Benzine

End of year firing were always fun. Especially those that had mixed loads of bisque and glaze when firing ^06.

Perhaps an extended candling to insure dryness?

glazenerd, that goes without saying when you teach ceramics to kids. Heavy thick walled areas is not unusual, no matter how hard you try to get them to understand the problems with overweight poorly constructed ware.

Oh. My. PUMPKIN!! That's a great idea! I think you just saved my hands. I was so disappointed about not being able to carve a pumpkin this year...great idea!!

use some miracle grow and they will get taller

Oh no Crusty, I'm not falling for that again. Last time I did that, not only did they not get any bigger, but the fumes they gave off, when fired, were nasty!... But on the plus side, the fumes gave me the ability to taste colors.....

Colors must taste like bat poop.

I've been making stuff, just to trim it...

Don't forget to use the shovel smooth side to burnish in an instant. I used that tool for over a year. its a great tool. I just wish I could have sharpened it easier and I would still be using it.

Joseph, so you would not recommend it since it's difficult to sharpen? (i was thinking of ordering one)

Is it common practice for art teachers to make grad mugs in the US?

no, but often a courtesy and sign of respect.

I usually end up with 15-20 a year, but always have. a few extra. I'm trying to include a letter tile opposite the handle, for the student's first initial.

Min, I've almost always done mugs, because I want to give the student, something they will be able to use, and have for many years. Especially being as young adults seem to survive on cereal, coffee, Easy Mac and Ramen. So the mugs i make work well for all of those.

Luckily, yes I do.

did you like the results ?

Yes, fairly happy with the results. A vase, was supposed to have a blue lower portion, but turned out more copper-ish because of the reduction. I've accepted this part of Raku firing. The student project turned out great, but had some dunting, probably because of interior glaze thickness.

I did a firing last night, and gave it a shot, with some pre-testing and precautions. It was SPECTACULAR-ly disappointing... The oil barely burned. Definitely no explosions and sizzled like bacon hitting a hot skillet. No real splatter to speak of. I've had worse from throwing frozen veggies into a skillet.

LOL Well that's good to know!!

Yeah, not dangerous, but also not worth the time. I thought the oil would burn, and give some nice carbon effects. It really didn't. And since the glaze went from the oxidation of the kiln, to an environment that provided neither oxygen or carbon, the glaze didn't really change. It doesn't look bad, just nothing amazing.

so Benzine is score no more different from the magic water?

The gum in the recipe by Old Lady is Gum Arabic, can't see why CMC won't work

Babs. Score No More is Gum, Custer Feldspar and the clay body. So it's more of modified slip. Whereas the magic water is mainly water with the soda ash and sodium silicate.

At least you have one, my last studio the windows were bricked over for foundation work.

I need to mop. My cat is shedding.

You make it sound like cats ever stop shedding. Our's gets blocked out of my work shop, when I have a bunch of things going. She is too nosey, sheds everywhere, and steals my sponges.

How much an hour does scrubbing go for? I have about 20 hours worth. Send applications to: nerdsstudiopigpen.com

No worries. The student came in, and they vented it, through the mouth that was part of the sculpture.

Yo've taught them well!!

I try. This student though, extremely talented, and will spend hours on these incredible, subtle details. But sometimes, will ignore things that are the most obvious.

Me, too!

Thought I was going crazy there for a minute. I was wondering if I said something the administrators didn't like.

I thought it had something to do with my short term memory problem...but realized it was just something to do with my short term memory problem

LOL I thought the same thing as Denise so I reworded my post about insurance ... I thought someone saw it as a sales push for Progressive insurance (you can NOT sell insurance across state lines unless you are licensed in that state)

I did well through the venders exhibition. No brushes this year. BUT the new diamond tool veneer got me. My new set of diamond tips were back ordered and arrived yesterday.Now I can finish getting the wedding off the word fired pieces.

Diesel, I'm glad you like the trimmer. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but after watching some demo videos, I just had to buy it.

I have the do it all trimmer as well, I used it for a very long time, it is a great tool. I ended up buying some byson tools. now I just use those.

Benzine, as a guy who pots relining on his lounge seat, I am amazed you have not inventing this thingie before now!

well they make all kinds of "grabber" gadgets for disabled people to pick stuff up off the floor. but my work chair raises and lowers so i can just do that.

I have one of those grabber things. So far I just use it to grab things that have fallen behind my kick wheel.