Roberta12

With everyone stuck in their homes, people are spending a lot of time in the kitchen. We thought it would be fun to share what we've been cooking, and the pots that are part of the process. Please share the culinary delights you've been creating during lockdown, and the recipe!
I'll go first: I've been making sourdough bread for quite a while, but have only just become confident and competent with it in the last couple of years, thanks to Instagram and Youtube, and the wealth of information that has been shared. I make a loaf almost every week on Sunday or Monday (my days off), that I mostly use for sandwiches and panini, and on Sunday mornings I make French toast with the week old leftovers.
The loaf pictured below I just made yesterday, and it's one of the best I've ever done. I used 550 grams of flour (30% whole wheat and 70% organic white flour), 10g sea salt, 72% hydration, and 100g of 50/50 starter. I only use whole wheat in my starter. I cook my bread in a cast iron Dutch oven, preheated for 45 minutes at 450F before putting the bread in. The first 20 minutes of the bake are with the lid on, then I drop the temp to 430F until it's done, about 25 minutes more.
Most of the sourdough breads you see on Instagram are high hydration (80% or more) and have a really open crumb, which makes for great photos. But it's terrible for sandwiches because the mayo or butter or Italian dressing or whatever you like to put on your sandwich tends to go right through and get all over your hands. At lower hydration I get a tighter crumb that's still light and soft, but closed enough to make a decent sandwich.
The bowl I use to mix my bread dough is a cone 10 reduction porcelain bowl I made about 12 years ago. It has a  water etched swirl pattern and a true celadon glaze- reduced iron, not a green stain. It's slightly flawed, like many of my pots that I've kept for my own use, with a small hole in the wall from an impurity that burned out of the clay. It's a good sized bowl, big enough to be used as a popcorn bowl, and probably bigger than I need for making bread, but it's nice to have the extra space when mixing.
 
 
 

@Mark C. I look forward to your new tree fishing Instagram account that you undertake in your glorious ADHD boredom. 

Just to let you folks know, I have received and email from NCECA confirming cancellation of the conference this year in Richmond, VA. Those who have registered will get an email on 4 options dealing with their registration fee.
 
 
best,
Pres

The Archie Bray is 280 miles from Red Lodge. 560 round trip. I prefer to go up the Musselshell river valley and down Deep creek to Towsend avoiding much of the interstate. It can be done in a day and the drive is beautiful .I am convinced I live in Paradise but Sue Tirrell really lives in Paradise Valley!
-not to mention visiting the Bray and looking at the gallery, classes and studios.
I do sometimes ship my clay with others to Billings and pick it up there. 
 
Marcia

I'm surprised they haven't changed it to "need anything under 100 lbs and fits in a checked bag while I'm in Denver?" 
 

My supplier is in Denver.  200 miles one way.    However, our daughter lives in Denver, so when I visit, I plan the trip around the supply house schedule.  I have a cousin who comes here to see his mom every other month, and ALWAYS offers to stop at the supply house to pick up clay.  It has been a big blessing, that is for certain.  Because Denver is a main destination for those of us who are flying, need a specialist's care, hospitalization, major concerts or shows, we all check in with friends before we leave the big city, "need anything while I am in Denver?"  
Roberta

Handiness is a secondary benefit to having gone through college ceramics programs. We never had much of a budget, so if we needed something like table or shelving, we built our own. When things needed fixing, we did it ourselves. In grad school we even ran our own plumbing for the gas kilns to save money. It drove the facilities guys nuts, but we always passed inspection.

For the most part, those are my steps as well.  Including the first one.  Usually that first swear word seems to be the motivator to start working!  My husband is able to repair, analyze, rebuild  just about anything.  I have learned his methods of detection when it comes to my pottery equipment.  After replacing the elements the first time, I realized it was something I could do.  We also live remote, so we have had to repair, replace, maintain all of our equipment, pottery or otherwise.  I have been very grateful for the forum when it comes to analyzing and repairing all kinds of problems.  Thanks friends!

For the most part, those are my steps as well.  Including the first one.  Usually that first swear word seems to be the motivator to start working!  My husband is able to repair, analyze, rebuild  just about anything.  I have learned his methods of detection when it comes to my pottery equipment.  After replacing the elements the first time, I realized it was something I could do.  We also live remote, so we have had to repair, replace, maintain all of our equipment, pottery or otherwise.  I have been very grateful for the forum when it comes to analyzing and repairing all kinds of problems.  Thanks friends!

I allow food and drink in my studio, except during glazing week. The rest of the time they are only touching clay, no glaze materials, so there's not any real risk of ingesting something dangerous. We have a pretty steady supply of baked goods and candy coming through the studio.

Coffee mug, car thermos style or bottle of soft drink. Both seal tight when I am not sipping.

Hot and cold, large laundry/utility sink is next door to the studio, hence water in the studio is by bucket. Settled throwing water is separated - slop to slop bucket, clear water back to throwing bucket. Settled cleanup water is separated - slop to landscape watering, clear water back to cleanup. When either get all nasty, when a fresh load of water is in order - to the landscape!
Since installing 133 gallon tank to capture RO "waste" water and whole house gac backwash, I'm getting throwing and cleanup water from there (using RO water for glazes). Full five gallon buckets are heavier these days - about half full is enough.

I have a bucket system where I throw and handbuild.  I carry the slurry/sludge out and water the trees with it.  Our area is quite arid so I really don't want to waste water.  In the shop where I glaze and fire, I again have a bucket system, so I carry it out and water the trees again.  Even in the winter, I will pour it all on the trees.  In warmer weather I have a 2 tub utility sink outside with a hose and buckets under the drains.  Yes, the trees benefit from that.  It's not perfect, but I have made it work!  
Roberta

I have a bucket system where I throw and handbuild.  I carry the slurry/sludge out and water the trees with it.  Our area is quite arid so I really don't want to waste water.  In the shop where I glaze and fire, I again have a bucket system, so I carry it out and water the trees again.  Even in the winter, I will pour it all on the trees.  In warmer weather I have a 2 tub utility sink outside with a hose and buckets under the drains.  Yes, the trees benefit from that.  It's not perfect, but I have made it work!  
Roberta

I have a bucket system where I throw and handbuild.  I carry the slurry/sludge out and water the trees with it.  Our area is quite arid so I really don't want to waste water.  In the shop where I glaze and fire, I again have a bucket system, so I carry it out and water the trees again.  Even in the winter, I will pour it all on the trees.  In warmer weather I have a 2 tub utility sink outside with a hose and buckets under the drains.  Yes, the trees benefit from that.  It's not perfect, but I have made it work!  
Roberta

I have a bucket system where I throw and handbuild.  I carry the slurry/sludge out and water the trees with it.  Our area is quite arid so I really don't want to waste water.  In the shop where I glaze and fire, I again have a bucket system, so I carry it out and water the trees again.  Even in the winter, I will pour it all on the trees.  In warmer weather I have a 2 tub utility sink outside with a hose and buckets under the drains.  Yes, the trees benefit from that.  It's not perfect, but I have made it work!  
Roberta

I can get a serious case of blank page syndrome when faced with a large block of clay and no other directives. I need to have some choices made ahead of time, and I like most things to be planned out before I head to the studio.  I need to narrow the possibilities down, which is why I work within a functional framework.
 
I come at it from a “This is my job” angle. In the early part of the year, I schedule play and design time, to work out new ideas and keep things fresh. There’s not a lot of sales in January and February, and I’m flush off of Christmas, so I have the space to noodle a bit. I think about the feedback I received over the year, and if I’ve noticed I’ve received a lot of requests for an item, I’ll make the effort to design one I like. If I had requests for larger items, I’ll play around with them at that point, because I have the space to do things like throw a large bisque mold, or glaze test, or try a new material or technique. 
The middle of the year is about testing those new designs in the market, and seeing who likes what and how well it sells and at what price point. There are adjustments made, but at that point it’s more about perfecting existing designs, or starting to make more of it, making work for ongoing markets and stockpiling the proven items for Christmas.
 
Christmas planning starts in June, and and my cutoff for trying to work out anything new is the start of September. At that point my focus shifts from “what am I making?” to “how much do I have to make?” That last part is all based on numbers from last year at the same shows, plus who needs what for retail outlets and any online sales. 
Creativity gets put on hold for a couple of months, other than idea gathering and sketching. In a lot of ways I find the production time freeing, because I have a list and can just crank. Seeing a huge pile of stuff you’ve made at the end of the day is very satisfying.  But at the end I’m glad for the rest, and the time to noodle.
 

I follow a number of people on Instagram who use bleeding underglaze, and I've never seen them making it bleed in the raw stage. It's always the glaze causing the bleed. I can control the degree of bleeding on my work by simply making the glaze more or less fluid.

I don't think adding flux to the underglaze is going to help much, unless you add enough that it actually melts like a glaze. Focus on the clear glaze. Needs to be fluid, and needs to be thick enough to move. I don't get any bleeding if the glaze is too thin.

Amaco LUG black will run a bit, but not sure if that is what you are wanting?

"Why is this not white" is the question I get most often. 
And I still don't understand why fellow class-mates don't understand the difference between "clear" and "white" on a vessel of glaze.

Running conduit under the house today, WHAT A CHORE.  24 inches of clearance and I'm a big 220lb 6'2" monster so not a whole lot of room to work.  Hopefully this pays off in the next few weeks and I'll be firing an electric kiln!!!
Wire arrives via UPS sometime next week and I can run the wire and call the inspector if everything goes swell.  Fingers crossed I did everything OK, it looks good anyway.

Wow great!  Thanks

Mine isn't powered but I am with Marc on the  Bailey slab roller and my extruder is second place.  I made my own extruder from directions in a Ceramics Monthly magazine.  It was only suppose to be temporary to see if I really needed a extruder.  I liked it so well I redesigned it to make it stronger and a made a bunch of dies for it,  Both pieces of equipment save me a lot of production time  and I am able to do projects that would be nearly impossible to do with out them.  Denice
 

I think because I am not too far into this clay journey, I do have new forms at least once a year.  Usually it's something I am trying to conquer, and once I do, like Mark, I take some time and fine tune it.  Mostly my new forms are a result of "what would it look like if I....."