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Roberta12

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  1. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Babs in Extremely stupid and ignorant to hazards with working with clay   
    Is the glaze recipe available?
    Does it contain fritted lead?
    If your employer is not educating you re all dangers when working with lead there is lack of due diligence and could lead to serious health issues.
    You could be carrying lead home on your clothes and hair. It is absorbed through the skin. Can damage the brain. 
    Hope the ceramic objects are not functional. Lead could leach out of glazes and poison the user.
    Be careful. Very serious.
     
  2. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to oldlady in Extremely stupid and ignorant to hazards with working with clay   
    you might look for a totally different job, starting today.   and report the business to whatever health organization controls such places.   you do not want the next person to be affected by this ridiculously wrong ignorance.    the employers need to be stopped.
  3. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Min in Extremely stupid and ignorant to hazards with working with clay   
    @LouiseD, as others have said this is totally unsafe and probably illegal situation to have in a workplace. Looks like you are in England, I believe the link below would either be somewhere you should report the situation too or they should be able to redirect you if not. Take some photos if you can. Even if there wasn't lead in the glaze(s) it is extremely unsafe practice to spray glaze without adequate ventilation and well fitting PPE. 
    https://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/tell-us-about-a-health-and-safety-issue.htm
     
  4. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Babs in Extremely stupid and ignorant to hazards with working with clay   
    Absolutely needs reporting!!!!
    Will affect everybody!! 
    Please be responsible and blow the whistle.
    Your family will be at risk if you launder at home or wear your clothes home.
    Children in a town here are tested for blood levels of lead and are not allowed to play in the yards, mums clean houses surfaces 3-4 times a day because of wind borne lead.
    Don't just get out of there  , report it.
    What ceramics are being made?
  5. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Min in Extremely stupid and ignorant to hazards with working with clay   
    Frits containing lead are safer for the potter while using the raw glaze but once a glaze is melted it depends on the glaze chemistry just the same as if using a raw lead glaze.
    If this studio is allowing and asking employees to spray lead glazes with inadequate PPE and practices I have to wonder what other infractions are happening. Where is the exhaust going? Landing up in the environment? What temperature are they firing it to? (lead volatilizes over 1170C) Silica dust control etc. Is there excessive copper being used in any of the lead glazes? (copper increases lead release) and so on.
  6. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Pres in QotW: How savvy are your customers about pottery?   
    Yeah, we had a nice conversation with you a few years ago, and my wife really loves her platter that sets out on the Dining room table all year round! Talking shop is always fun. 
     
    best,
    Pres
  7. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to GEP in QotW: How savvy are your customers about pottery?   
    I get the whole range too, from “what is this made out of?” to “what cone and atmosphere?” I think my favorite customers are not necessarily the technically knowledgable, but the ones who care a great deal about home design and function, i.e. making their home into a space where they feel happy. 
    Over the years, I have found that as I moved up into a higher tier of craft shows, I really don’t meet the clueless ones anymore. And the ones who don’t know much about ceramics are at least smart people in general and know how to ask intelligent questions. 
    I also like to talk shop with other potters. They aren’t necessarily interested in buying, they want to learn. That’s fun for me too. 
  8. Like
    Roberta12 got a reaction from Babs in Is it possible to make a living?   
    Follow @goodelephantpottery on Instagram   @catiemillermillerceramics   on Instagram (who just had a great post today about what it takes) and @jenallenceramics and @chandradebuse and so many others as well as @Mark C.    It will give you an idea of what it takes.
    Roberta
  9. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Callie Beller Diesel in Is it possible to make a living?   
    Well, I make my living from it, so, yeah. It’s possible! Easy? That’s a different question entirely.
    The methods to entry do vary depending on how and when you start. Tools and approaches that were available 20 years ago maybe aren’t now, but there are tools available now that weren’t here 20 years ago.
    The thing that helped me the most was making a business plan. It doesn’t have to be the same kind of plan that you’d take to a bank in order to obtain a loan, but you should lay out for yourself some goals and projections based on research. Figure out where you want your income streams to to come from. Some folks love teaching, some don’t. Some folks love doing in person shows a lot, and some prefer online sales and marketing. And keep track of whether or not a given venture is profitable. Just because you took home $1000 from a show (random number) doesn’t mean you made bank. How much did it cost you to get there? And are you getting paid for your time? All of your time?
    I don’t think it’s a great idea to just quit your day job and jump in at this point. Spend some time building your skills and building an audience. Start an email list! Even a small one of 100 people can net you a few sales every time, and that adds up. I know so many artists who were only doing in-person shows that had their businesses saved over the covid shutdowns because they had an email list.
    Build up your studio and supplies with sales from your pots over time. I didn’t start off my business by owning all my equipment from the outset. I did buy a wheel and some shelves, and just fired at a community centre for years. It took a long time, and was interrupted by life a LOT, but I outfitted my studio slowly and with cash. Keep your overhead low.
    Take the time to visit shows the year before you apply to them, to see whether or not they might be ones that fit your work. Make “show friends” with the other artists you work with, so that you can talk shop with them and trade intel. Those show friends will also be a source of support and encouragement, and community like that is necessary.
  10. Like
    Roberta12 got a reaction from GEP in Is it possible to make a living?   
    Follow @goodelephantpottery on Instagram   @catiemillermillerceramics   on Instagram (who just had a great post today about what it takes) and @jenallenceramics and @chandradebuse and so many others as well as @Mark C.    It will give you an idea of what it takes.
    Roberta
  11. Like
    Roberta12 got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Is it possible to make a living?   
    Follow @goodelephantpottery on Instagram   @catiemillermillerceramics   on Instagram (who just had a great post today about what it takes) and @jenallenceramics and @chandradebuse and so many others as well as @Mark C.    It will give you an idea of what it takes.
    Roberta
  12. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Min in excessive manganese   
    In an ideal world then yes for sure. But, seems there are always going to be people who for one reason or another don't take the time to learn this stuff before diving in. Just take a quick look at social media sites, full of people with no glaze chem knowledge making pots.
  13. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to LeeU in QotW: Did your school have hands on subjects, shop, typing, home economics, sewing, anything where you used your hands?   
    My middle school, H.S. years were in the late 50's early '60's and the only things girls could take were typing & home ec. Sewing was taught by the moms & art classes were fairly lame-I taught myself in terms of most hands-on art materials/processes. Where I lucked out was that my dad wanted a boy-no secret in our house-and got me instead. So, since I hated the rigid box for females, I pestered him until I was a full-fledged member of his Scout Troop & did everything the boys did, indoors & in the wild, and just as good. That earned me the privlege of being able to go down to the basement to my dad's shop where I got to do everything from manual & power equipment for wood/metal/plastic to working the Morse code for him (as a Ham radio operator) on his brass key pad. I didn't go to university art school until the '80s and by then things were much, much better--we women could & did the same things as the guys-no restrictions. So I learned a lot more in terms of dexterity , motor control etc, via ceramics, cold glass,wood, sculpture (lite welding), textiles, some manual typesetting, & pre-computer graphic arts...cut and paste was real different ha ha.   
  14. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Callie Beller Diesel in Glaze Bucket Failure   
    I’ve noticed that the quality of plastic that the store with that big orange logo have been selling lately for paint mixing seems to be lower. They’re not as thick as some of my old food service buckets, or even the buckets that drywall mud comes in.  Could be covid related supply line issues, could be the fact that they took BPA and BPB out of some things a few years ago. I’m not saying the removal was a bad thing, because the stuff is bad for folks. But it did make plastics more, well, plastic. Could just be that corporations are being cheap.
  15. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Babs in Glaze Bucket Failure   
    Quality not what it was  , for sure!!
    Buckets used to last for years. Not anymore.
    I have slit a bucket with an agitator attached to a drill but not with your methods.
    Disappointing, eh?
    I get cast offs from local bakery , used fir cream, sauce etc. Seem better quality than in the stores and much less costly.
  16. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Denice in How do I choose a kiln?   
    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
  17. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to neilestrick in stoneware cracking/breaking at degrees below zero?   
    Shouldn't be a problem. The temperature change won't be extreme or fast enough to cause a problem, and freezing is only an issue when water is involved. If the clay body isn't sufficiently vitrified and absorbs moisture and then freezes it can crack, or in the case of a planter, if the wet soil freezes and expands it can crack the pot. You won't be in either of those situations at the market so you'll be fine.
  18. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Callie Beller Diesel in Underglaze for Detailed Rubber Stamping   
    If you want to make your own ceramic printer’s ink similar to something you’d use with a brayer for litho printing, mix equal parts stain, frit and epk or china clay. Slake it in glycerine overnight, and mix all the lumps out. 
    It sounds like Roberta’s method with the sponge might work better for you though.
  19. Like
    Roberta12 got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Underglaze for Detailed Rubber Stamping   
    I was taught to spread underglaze  with a brush, on a large sponge and then tap tap tap your rubber stamp on the sponge.  Then apply to your bisque ware.  This works for me.   This also gives you the capability of changing underglaze colors.
    r.
  20. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Callie Beller Diesel in Heavy Kiln Shelves   
    Issac Button was a machine. Just casually wearing a shirt and tie under his coveralls,  pouring glaze in 25 lb bowls smoking a pipe the whole time. 
  21. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Pir in dipping glaze application weirdness   
    Thanks again to Hulk, Min, Callie and others for answering questions I had in 2021... which are similar to the ones I've posted (and you've answered) this year! It's taken so long for some of these concepts to sink in.
    Pir
  22. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to liambesaw in dipping glaze application weirdness   
    I also do not water my pots down.  I don't do anything to them before glazing except blow them off with an air hose to knock off any dust
  23. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Min in dipping glaze application weirdness   
    It can be, depends on the clay. I never dip pots in water before glazing, they are always dry when I glaze.
    @Pir, I'ld rub those pinholes over with a dry fingertip when the glaze is dry.
  24. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Callie Beller Diesel in Why my clay acts like this?   
    @JimLurkinghi and welcome!
    To add to what Peter said about terminology, all grog is temper, but not all temper is grog. Grog is clay that’s been fired and then ground into assorted sizes of grit. It can be added to clay bodies, or its used “off label” to large pieces on in the kiln to prevent cracking/warping/glaze getting onto shelves. North Americans tend to refer to the specific temper they’re using by name, whether it’s sawdust, paper pulp, chicken grit, decomposed granite, sand, etc. 
    Temper is a term I’ve seen used more frequently in British or European references, or in archeological/art history writing. In those contexts, it’s a broad category that could mean anything from straw in adobe to river sand in assorted primitive firings, to chamotte, which is French grog from a specific clay.
     
    (I will not make sparkling clay jokes, I will not make sparkling clay jokes, I will not make sparkling clay jokes)
  25. Like
    Roberta12 reacted to Babs in QotW: How do you store your clay?   
    I order by the tonne. It comes on a pallet shrouded in ceram wrap, 100x 10kg plastic bags full.
    I double bag and seal the lot.
    Put half back on pallet, rewrap up, put in shaded side of shed. Cover the lot with thick plastic sheeting. The other half is put under the benches in my shed. Long hot sumers here.
    If anything gets too dried out, I put cup of water in bag , reseal and submerge in a bucket of water.
    I used to carry 3xbags full into the shed but now one at a time!
    Are 10kgs getting heavier these days?
    What's going on there??
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