Denice

I am afraid that you will have to dump it if the glaze test doesn't come out well. At least you are test glazing it and not wasting your time on the whole load. It happens to all of us. Did you heat up your pieces and then dip them in the glaze for your test firing? I hope your firing is a success. Denice

When I built mine my husband had a extra one in the garage, I told him what I was going to do build. He said I will get you one from a car salvage that is in better shape, he couldn't find any. It works but there is worn out teeth on the rachet. I have a caulking gun extruder that I use for small molding and a cookie press gun that also works well. Fortunately they all take the same size die, I make my own dies out of clear cutting boards. Denice

I built a bumper jack extruder 20 years ago, the plans were in a Ceramics Monthly magazine. As I get old I find it hard to use, I find my self avoiding using the extruder, the arthritis in my hands say no. I was suppose to work on some replacement tile molding that was extruded last week, I just kept putting it off. I'll have my husband look at and see if he thinks it would be easier for me to use. Maybe he will help me build this one, the last one I built on my own and modified it a couple of times. He can build anything but usually takes a year to get around working on my projects Denice.

I usually spray larger pots, dip dishes, poured glaze on 1200 tiles, and a lot of fine brushing a little bit of sponging. I have a turkey baster at the ready for my next adventure in clay. I am still trying to finish my mural, I fired sky back ground tiles a couple of weeks ago and hated them. Fortunately I made two sets of tiles for the sky, I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. I have four vertical feet of a three dimensional landscape finished. My husband and son (visiting us from Costa Rica) said it doesn't look to bad, I am my own worse critic but there appraisal confirmed mine. Between major remodeling on our house and many house guests it is a wonder I get any work done. I am about to fire some new test tiles for this project. Fingers crossed. Denice

Art is a big influence on my interest in history, I hated history in high school. Working my way through my art degree I fell in love with history and how it was meshed together with art especially pottery. If I had taken one more history class I would have had a degree in history and art history. I still have a bookcase full of history books I haven't been able to part with them. Denice

Dig up some research on how art and working with three dimension art can expand a student math capabilities. There are probably articles about the benefits of tactile arts for students. One benefit is that it is very calming and improves their concentration. I started my son with clay when he was 2 years old and he was playing the organ when he was 5. He was at the top of his class in math in every grade. High school isn't to late to improve a students mind, it might improve their self confidence. A student that doesn't think he or she has any special talents make a beautiful piece of art and it suddenly occurs to them that their may be something special about them. That is what happened to me in Junior high school, I don't know what would of happened to me if that art teacher hadn't put that ball of clay in my hand. Denice

Most of my life I had thrown on a kickwheel with a tractor seat, when I bought my electric wheel I had to figure out seating. I first tried an regular padded wooden stool with the front legs shortened. I quickly figured out I need something that swiveled. I was looking at the ajustable potters stool when a near by Menards put some garage work stools on sale. They looked like the potters stools and about half the price and if I didn't like it my husband could use it in his garage. I shortened the front legs and have been happy with it for many years. I still miss my kick wheel but I am to old and cripple to kick anymore. Denice

I had something like that happen on a old Paragon, it was so old the sitter had metal parts. My repairman said they didn't make parts for that old of sitter, but I was lucky that it didn't have any plastic parts. He took it apart and cleaned with fine steel wool two contact points and put it back together and the stainless steel button stayed push in. It has been a least ten years since I had it repaired and it has been retired for 5 years. There is probably a manual that can tell you which parts need cleaning. My repairman did tell me if I had plastic parts in it they would need to replaced and can be hard to find. Denice

I would fire it making sure the bottom is glaze free and a quarter of a inch is free of glaze on the outside edge next to the bottom. This is one of those lessons you learn when you make pottery. Try to make another mug like it, the second one always comes out better. There is a technique called raw glazing, certain glazes are used and white or buff clay's. Red clay has far to many impurities in it, a slow bisque firing is the best. Denice

I have made paper clay several times, I have never found anything that was very good at inhibiting mold growth. My home made paper clay was good for large sculptural pieces but not good for fine detail work. My local ceramic store started carrying paper clay, I bought 100 lbs of it and loved it. It was more like regular clay and much easier to work with. I had about 5lbs of clay left when I was finished with my project, I rolled it into a slab an let it dry. When I need to repair a crack or reattached something I will break off a piece of paper clay. I soak it and then add it to the clay I am working with. I didn't have any problems with the clay growing mold. Denice

I bought a kiln that looks like this one, it also had glaze running down the walls. I paid $100 for it because it had 2 good shelves and 100 stilts that were still in the boxes. I got it home and saved the lid and stand demolished the kiln. Denice

I also use the floor puzzle foam mat, my pathway is a big rectangular in my studio. If I have a area that gets extremely dusty and dirty I will pull them up to clean. If one particular area starts wearing thin I can easily replace them. I had a bedroom in the basement my son used as a hangout, rowdy boys, soda and carpet don't mix so I covered it with foam mat. When we polished the concrete I moved them upstairs to my studio. Now I have a lifetime supply. I even stand on one in the kiln room when I am loading the kiln. I don't leave it there when I am firing. My husband is working on his wood shop and I found a big heavy duty dense mat on clearance. I think it will help his sore feet. Denice

I have received many gifts that were for Cone 10 or C04 that I have sold or exchanged. I have always explained the problem to the giver and they have all been very understanding about it. If you have a low fire painting class or groups in your area you could post a for sale notice. The kiln I sold recently was only posted for 3 days and it was a old well used kiln. Denice

I had a Skutt KS 1027 for 30 years they are easy to move. If you had someone to help you move the rings the move will be easy, the rings are not heavy just bulky and hard to carry. Take your lid off of the hinges don't try to leave it on the first ring. The rings are plugged into each other, do not set the lid down on the male part of the outlet. When you lift up the first ring you will find the outlet in the same area as the kiln sitter. I used a Skutt dual digital thermocouple set up on it for 20 years to adjust my firings. The Skutt has a hole cut in the metal for a thermocouple you just need to drill out the hole. I used the peepholes, I cut the end off of two Skutt peephole plugs and filled the sides with firing wool making sure I could still get the thermocouple in and out. The end of the Skutt peephole plug is so thin it can be ground off easily with a Dremel tool and stone bit. Denice

I went from firing three manual kilns to, a LL with Genisis controller, a Paragon Caldera test kiln with a Genisis controller and a small Duncan manual kiln. I decided to go with the controllers because of my age and my MS, I was afraid I would forget that I was firing. The last couple of months I have had trouble with my memory and concentration, I managed to get through a manual firing and a controller firing. It really scared me how fuzzy my brain was, it was a MS relaspe. They can last several months or never clear up, my brain is clear now . I am so happy that I have automated my home and studio. Denice

I have never owned a kiln with a locking lid before, I noticed when I was firing my new LL the lid had lifted about a quarter of a inch. My old Skutt didn't ever lift but I did replace the lid a lot. I just wanted your opinion if I should lock the lid. Trying to prevent replacing lids in the future. Denice

The lights I created were made out of C6 stoneware clay ran through a slab roller, ribbed and then draped on some plaster forms. Denice

About 15 years ago I made a wall lantern and hanging light shade with this technique. My first lantern didn't allow enough light out so I thinned the clay around the cut outs and then used white glaze inside the second one. When I was carving the hanging shade I decided to using thinner clay and larger cut outs. It had a bell shade just as I got to the middle I realized I didn't have any support. I left about two inches uncarved in the middle and carved a pattern around the bottom edge. I found several minor stress crack inside that didn't show up on the surface, they told me it had twisted a little when was firing. If you are doing some testing you could try putting separator around the edge or take a damp Q-tip around the edge to clean the glaze. To get the deeper pull back on the glaze. Denice

When I make a plaster mold I smooth up the out side edges of the mold and check for and under cuts that might need to be blended in. I give it a thorough wash and set it in front of a fan to dry. I would throw away your clay used in test pressing, a small piece of plaster will contaminate your clay. You could have cracks and small blow outs from plaster in the clay during a firing. Larger molds I pour the plaster outside where I don't have to worry about splatters of plaster. I can control the mess of smaller molds in my studio. It is starting to cool here so I need to check my plaster slabs and wash my slab roller canvas's. Cleaning them on the driveway and letting them dry there keeps them from getting creases. My husbands loves to play with water so he will take on this job claiming that he just wants to help me. Denice

I got hooked on clay when I was 11 years old, the art teacher gave us a ball of clay. I made a Egyptian cat pendant, I realized that clay was magic and I could make anything with it. I took every ceramics class in high school and later got a degree in fine arts with a ceramics focus. My husband knew I was addicted to clay, instead of buying a couch for our first house we bought a kiln. My first studio was a fold down table, three tools, bucket and the kiln. I have been working with clay for 55 years and each studio has gotten bigger and better. When I started producing a lot of work I made my own clay, packaged premade clay was expensive. I am lucky to have a ceramic supply store in town, I buy all of my tools and supplies there. Working from your own studio you miss being around other potters that you can bounce ideas around and get critiques. The only digital element I use is a app for my Genisis controllers on my kilns. Denice

I do more hand building than throwing so I don't have any inventive ways of creating a foot. Your number 4 is the way I would trim for a runny glaze, number 2 I would use this for quickly made cups. I made bisque molds for recycled glass casing I had to break the molds off of the fired glass, I had seventy of them to make. Number 7 is the look I like to trim on more elegant well balanced pot. Denice

You get some impurities that come to the surface of the glaze with that low of bisque. White earthenware may not be that bad but red terracotta needs long C04 bisque it has lots of impurities. You have C4 clay none of there temperatures you are firing it to will work. The pots will be very fragile and leak, if you want to keep working in the low fire range you need to buy a bag of low fire earthenware clay. Denice

I used bags that the newspaper came in, I no longer take the paper so I just put the clay directly in it. My extruder is homemade so I think it has more areas for the clay to hide in. When I am finished with it I take it apart and let it soak for a day before I clean it. Denice

I never noticed the fumes migrating upstairs, I could barely smell them in the studio next door. I thought I should play it safe and leave the area, my house was built in 1929. We had to move I was having trouble climbing the 4 flights of stairs. I was diagnosed with MS after we moved, the only stairs we have now go to the basement to hide from tornado's. Denice

I am working on a sunset that is at the top of a mural. I have been testing and found that if I apply a yellow underglaze on the tile it is much easier to brush a another color of underglaze on top of it and keep a straight line. The Mayco Glaze I am using suggests Cone C06 for this application. Denice