Denice

I am glad you are getting better,  I know that eight weeks is a long break for you.   I finished my radiation therapy on my skin cancer a month ago and it has finally healed.   I need to go buy a big straw hat for the summer.   Don't overdo it.      Denice

Are you firing a electric kiln?  A lot of kilns won't make it to cone 10  if it does it will shorten the life of your elements.   I had a friend who thought she made some dishes out of a  Cone 10 porcelain.  she put them in the last firing of the year at the university.    When they unbricked the kiln they found out her dishes had melted all over the kiln and  the rest of the work.  I don't have any low fire clay in my studio or fire another persons work,  this type of accident happens a lot.   Denice

Workbench has some recently glazed wares waiting on foot polishing, inspection, and washing; and some just handled raw wares as well.

The test tiles are IMCO's new "Terry" clay.

I am glad you are getting better,  I know that eight weeks is a long break for you.   I finished my radiation therapy on my skin cancer a month ago and it has finally healed.   I need to go buy a big straw hat for the summer.   Don't overdo it.      Denice

My husband also used calipers in his job as a technical writer, illustrator and drafter fifty years ago and then the  evolution to computers happened .  He still uses to calipers when he is restoring a car but they are digital.   He tries to give them to me when they are broken,  I don't think he has figured out my measurements need to be as accurate as his.    Denice

I found what looked like a broken pugger tip in a bag of purchased clay.   In my own recycled clay I am always finding elephant ear sponges.    Denice

I found what looked like a broken pugger tip in a bag of purchased clay.   In my own recycled clay I am always finding elephant ear sponges.    Denice

Test tiles didn't work out but I have another slip  idea  rattling around in my head.  I decided to take a break and make new address plagues for my mailbox,   I made the original ones 5 years ago but someone decide to break them up with a tire iron.   I had made a press mold for the plague so the only thing that will require some skill is the decorative glaze work.  Living on a rural road you have teenagers drive by mailboxes and hit them with a baseball bat or run over them.    Denice

Grackle that is exactly the way I get my clay ready for the slab roller.    Denice

Fingers are your best tools but not ones you can replace.   That was the only tools I had until our teacher had everyone purchase a set.     I have people ask me what tools should they start with,   I always tell them that their fingers are a good place to begin.    Then I give them a list of a few basic tools,   I wish someone  could help me with the arthritis in my fingers  with a list.   Denice

I am glad you are getting better,  I know that eight weeks is a long break for you.   I finished my radiation therapy on my skin cancer a month ago and it has finally healed.   I need to go buy a big straw hat for the summer.   Don't overdo it.      Denice

Test tiles didn't work out but I have another slip  idea  rattling around in my head.  I decided to take a break and make new address plagues for my mailbox,   I made the original ones 5 years ago but someone decide to break them up with a tire iron.   I had made a press mold for the plague so the only thing that will require some skill is the decorative glaze work.  Living on a rural road you have teenagers drive by mailboxes and hit them with a baseball bat or run over them.    Denice

Test tiles didn't work out but I have another slip  idea  rattling around in my head.  I decided to take a break and make new address plagues for my mailbox,   I made the original ones 5 years ago but someone decide to break them up with a tire iron.   I had made a press mold for the plague so the only thing that will require some skill is the decorative glaze work.  Living on a rural road you have teenagers drive by mailboxes and hit them with a baseball bat or run over them.    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 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

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

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 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

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

I think I will be firing my kiln for the last time tomorrow.  At 84 it is getting too hard to lift those full shelves into my 7cu ft Olympic  5 burner updraft kiln.  I think I'll go back to doing my firing at the studio that my group runs.  Lin

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

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 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 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

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