Denice

I used river rocks in college for burnishing,  I haven't used them since I graduated.   My puppy brought a black round rock in the house yesterday,  one side had a polished finish the other side was like sand paper.  I thanked him for the presents and quickly put it out of reach.   (New wood floors)  I think I will try burnishing with it,  it has to fit your hand  just right to make a good burnishing tool.   Denice

My husband knew I was serious about clay when we met,  I was 17 he was 19.  When we married I was 21,  we bought our first house a couple of years  later and that is when I got my first kiln.  It was our first major purchase for the house,  other couples buy a refrigerator or a sofa we bought a kiln.  A year later I got a scholarship in art to Wichita State and quit working to go back to school.   He has always supported me but never liked my work,  he worked in engineering  department and my work wasn't precise and perfect enough for him.  I tried not to  let is bother me,  I had the best support otherwise.   He was always encouraging me to buy new kilns,  but I wasn't  ready to jump into the world of controllers.  Last fall  I finally jumped and bought a Paragon Caldera with a Genisis Controller,  easy to use so I ordered a LL kiln with a Genisis Controller this year.   Since my husband has retired he likes to go to the ceramic supplier with me,  he  moves my clay  and loves to unload the kiln.   Right now I am glazing a 3-D landscape mural,  some of the tiles warped or twisted,  he is at the tile saw cutting and checking them with me to see if they will work or need remade.   I only had to remake one tile among the 200 tiles of the mural.   I likewise support his passion of restoring cars,  my passion is less expensive than his but he can always sell a car if he needs the money.     Denice

Bamboo sticks can do the job but you get ice cream with the wooden spoons.   Denice

Pres what color of stone do you use on your Dremel for sharpening.   I haven't tried sharpening a trimming tool,  I have a bunch of old ones in a bin.    Now  and then I will have someone show a interest in working with clay and want me to give them lessons.    I will give them a few basic tools (old ones)  and a bag of clay,   after teaching them a few basic hand building techniques I tell them to make a pot and bring it back to me.  I have never had anyone return with a pot for me to fire.  I fell in love with clay when I was 12 and my art teacher gave us a ball of clay.  She  said we could make anything we wanted with it.  I squished and rolled the clay around and discovered it was magic,  I could make anything.    Denice

I used to have a stack of pots that I really didn't like  and I would let visitors to my studio take one home.   I would watch them ooh and ahh over them  and it slowly started to sink in that  people can have very different taste in art.   Some people would look for the piece that had the most imperfections,  now I know not to throw those away.     Denice

I learned my lessons on  making pottery as a business instead of a artistic hobby.   I designed a set of dishes for a friends severely disabled daughter.   Before I know it I had calls from other families to buy a set.   I already owned a wallpaper store so I didn't have a lot of spare time and they would get it before the next holiday.   I ended up with demanding customers and suddenly my artistic hobby became work.    I got the same feeling when I taught a summer throwing class,  I wanted to be working in my own studio not teaching.    Denice

I picked some asparagus Sunday and mixed it with some tulips in a bouquet for my mother in-law.    She lives in a senior living facility,  they have sheltered in for 8 weeks now and not allowed any visitors.   The food is alright but they haven't had any asparagus on the menu since she moved in 6 months ago,  she loves it raw or cooked.   We watched the staff from our car gather the items to be delivered to her,  they noticed the asparagus bouquet and got the strangest looks on their faces.   She called us later and was bursting with joy over her unusual bouquet.   She is 97 and everyone thinks of her as their mother so she had received lot of candy and flowers.  She said the asparagus was the best present she had received in a long time.     Denice

I learned my lessons on  making pottery as a business instead of a artistic hobby.   I designed a set of dishes for a friends severely disabled daughter.   Before I know it I had calls from other families to buy a set.   I already owned a wallpaper store so I didn't have a lot of spare time and they would get it before the next holiday.   I ended up with demanding customers and suddenly my artistic hobby became work.    I got the same feeling when I taught a summer throwing class,  I wanted to be working in my own studio not teaching.    Denice

I taught for 36 years, much of it Ceramics day to day. Not really work of the physical type that potters do, but still a lot of clay, wedging, throwing, demonstrations, lectures, and coaching beginners and intermediates. Retirement brought on some regular throwing, lots of bowling, and other activities that taxed me. Now in my mid 70s I find that it is easier to get tired, delay going out to the shop, or to not take that kayak out as often. Luckily, even though I have quite a bit of arthritis in my hands and other areas, I still enjoy working with the clay and creating one of a kind pieces. . . for my self, or my vision. So what if I make less, there is no need there to sell, but still the need to make . . . hope to continue on til gone.
 
best,
Pres

just finished reading this from the OPs opening sentence. 
at 83,  i may be the oldest potter in this group, old  means i do not work in my studio every day.  when i do, i enjoy every part of what i do.
over the last year i have been knocked down with a strange physical problem that has not yet been solved.  losing over 60 pounds without trying is a very scary thing.   i have seen all kinds of specialists and had some treatments of a minor nature but nobody has said "you have XX and need to do ZZ to cure it".   i have to guess that if i had the big C i would know by now, so i am looking at a total change, maybe turning the studio into a B and B like my neighbors did.
when do we give up?  this is the far other end of the continuum.
 

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 can lose a day working in my studio,  even recycling clay and cleaning  time fly's by.   My husbands loves to work on cars but hates lawn work.  We hire a man to help us with outdoor work,  last summer the front end on his car broke.  My husband  agrees to fix his car instead of paying him for his work that day.    The hired man comments later  that he has never seen someone so happy to be working on a car.  My husband spent his life writing technical books on amusement rides, plane, trains and construction  equipment.   But is happiest when he is working with his hands.  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

Handle molds and handle forms (2 ideas) forms are only foam and cheap so you can make your own if you find a consistent shape you like. Press mold a bit pricey but very precise consistent handles can be made easily.
 

You are into much bigger kilns than I am,  I bought a L&L e235 with the heavy elements  and genisis controller.   It is a ring shorter than my old Skutt,  the L&L has a bigger diameter than my Skutt so my husband put wheels on the L&L.  I roll it out to the middle of the kiln room and load and fire it,  roll it back in the corner after I unload it.   I can touch the bottom now but I will have to size down my work.  Happy birthday,  65 is a big event.   I just turned 71 in October not a big deal just happy you made it another year.   Denice

That's what it feel like to be retired,  I had my husband retired as soon as we could afford it.   The company he worked for was going to kill him.  His boss retired so he had to cover his work,  the hazmat personnel was fired another job for Stu.  Millions of questions to answer from amusement ride owners and government officials  and when he had some time he could do his actual job of technical publication,  writing the huge manuals that went out with each ride.  He has been retired for two years  finished restoring a rusty 74 Challenger last spring .    January he started working on a man cave in our unfinished basement.   He hired a few jobs out but did everything else framing, plumbing, wiring, painting, trim work and tiling.  Most of the theater and bar is finished  he still has to tile the bathroom.  It sounds like a lot of work but he loves doing it and he starts and stops whenever he feels like it,  even sleep late in the morning now and then.   You can keep doing what you really enjoy  with out any pressure of a schedule    Denice

You are into much bigger kilns than I am,  I bought a L&L e235 with the heavy elements  and genisis controller.   It is a ring shorter than my old Skutt,  the L&L has a bigger diameter than my Skutt so my husband put wheels on the L&L.  I roll it out to the middle of the kiln room and load and fire it,  roll it back in the corner after I unload it.   I can touch the bottom now but I will have to size down my work.  Happy birthday,  65 is a big event.   I just turned 71 in October not a big deal just happy you made it another year.   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

The blue lights are awful,  they remind me of visiting my mother in the hospital.   The walls were painted a neon lime green and the blue lights made grey  shadows on the wall.  I was only 10 but I felt like death was waiting around the corner.  My mother was fine she had a  baby.   Denice

My concrete floors with the foam mats is very comfortable to stand on.   I have had crummy feet, legs and hips my whole life so I have to have softness under my feet.  If my studio gets really messy I can stack them and wash them with a hose outside and  my concrete floor can get a good cleaning.   I have areas in my studio where they get thin so I just pull several sections out and replace them.   My last studio was in a basement with no windows and a brick floor.  I used the mats, painted everything white and used lots of lights hanging from the ceiling.    My husband just replaced my florescent lights in my current studio with LED bulbs for workshops or garages.   You can adjust the color of white you want and pretty inexpensive,  I am very picky about color. 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

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 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

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