Pleasant Pottery

I also use a cheese cutter for facetting but I like the one with the adjustable screw on it so I can take off as thin or as thick a slice as my wall thickness allows. I don't need to be so steady of hand. I am using smooth edged plastic bats (not the ones with bumps) and old records to make bowls...remember the hint for using cd's? I use the new stainless rasps (zesters) for speedy trimming.

I have noticed this type of patterning when reglazing a piece if there was crazing after the first cone 6 firing. (I sometimes check out a suspect fired piece by dipping in a glaze to see if I see these webs) I assumed the new layer was entering the fissures. And the refire still might not fix the crazing. So the idea that the underglaze has fluxed and is now crazed makes sense.

I also discovered it is being shown on Makeful, Wed. evenings at 9:00 if you have that network.

I have fired previously cone 6 fired pieces in my 04 bisque if I was doing a repair with paper clay and I would say most of the cone 6 glazes were totally different when they came out of the bisque. Sorry, that's no help, though.

My most recent was emptying a bag of Wollastonite into the talc bin and making my white glaze. This fortunately turned out OK because the resulting glaze became a studio favourite since it was a transparent white letting all underglaze and slip decorating show. Had to add a new glaze to the studio. I now double check the name on the bag (suppliers change and then labels change) before emptying!

I buy the roll ends of vinyl floor covering that Home Depot sells. My tables are 48" square and one roll does 2 tables. I staple it on. The backing is smooth which is very nice when doing slab work. No clay powder bouncing up in the air when throwing slabs. We wedge clay in preparation for the wheel on it too. I have 50-70 potters a week using the studio and the covering lasts 3-5 years.

I charge my potters $80/20kg box of clay (roughly 44lb) which covers glaze materials (including underglazes) and firing costs. I fire cone 6.

I also fire with cone packs at all my spy holes. Every kiln load is slightly different so I can adjust a section if it is ahead of the others which I can tell by the packs. No controller. I fire both student work which varies a lot in thickness as well as more even Open Studio work. 10 cu ft kiln @cone 6.

Our studio has a tray with a piece of carpeting on it. We just twist the footring on the carpet and it takes off about 1/16 up the edge of the foot. Any carpet or upholstery that has a fuzzy surface works great. Not so dangerous. We recycle the glaze that accumulates in the tray and from cleaning the mat.

Re leaf moulds The reason I like my latex ones is you do have a second chance. You can lift it up a bit to see how you are doing as you are using the pony roller. You can arrange a variety of smaller leaves on your slab and get a montage. However if you want the same pattern of leaves for a series this would be a bit more difficult.

I make my hump and slump moulds from clay. I roll a 1/2" slab, spread cornstarch all over and put cornstarch side in or on, depending on which shape I want. If it is a high curve I will get ripples which I push and smooth. I usually try to have both the inside and outside of the mould work so after getting the first surface smooth and after it has stiffened a bit I take it out (or off) and smooth the other side. I might have to put clay into spots where there had been a ripple. I use ribs to really smooth. I bisque fire it and it is ready to go. When using it you can put your clay right in or over. If you are using it as a hump, remember what Chilly said, don't leave it on too long. Because the mould is made from a 1/2" slab it is much lighter than a solid plaster mould.

Nancy, I have made many rhubarb leaf moulds from latex which I get from my pottery supplier. The instructions say paint on many layers, letting them dry between each. I am a bit impatient so I pour it on and spread it around fairly evenly with my fingers. Gloves would be good. The thick centre vein is tricky so I keep pulling up the latex over it to get a thick layer. After the first layer has dried I check the thickness visually because I don't want to peel the leaf off too soon. If it isn't creamy and opaque I put more on. Sometimes I even add more the next day. It is best to do this outside because of the ammonia in it. I usually do it in a board so I don't get drips on anything important. I use the underside of the leaf to get the most veining and wrinkles which means the clay leaf will look like the the top side of the original leaf. To use it, I make a 1/4" slab, place the mould on top and press in the texture with my pony roller. Because it is stretchy I can tug at it to keep it flat which you can't do with the real leaf.

I make latex moulds from all my leaves. The latex is more flexible than the real thing and then I can do leaf bowls in the winter. I make the moulds pretty thick and they last forever. The latex keeps all the fine veining. Sorry, though, I don't have the leaf you want.

Some of my glazes will tolerate being fired right after dipping but others will crawl. So it is trial and error. In a pinch I have microwaved them on defrost for 3 min. or so (if they fit in the microwave). Joan

We use broken glass bottles...blue and green work well...and the blue and green half marbles for covering the surface of planters. I require a border of some sort to contain the flowing glass, horizontal surfaces only. As they are decorative I suggest inside knobs, carved soap dishes and candle holders or flatish lids with chanels trimmed or carved. Fluid glazes seem to be better than stiff glazes. If using other colours of glass which tend to become clear then using a coloured glazes work nicely. Our favourite glaze is Randy's Oatmeal Rust. The better types glass are the rods used by glass bead makers. All those colours melt well. We fire to ^6. Joan