Benzine

There was definitely a lot of that in College.  A lot of new media and techniques, that were different and in some cases those things were vastly different depending on which of the instructors you had, even if they were the same class.  For instance, I had the same instructor for both my Painting classes, and his classes didn't not operate as the other painting classes did.  We had to do twelve paintings a week.  That may seem insane, but it should be noted, that he never said what size the paintings had to be.  So most of the class would do several smaller, experimental paintings, and continue to work on a larger one each week.  Some of my classmates hated that approach, I liked it.  It allowed us to experiment and refine our skills multiple times over. 
Currently my strolls into unfamiliar territory are when I try a new lesson.  I would say the stakes are higher, because if I try something new and run into unforeseen issues, I can shrug it off or adapt.  If an entire class runs into unforeseen issues, that's way more of a problem. 

I loved my college years with gas kilns, the large kilns at PSU were great for the large pieces I made, and the glazing was easy with a large combination of dipping, pouring or splattering glazes with some brush work. However, how was a poor art teacher to have a gas kiln living in the middle of town? Thus 10 years after graduation I started a small pottery with ^6 electric. Easy transition as I was already teaching ^6 at the HS. I will say that the glazing at the college was easier to get moderate results. However, to even get moderate results at ^6 takes much more awareness of glaze interaction and application. Things I never did in college, like spraying or atomizing, dipping thin over thick,  use of multiple transparencies or other things seem to be the only way to get what I want out of glazing. However, with the movement toward more texture in the making process while throwing, I yearn for the ^10 glaze process to some degree or even wood firing. 
best,
Pres

I started off firing cone 10 reduction with porcelaineous stoneware, and well....
I wasn’t going to be able to get at my usual cone ten gas rental for the summer while they rebuilt the kiln shed, so I thought I’d play around with some cone 6 clay because the electrics were still available, and I picked up some red clay and some underglazes for a change of pace. That was almost 5 years ago, and I never did go back to the gas kiln. 

In art school for sure-thats what it was all about learning it all whether I liked it or not.My yard still has all my dark side ceramic sculpture in it.No market for it 45 years later-still yard art

I also felt that way in college but finally figured out it that is what a college education should do.   Push you kicking and screaming down new roads.   Denice

There was definitely a lot of that in College.  A lot of new media and techniques, that were different and in some cases those things were vastly different depending on which of the instructors you had, even if they were the same class.  For instance, I had the same instructor for both my Painting classes, and his classes didn't not operate as the other painting classes did.  We had to do twelve paintings a week.  That may seem insane, but it should be noted, that he never said what size the paintings had to be.  So most of the class would do several smaller, experimental paintings, and continue to work on a larger one each week.  Some of my classmates hated that approach, I liked it.  It allowed us to experiment and refine our skills multiple times over. 
Currently my strolls into unfamiliar territory are when I try a new lesson.  I would say the stakes are higher, because if I try something new and run into unforeseen issues, I can shrug it off or adapt.  If an entire class runs into unforeseen issues, that's way more of a problem. 

Working on coffee pour overs, needs some cleaning up when it's a bit firmer. Not sure about making more of these, super time consuming. I've made a donut for it to sit on while firing for support.

 

My personal dumbest moment was back in college while loading the outdoor soda kiln in sub zero temperatures while not turning on the gas burners to heat the inside of the kiln. The posts and the shelves were so cold (they were kept outside) they froze the wadding, and when it melted, it shifted the stack and the whole thing fell over. I was not popular for this particular move. 

Re raku firing.  The first one I was involved with was in my teacher's basement.  A 10 cu ft electric kiln with  pulley that lifted the lid.  The shelves were built up so that only the top layer was used.  Once the pots reached the required temp the lid was lifted (I don't know if the kiln was turned off)  and the pots were tonged into garbage cans through the basement window.
How many rules does that break? It never happened again and the house didn't burn down (miracle) and no one was hurt (another miracle.
Lin

The steeped in safety culture of the Steel Mill (where I worked for several years) changed my life - doesn't mean I don't make mistakes, doesn't mean I don't (stupidly/silly-ly) do dangerous things - just "see" somewhat differently.
A safety measure only has to "work" one time.
The opposite is, sadly, also true.

And sometimes that concern, doesn't even involve us.
I was talking to a teacher, at a nearby District, during our Conference Art Show.  Her students had some nice Raku pieces and I asked about the set up they used.  She informed me that she used their normal electric classroom kiln, and had a nearby exterior door, where they carried the wares for reduction.  I asked, "So you turn the kiln *OFF* before reaching in with the *METAL* tongs right?!"  She kind of chuckled and said, that she hadn't thought about that.  Now she could have been using sarcasm.  However, know that I've known her for several years, I'm honestly not sure she was...

I guess all too often the things that cause the most concern at the moment, in retrospect, can bring the most laughter. We realize our stupidity when it happens or just after, but learn the lesson.
 
best,
Pres

Hmmmm, off the top of my head, I'm going to go with this one:
During my fifth year teaching, I had a Ceramics I class, in which I also had a couple "helpers".  I forget what that District called them, but essentially they got a credit for helping a teacher, with whatever they needed.  Generally I would only have one per class, but for some reason, I accepted both at the same time.
Anyway, the way we recycled clay, was by having the students hand mix the wet reclaim, with a dry clay powder.  I realize now, this was it's own level of stupid, and it was just something I did, because that's how it had been done by the previous instructor.  I had a couple students, who  needed more clay, and the clay powder was out.  So I sent my helpers to get another bag from storage.  The students mixed it with the reclaim, and that was that...  UNTIL, some of the projects made with that clay were fired.  Said projects partially melted.  Unlike several of the other stories, this was not a Low Fire/ Mid-High Fire issue, because we only used Low Fire.  Instead, it was a label reading issue.  The helper students grabbed a bag of dry GLAZE powder, without looking at what it was.  Am I partially to blame?  Absolutely!  I should have double checked, and in their defense, the bags looked identical, minus the stamped label, which is partially abbreviated. 
Luckily, there wasn't enough glaze mixed with the clay, to damage anything.  The projects didn't even stick to the shelf.  Basically they were large scale Egyptian Paste sculptures.
And fortunately, the contaminated clay was easy to find, and dispose of.
The worst part was that the students lost a project that they worked on.  They still got a proper grade for it, they just had nothing to take home. 

I have been working on a regular slab made butter dish. I made the mistake of making one as a request from a niece for Christmas last year. Others in the family saw it, and decided they needed one. So I instead of doing a one off, several times I came up with this set up.

I am using a thin piece of plastic between the form and the slab of clay, as it makes removal a breeze, and the plastic stretches into the corners of the form. I use rollers and stamps to decorate the slab pieces. The 2X4 is covered on one side with an extra layer of rubber backed felt to bring the form up to the correct width.
I recently had a custom stamp made of a design I created in Corel Draw that is uses my symbol/signature as a basis.
 I have still not fired any of these, but don't foresee any issues.
best,
Pres

This is a personal project for my house. I recently switched to using bar soap and bar shampoo, in an effort to reduce my plastic bottle consumption. I was using a soap dish I had made years ago, but soon discovered that it was not well-suited for an environment as wet as a shower. I made myself a new soap dish that is designed to shed excess water onto the shower floor. This concept is not original to me, I've seen photos of other handmade pottery self-draining soap dishes. But mine is the first wheel-thrown version that I've seen.

Might need to change the name, since the leach family still sell them

Lots of leach wheel plans out there  on the internet, plus I had heard one of his kids at the university of Wisconsin was trying to set up with Amish craftsman to build these in the states as well. Nice wheel, I think if I made one I would really have to go old school and hardwood and clear finish the hardwood just for show.

Hmmmm, off the top of my head, I'm going to go with this one:
During my fifth year teaching, I had a Ceramics I class, in which I also had a couple "helpers".  I forget what that District called them, but essentially they got a credit for helping a teacher, with whatever they needed.  Generally I would only have one per class, but for some reason, I accepted both at the same time.
Anyway, the way we recycled clay, was by having the students hand mix the wet reclaim, with a dry clay powder.  I realize now, this was it's own level of stupid, and it was just something I did, because that's how it had been done by the previous instructor.  I had a couple students, who  needed more clay, and the clay powder was out.  So I sent my helpers to get another bag from storage.  The students mixed it with the reclaim, and that was that...  UNTIL, some of the projects made with that clay were fired.  Said projects partially melted.  Unlike several of the other stories, this was not a Low Fire/ Mid-High Fire issue, because we only used Low Fire.  Instead, it was a label reading issue.  The helper students grabbed a bag of dry GLAZE powder, without looking at what it was.  Am I partially to blame?  Absolutely!  I should have double checked, and in their defense, the bags looked identical, minus the stamped label, which is partially abbreviated. 
Luckily, there wasn't enough glaze mixed with the clay, to damage anything.  The projects didn't even stick to the shelf.  Basically they were large scale Egyptian Paste sculptures.
And fortunately, the contaminated clay was easy to find, and dispose of.
The worst part was that the students lost a project that they worked on.  They still got a proper grade for it, they just had nothing to take home. 

Hmmmm, off the top of my head, I'm going to go with this one:
During my fifth year teaching, I had a Ceramics I class, in which I also had a couple "helpers".  I forget what that District called them, but essentially they got a credit for helping a teacher, with whatever they needed.  Generally I would only have one per class, but for some reason, I accepted both at the same time.
Anyway, the way we recycled clay, was by having the students hand mix the wet reclaim, with a dry clay powder.  I realize now, this was it's own level of stupid, and it was just something I did, because that's how it had been done by the previous instructor.  I had a couple students, who  needed more clay, and the clay powder was out.  So I sent my helpers to get another bag from storage.  The students mixed it with the reclaim, and that was that...  UNTIL, some of the projects made with that clay were fired.  Said projects partially melted.  Unlike several of the other stories, this was not a Low Fire/ Mid-High Fire issue, because we only used Low Fire.  Instead, it was a label reading issue.  The helper students grabbed a bag of dry GLAZE powder, without looking at what it was.  Am I partially to blame?  Absolutely!  I should have double checked, and in their defense, the bags looked identical, minus the stamped label, which is partially abbreviated. 
Luckily, there wasn't enough glaze mixed with the clay, to damage anything.  The projects didn't even stick to the shelf.  Basically they were large scale Egyptian Paste sculptures.
And fortunately, the contaminated clay was easy to find, and dispose of.
The worst part was that the students lost a project that they worked on.  They still got a proper grade for it, they just had nothing to take home. 

Like everyone else I have seen my share of kiln disasters.   The worse one was the year I was graduating from college,  it was the last firing for the year.   A friend had begged the master students to put some of her pots in the firing.   Some how she had gotten some low fire clay mixed in,  her pieces on the top shelf melted and ran down the pots below.   I am not sure if every piece was ruined but it sure looked like it.   I didn't have any work in it I had already started working with C5/6 oxidation and usually fired at home.   A few month later I came home to find a dozen 5 gal buckets of dried up clay sitting in my driveway.  She had left a note saying she was giving up clay.   I called her and asked what cone the clay was and she said she didn't know.   Fortunately we had a area in our yard that always need fill because of a creek.    Denice

Yeah Mark, my lid is not hinged as I switch between 3&4 sections. I have had this set up for years, then about 5 years ago I put on a new thicker lid, and added a second handle. I lift the lid off of the floor to put it on the kiln no matter how many sections, not a problem. However, the handles are sheet metal hollow rounded. the handle broke near the end of the grip close to the screw plates.
 
best,
Pres

Opened a glaze load this morning. Turned off yesterday at 3am. AS I was lifting the lid off (I use two handles on the kiln lid to remove and place on. As I often fire my sectional with 4 sections) One of the handles broke, and tore my hand on two fingers. Luckily the lid was mostly on the floor so it didn't get damaged. Nothing a few bandaids couldn't handle, but bled quite a bit. 
Load is great, get to grind and ship out the last of the Communion sets this year.
 
best,
Pres

Reminds me of the years in the beginning when I had an old electric kiln, just replaced with a new L&L. The school had a courtyard in the center of the complex that was walled by classroom 4 stories up all around. I was in the basement, and a door led out to the courtyard. I decided to get permission to do Raku in the courtyard with the electric kiln. I read up on everything, and made certain we could reach temp in time, and made certain to unplug the kiln from the industrial extension leading out. We had burn barrels for reduction, I mixed up some glazes. . . and we went at it. Did it for about 3 years with teachers learning to close their windows in the Spring other wise get smoked out! About the 3rd year they made a decision to put Central Supply in the HS building. They roofed over the courtyard, and put in double doors with a ramp in. No more raku. Never did determine if it was logistics, or a sneaky way of getting rid of raku. . . Forgot to mention that the Superintendents offices were on the first floor on one wall facing the courtyard!
 
best,
Pres

I was infatuated with the ceramic process and work of the Pamunkey Indians, a Virginia tribe located within a day trip from VCU's School of the Arts where I was earning my BFA in ceramics.  I had studied the work of the Maria Martinez and other native people's doing pit firing & burnishing black & red wares and I knew the Pamunkey's were just beginning to resurrect their craft. I lucked out and got to tag along for a few weeks with an anthropologist who was assisting them with research and reconstruction of their history and the reestablishment of all aspects their traditional way of life. I got to learn about making/firing/finishing the pottery along with them and just couldn't wait to do it on my own. Silly me. Apparently the small back yard of an urban apartment, with fussy neighbors and even fussier management (something about not liking the smoke-go figure) was not an appropriate place to do my thing. I might have given them some lip about why the heck can't I do what I choose with my little patch of ground, but they were having none of it and threatened to kick me out--only the fact that I was a single mom with a young child saved my butt...but I had to cease and desist with the backyard bar-b-ques! 

We were only allowed to buy clay from the school as students.  The TAs or studio assistants as they liked to be called, were allowed a lot of latitude in what they wanted to do.
After they switched everything to cone 10 it made recycling clay a lot simpler too, everything was just tossed into a single bin and what came out was the "free" clay.  A mixture of stoneware and porcelain all plugged together was all I could afford at the time lol.