Denice

If I can I buy a mug from artist I meet at workshops or at their shop.   If they are coming to visit my studio I will tell them to bring a mug and we will trade if they want to.   I visited Marcia Selsor studio a few years ago,  I brought her one of the pots from the hand coiled tribal series I was making,  I gave it to her as we departed.   I didn't want her to feel obligated to give a piece of her work that she sells for hundreds of dollars.  Denice

If I can I buy a mug from artist I meet at workshops or at their shop.   If they are coming to visit my studio I will tell them to bring a mug and we will trade if they want to.   I visited Marcia Selsor studio a few years ago,  I brought her one of the pots from the hand coiled tribal series I was making,  I gave it to her as we departed.   I didn't want her to feel obligated to give a piece of her work that she sells for hundreds of dollars.  Denice

I thought my school had everything,  it was a very large school so they had more than enough kids to fill each program.   I was mostly in art and journalism but they had also so had cooking, sewing and secretarial program.   The art students could get help in the shop classes with tools that weren't in the art class  for their projects.   They had all kind of programs for the boys  drafting,  mechanics and shop class, they also had buses that would take the boys to a technical school for half days.    My mother in-law started telling me about her high school classes,  she lived in western Kansas.   They taught those children everything would would need to know to run a farm or ranch.  They also had a tough math,  English, and history curriculum  and broad sports programs for the boy and girls.  She died at the age of 98 two years ago she was a world traveler and worked at a bank with the first primitive computers.   Denice 

I thought my school had everything,  it was a very large school so they had more than enough kids to fill each program.   I was mostly in art and journalism but they had also so had cooking, sewing and secretarial program.   The art students could get help in the shop classes with tools that weren't in the art class  for their projects.   They had all kind of programs for the boys  drafting,  mechanics and shop class, they also had buses that would take the boys to a technical school for half days.    My mother in-law started telling me about her high school classes,  she lived in western Kansas.   They taught those children everything would would need to know to run a farm or ranch.  They also had a tough math,  English, and history curriculum  and broad sports programs for the boy and girls.  She died at the age of 98 two years ago she was a world traveler and worked at a bank with the first primitive computers.   Denice 

That is a great looking  job on venting the basement window.   I didn't have any windows when I had my basement studio (dungeon) but I did have a dryer vent that went outside.  My husband reconfiqured the vent to where I could run a  a  vent to it when I fired.   He installed a baffle that I could use to block the main vent off to the dryer while firing.  When your house is 100 years old and it has a double brick  twelve inch thick wall  you have to be creative.    Denice

That is a great looking  job on venting the basement window.   I didn't have any windows when I had my basement studio (dungeon) but I did have a dryer vent that went outside.  My husband reconfiqured the vent to where I could run a  a  vent to it when I fired.   He installed a baffle that I could use to block the main vent off to the dryer while firing.  When your house is 100 years old and it has a double brick  twelve inch thick wall  you have to be creative.    Denice

I made a slab out of POP and one out of  #1 pottery plaster.   Someone gave me the POP,  I have always used #1,  it was one of those I need to use up this POP moments.  I decided to make a slab also the same size out of #1 plaster.   Clay on the POP took forever to absorb into the plaster and after several uses it started to crumble.   I also took longer to dry out.   If someone offered me a bag of POP I would kindly refuse it.   Denice
 

All to familiar with being the harshest critic of my work,   I usually give away the pots I am not completely happy with to visitors  in my studio.  They usually pick the one I really dislike.    I wasn't unhappy with the work I was taking to the gallery,  I was just surprised that anyone notice how hard I worked with glazes.   Denice     Good luck with the kiln purchase.

I keep my clay in 5 gal buckets,  most of it is recycled clay in my studio.   I try to check them often to make sure they have enough water.   I was using some plant coasters under them to be able to move them around.   I recently found some heavy duty ones in  garage supplies,  they are much easier to roll around.   Denice

When I graduated from college with my ceramics degree my professor said I should buy a test kiln  for my glazes.   Cone 6 oxidation glazes were fairly new and would need testing on different clay's.   My husband said to consider it a graduation present.   I recently bought a new Paragon Caldera XL test kiln to replace my old AIM kiln.   My old one doesn't have a computer  and the walls are on the thin side.   It cools really fast which can change the glaze.  The need to test glazes is even greater with the substitution of different ingredients in a glaze formulas today.   The best compliment  on my glaze work was from another potter.   I was dropping off  a load of pots at a gallery,  another potter was there watching me.  She came up to me as I was about to leave and said to me that I really paid attention to my glaze.   She said each pot had the right glaze for it, if it had two glazes they were applied at just the right level and the glazes were perfect.   Her comments to me were so much more valuable than anything I sold.  I didn't think anyone gave a second thought to the glaze, for me a glaze can make or break it.   Denice

I keep my clay in 5 gal buckets,  most of it is recycled clay in my studio.   I try to check them often to make sure they have enough water.   I was using some plant coasters under them to be able to move them around.   I recently found some heavy duty ones in  garage supplies,  they are much easier to roll around.   Denice

When I graduated from college with my ceramics degree my professor said I should buy a test kiln  for my glazes.   Cone 6 oxidation glazes were fairly new and would need testing on different clay's.   My husband said to consider it a graduation present.   I recently bought a new Paragon Caldera XL test kiln to replace my old AIM kiln.   My old one doesn't have a computer  and the walls are on the thin side.   It cools really fast which can change the glaze.  The need to test glazes is even greater with the substitution of different ingredients in a glaze formulas today.   The best compliment  on my glaze work was from another potter.   I was dropping off  a load of pots at a gallery,  another potter was there watching me.  She came up to me as I was about to leave and said to me that I really paid attention to my glaze.   She said each pot had the right glaze for it, if it had two glazes they were applied at just the right level and the glazes were perfect.   Her comments to me were so much more valuable than anything I sold.  I didn't think anyone gave a second thought to the glaze, for me a glaze can make or break it.   Denice

I think we should include Marcia Selsor  in our list,  her work with soluable salts, raku and pit and saggar firings is mind blowing .  She has probably has created as many potters has she has pots teaching at universities and around the world.     When I visited her in Yellowstone I would have bought one of her soluble salt pots she was taking out of a firing but they were already sold.   Denice

Big explosions,  work wasn't entirely dry.   I work with slabs and coils and will end up with some thick areas.   If I only have one piece that I am concerned about I will stick in my kitchen oven and dry it for awhile at the ovens lowest temperature.   Your a newbie and probably should use the preheat control,  but you also need to learn when your piece is completely dry.  Some potters put the pot against their cheek and if it feels cold then it is still wet.   Denice

Big explosions,  work wasn't entirely dry.   I work with slabs and coils and will end up with some thick areas.   If I only have one piece that I am concerned about I will stick in my kitchen oven and dry it for awhile at the ovens lowest temperature.   Your a newbie and probably should use the preheat control,  but you also need to learn when your piece is completely dry.  Some potters put the pot against their cheek and if it feels cold then it is still wet.   Denice

Twenty years ago I made a sculpture that was of a woman holding flowers,   it  twice as large as the sculpture in your photo.  it also had a pedestal that it sat on.  I took it to a show it was suppose to be exhibited in.   They told me unless  I glued it to the base I won't be able to show it,  I was not sure about gluing it  much easier to move in two pieces.   My husband came up with the idea of double sided carpet tape.   They agreed to the tape,   when we removed the sculpture several weeks later the bust and base wouldn't separate.   The tape area was bisque not glazed,   it has been twenty years and they are still stuck together.     Denice

My first purchase was a kiln,  I was doing some hand building work and had no place to fire it.   A  lady that worked in the same building decided to sell her Paragon,  I was 20 years old.   My husband and I had bought our first house and we were getting ready to install central air conditioning in the garage.  It was easy to add  the electrical needed for the kiln to the job.  I didn't get a wheel until the college I was attending wanted to sell a old kick wheel.   I was 40  when I went back to finish my degree,  I will be 70 Saturday and still working in my studio everyday.   Denice

My first purchase was a kiln,  I was doing some hand building work and had no place to fire it.   A  lady that worked in the same building decided to sell her Paragon,  I was 20 years old.   My husband and I had bought our first house and we were getting ready to install central air conditioning in the garage.  It was easy to add  the electrical needed for the kiln to the job.  I didn't get a wheel until the college I was attending wanted to sell a old kick wheel.   I was 40  when I went back to finish my degree,  I will be 70 Saturday and still working in my studio everyday.   Denice

I did a test firing today,  love my new Caldera test kiln.    I  found the copper rod I was wanting to use in my latest mural.   I spent the afternoon making yucca flowers with backs  that can connect to the rod easily.   I am just about to lay it out and make some of the background sections.   The mural is very dimensional and has seven different clay's in it,   several types of glaze and  the copper stems.  Looking forward firing it.     Denice

I did a test firing today,  love my new Caldera test kiln.    I  found the copper rod I was wanting to use in my latest mural.   I spent the afternoon making yucca flowers with backs  that can connect to the rod easily.   I am just about to lay it out and make some of the background sections.   The mural is very dimensional and has seven different clay's in it,   several types of glaze and  the copper stems.  Looking forward firing it.     Denice

I have a necklace I need to design and finish. Plus a good number of assorted beads I made that I need to figure out how I want to use-mobiles, wall hangings, jewelry etc. Dunno yet-WIP.

I did a test firing today,  love my new Caldera test kiln.    I  found the copper rod I was wanting to use in my latest mural.   I spent the afternoon making yucca flowers with backs  that can connect to the rod easily.   I am just about to lay it out and make some of the background sections.   The mural is very dimensional and has seven different clay's in it,   several types of glaze and  the copper stems.  Looking forward firing it.     Denice

I did a test firing today,  love my new Caldera test kiln.    I  found the copper rod I was wanting to use in my latest mural.   I spent the afternoon making yucca flowers with backs  that can connect to the rod easily.   I am just about to lay it out and make some of the background sections.   The mural is very dimensional and has seven different clay's in it,   several types of glaze and  the copper stems.  Looking forward firing it.     Denice

I don't know is water counts as a tool but it is the only thing I can think of that I use for different material.   I soften a bag of clay in a 5 gal bucket of water.  revive dry clay with water,  mix glaze, slip, oxides and plaster with water,  throw on the wheel with water,  wash my hands with water.   I could list some more,  I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it.     Denice

I don't know is water counts as a tool but it is the only thing I can think of that I use for different material.   I soften a bag of clay in a 5 gal bucket of water.  revive dry clay with water,  mix glaze, slip, oxides and plaster with water,  throw on the wheel with water,  wash my hands with water.   I could list some more,  I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it.     Denice