dhPotter

I only do 1 show a year, the Merry Christmas Market. This is my second year to do the show. It is a 1 day show. Sold $300 more this year than last year. All smalls, nothing over $20. This year I had made ornaments, did not last year. Without those ornaments would not have sold near as much this year. A Thank You to @DirtRoads for the push into making ornaments!

Babs, only replacing the 2% or so of bentonite with the "brushing medium". Still use EPK or Ball Clay as required by the recipe. The replacement more or less makes the glaze in the bucket thixotropic. I like that because I only glaze every 6 weeks or so. Glazes do not settle out in the bucket. This is the only difference in the recipes from the original printed recipes. Several years ago I took a Steven Hill workshop. He had us bring "light or white" firing clay so we could spray glaze and then fire them that night. I only use light or white firing clay. OldLady uses a white firing clay, also.

FWIW, I have not altered glaze recipes because of raw glazing. My glazes mainly come from John Britt's ^6 glaze book and Mastering Cone 6 glazes. I don't use bentonite, instead using a medium special mixed by another potter. This medium, I have been told, is similar to what Magma does to a glaze. As far as moisture, never had a problem. I pour glaze into cylinders, let dry overnight. After spraying the glazes on, the pieces sit overnight before being loaded into the kiln. The 1 main problem I have occurs in the late winter/ early spring. Our location is normally 50%+ humidity. But for a week or 2 humidity gets down to the 20-30% range. If pieces have already been bone dry when this occurs, when the humidity comes back the pieces will adsorb the humidity and create a hairline split from the rim straight down the piece. I have been raw glazing and single firing for 5 years now.

Segments 2 & 3 are the difference between bisque ware and raw ware glaze firing. Segments 4 & 5 are to aid in letting pinholes heal themselves. Segments 6, 7 & 8 try to produce crystals in the glaze. Not the big flower looking crystals. Glaze cone 6... Segment Rate F*/HR Temp Hold 1 200 220 30-60 2 100 500 0 3 400 2050 0 4 108 2185^ 15 5 9999 2085 20 6 9999 1700 0 7 50 1600 60 8 50 1500 0

Look up Cream Rust cone 6 glaze.

Have replaced that bathroom fan with a box fan with 2300 CFM. Have also converted the dry spray booth to a waterfall spray booth. This was easier than expected. Only needed a pond pump, clear plexiglass, a 2x4 stud and some PVC piping. It works OK. I left an 8 inch gap from the bottom of the plexiglass to the shower base for the fan to suck the air thru. Have dialed the fan back to Medium speed. It seemed the High speed wasn't pulling any more air thru than medium speed. But, there still seems to be glaze spray lingering in the booth. Maybe not a big enough air gap? Oh yes, where the mask, always.

Doc, use Play Sand from the hardware store. Spread it out under the platter. I set the platter where I want it be on the kiln shelf then, with a pencil, draw an outline around the foot, then put sand within the outline. Vacuum or sweep the sand up after you have pulled the platter from the glaze firing. Like OldLady, I also single fire platters this way.

Laguna 609 #65. I can't tell the difference between the 609 clay and Laguna 617 #16 porcelain after glaze firing.

In your glaze firing, have you tried placing sand under the platters to reduce drag on the kiln shelf?

Orton VentMaster is the vent. The vent stays on till I open the kiln to remove wares at around 150*F - 250*F. Remember, Starting at segment 3, the firing schedule is just another glaze fire schedule. The down firing and holding is to encourage crystal growth. The schedule is basically Stephen Hill's firing schedule. Panama Blue, Selsor Chun and Kitten's Clear come to mind as crazing. I don't glaze calculate - I use recipes from those books and Tony Hansen's website. I do have and use DigitalFire glaze software. Take a look at the Evolution album in my gallery. In some of the comments I mention what glazes are being used.

Not sure if this will be relevant to your case - I have been using Laguna 609 #65 for about 3 years now. BUT, I single fire and use my own glazes and do not get pinholes. My firing schedule goes slow in the first 500* because of single firing. Then goes at 400* per hour. At 2050*F the ramp slows to 108* per hour till 2185* for a 15 minute hold. Then free fall to 2085* for a 20 minute hold. The changing to 2050*F to a slower speed going up and the hold at 100* less than peak temp on the way down are supposed to get rid of any pinholes. Again I do not have pinholes. Try single firing. I use glazes found in John Britt's cone 6 glaze book and from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes book. Glaze cone 6... Segment Rate F*/HR Temp Hold 1 200 220 30-60 2 100 500 0 3 400 2050 0 4 108 2185^ 15 5 9999 2085 20 6 9999 1700 0 7 50 1600 60 8 50 1500 0

USe a soft rib over the trimmed areas.

SCM is a glaze runner for me. Pete's Seafoam over cool, Val's Turquoise over cool, Tony Hansen's G1214Z base with 6% rutile, 3% copper carb and 1.5% cobalt carb over cool - all of these will run pretty good - testing will determine how much to apply - it will run. I have a Butterscotch that runs if over Warm. I wonder if the firing schedule might influence the amount of running?