dhPotter

Have you a decent clear glaze? My clear glaze crazed but I did this any way and got a very nice base glaze, that does not craze, to add colorants. Do a line blend between the clear and the G2934 Dolomite Glaze. 20/80, 70/30, 60/40, 40/60, 30/70, 80/20. You will find a a nice satin glaze somewhere in the line blend. I added 12% zircopax to get a white liner glaze. The liner is 60% clear and 40% Dolomite Matte. I have added 5% Black stain to get a light grey, 2% robin's egg stain to get a nice light blue. I use the G1214Z Silky Matte with the 6% rutile, 3% copper carb and 1.5% cobalt carb to get a medium blue glaze - this glaze is used a lot. The 6% rutile and 6% rio gave me a nice caramel color.

Liam do you mean hardiboard? If it is hardboard, what kind?

The handle is the first thing I spray on a mug. I usually brush on glaze around the handle attachment at the lip. A couple of coats. This is done after pouring the day before spraying. Holding the mug in 1 hand, spray the inside of the bottom attachment from different angles. Then spray the underside of the handle from the bottom to top of the handle. Now spray the outside of the handle spraying from bottom to top, at an angle. After the mug body is sprayed I'll hold the mug in 1 hand, bottom facing away from me and lightly spray from the top of the handle down a little bit to encourage a glaze drip.

In a larger kiln we don't place wares on the kiln floor. We use a kiln shelf on a 1 inch - 2 inch support above the kiln floor. Not sure about these smaller kilns. @oldlady could probably tell you more about this.

Tamra do not apply the kiln wash to the kiln itself. Apply the wash to the kiln shelf and the ends of the shelf supports. Also, only apply wash to 1 side of the kiln shelves. Clean up any wash that may have slopped onto the sides of the kiln shelf.

The wax on the bottoms of pots is to allow for easy clean up of the bottoms after dipping or spraying glazes. If you have left the bottom 1/4 inch of the pot glaze free this is good to go. For those pots where you don't have about 1/4 inch unglazed area, you can use a damp sponge and wipe away the glaze. Give the stilts back to your friend, you do not need them.

Regarding sprayed glaze thickness, This pic shows a "chunky velvet", that is what you are trying to get. The area that is smoothed out and cracked has too much glaze applied. When you start filling in the chunky you are applying too much glaze. I use the Critter spray gun.

In a glaze spraying workshop we used a paper as cookies under our pieces to catch runs.

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