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

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

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                       

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

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

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

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 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

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

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