enough to cut off the bat. Trim the pot and start the drying with bottom up, by the time class was over they were almost totally dry. A humid day took much longer. Denice

Hobbies can keep your mind and body active. Growing gourds is preparing for my next hobby, one of these years my MS will prevent me from working with clay. Gourds can be the shape of pots and are light weight. You can varnish, paint, dremel, stain and cut designs out, I already have 3 big lawn bags filled with a nice variety of dried gourds. I have started a small collection of gourd art for inspiration, two of them are from Peru and one is from a gift shop on 5th avenue. Denice

We lose our power about once a month fifteen minutes to a hour. The controller takes over and finishes the firing when the electricity comes back on. We lost our power for two days when a tornado was close to us. We were having some ceiling work done recently and the sheet rocker told us he could see daylight from the roof. We had a roofer out and he said that our tile roof had been lifted and dropped by the tornado, we probably need a new roof. Finding a roofer is another problem, there was 1000 buildings damaged or destroyed in that tornado. The roofer never came back to fix the holes, we had a handyman do it. Denice

Not much into sports, but I can walk around in my house and from my car to the scooters in the store. I know this doesn't sound like much activity but my neuro is surprised I can still walk. Most of our remodeling is finished and my sewing room has almost all of the junk stored in it gone. I have already finished up some work and thinking about another project. I am more of a upholstery seamstress than clothing. I am planning on planting some gourds this summer for qourd art. Clay is my main focus, I am starting to feel a little anxious I haven't been out in my studio for three weeks because of bad weather. Denice

I am also glad I bought my new kilns with the Genisis controllers. I have fired the Paragon test kiln twice as much as the L&L I am so happy to have controllers that manage the firing. I don't have to worry about brain fog and forgetting to turn knobs and change the temp. When I first decided to get new kilns I wondered if someone my age should spend that kind of money on kilns. After I started using them I decided that is exactly what someone my age should do. I have automated my house as much as I can, why not the studio. Denice

I have never looked into ICAN, I haven't subscribed to CM for 10 years. I had quit reading them because I would see some new technique and drop what I was working on. The unread magazines were piling up while I delved deep into my work. I did subscribe off and on for 40 years and donated them to art programs. I try to come up with questions for the forum but they are usually pretty lame. Like how many people have the first pot they hand built or thrown and why did you keep it. My brain is starting to slow down, maybe some of the younger potters can come up with some questions. Denice

I think resin work can be very intense and deep with color but I will have to pass on it. I have MS and my immune system thinks it is protecting me when I am around unusual smells, it actually shuts down my lungs. It can be anything from a strong cleaner, bug spray, spray paint, mold, cat dander ect. I carry a EPI pen with me but I usually just try to avoid situations that causes me problems. I will have to check my bag of clay and see what brand I have, it was my sculpture partner favorite clay. He was from a nearby tribe and mostly did southwestern sculptures a lot of eagles and cowboy and horses. The slip I used was called a C5 Porcelain slip, my supplier had it in black and white, it was new on the market. I'll have to look around and see what is new at my ceramics store these days. Denice

I have been watching the progress on your medallion, can't wait to see your finished medallion. I worked with oil clay when I belonged to a sculpture group. I made plaster molds off my pieces. My son was into medieval times so I made him a chess set that was as close to medieval characters as my research revealed. I use Cone 5 black and white slip to pour my molds with. The only problem I had was that they broke easily, I don't know if I poured them too thin or it wasn't a good clay for a seven year old boys chess set. I still have the set and the molds, I ought to dig them out and make a new set. I have a block of oil clay in my studio, I split a order with the man who was the featured at Silver Dollar City sculpture cabin every summer. I enjoyed working with the oil clay, my only problem was that the clay would get soft from my hands holding the chess pieces while I worked. When they got sticky I would put them in the refrigerator and work on a different cooled piece. I am happy you are back to sculpting, I should probably look around for victim and sculpt a bust of them. Denice

I tested different types of glass I could find for several months, I wanted to make the medallions for my mural out of recycled glass. I only found two types of glass that would totally melt, one was window glass the other was a cheap crummy glasses that have thick edges. Wine, beer bottles, vase,carafes, and nice glasses are tempered and only soften. I wanted to find a use for recycled glass, the window glass was a nice blue green when melted into a inch thick medallion. The cheap thick edged glasses and vases fire to a nice clear. Denice

I was told that the beautiful Chinese pots were very heavy, the potters were more interested in the shape and design than the weight. Denice

I checked my local dealer and he hasn't carried them for years. I looked around on-line and couldn't find it, I did find a bead tree that looked like it might work. I also found a pad that you could put nails made out of ceramic shelf clay in different holes depending on your pot. It was really interesting, something a potter should have around in there kiln supplies. I found it on Amazon in kiln accessories, I would look around for the bead tree, the one I found was pretty expensive. Porcelain slip doesn't have a lot of memory. Denice

I have used busted up kiln elements on cone 5 bisque poured slip porcelain with a low fire celadon glaze. I put less glaze on the areas that sat on the elements. I used a porcelain nichrome support rod with center tower for any pieces that stuck out away from the body. The 12 pieces came out perfect but you need to test before you fire them. Denice

Does this piece have a flat bottom and glazed. What temperature are you firing too?

I get a scam almost daily on my e-mail, yesterday the e-mail was from supposedly SiriusRX . It said my radio subscription had expired and all I had to do was click and I would get another year for the same great price. I got on-line with Sirius, they told me that they never send anything like that our and it is months before I need to renew. Denice

I find the L&L award to handle at that point also, the chain is a good idea. My kiln is on wheels so I roll it back to where the lid will touch the walls in a corner while I unload it. I make sure there enough angle that the lid couldn't suddenly close and I lock the wheels. It is stored in that corner and I roll it out away from the wall to fire it. Denice

I am glad you clarified where you got your Sunbrella fabric. When I was a decorator I would use some Sunbrella fabric, it was the same weight as regular fabric but had a waterproof treatment on it. If this is awning fabric it is much more durable and heavier than retail Sunbrella. Denice

I use the heavy canvas fabric that you can purchase with the slab roller, I have one for light clay and the other for dark. I also like the idea of the fabric backed vinyl, I will have to dig through my husband's scrap box and see what he has. We have been on a buy only what you really need binge for a couple of years. We also have been donating truck loads of stuff to the DAV, I don't think he would give away upholstery scraps for his cars. His mother died during COVID and we ended up with most of her treasures in our basement. We have enough for one more truck load and I will be able to walk through my sewing room. Denice

I have made ten exterior murals so far. You need have the size of mural you want to make and then a design that works with it to start. Your design need to have small, medium and large pieces in it and a flow of color and design that will encourage the viewers eyes to follow. I have made terracotta and C6 stoneware clay murals, using a cone 6 hand building clay will give you the best results. I see you live in PA and have a lot of freezing weather, your clay needs to vitrified and your glaze has a perfect fix. Any crackle in the glaze will allow water to leak in and freeze popping the glaze off. This is a good time of the year to make some test tiles and lay them outside and let the ice and snow. I made a two foot mural and mortared it on a cement board and placed it in the yard to see how it would hold up. It survived the winter so I knew I was set to make more murals. I wouldn't recommend making a mural for a horizontal surface after several years the weather takes it toll on it. I have made two ext floor murals that were on porches. The tile was a purchased one inch porcelain tile that holds up freezing condition and epoxy grout. It was the grout that didn't hold up, it popped out of the grooves and molded. I will be glad to answer any questions you have. Denice

You will waste your time trying to get the bumps out. Your time is better spent making a new tile, you are a newbie each new piece will be better. Before you do any firing you need to check the bottom of the shelf. Has someone put kiln wash on it or does it have flakes of some exploded pot. You can't use it safely again until it is ground and cleaned off, it will damage anything fired below it. Denice