GEP

Here are my latest teapot spouts. I am handbuilding them now, in order to eliminate the twisting that happens with thrown spouts. I find that the best prevention of dribbling comes from making the lower edge of the spout lip sharp, and also curving it downward. If a drop of water is clinging to the lip, it has to fall off into the cup. It can’t slide down the outside of the pot without first traveling upward, which gravity will prevent. 
 

Here are my latest teapot spouts. I am handbuilding them now, in order to eliminate the twisting that happens with thrown spouts. I find that the best prevention of dribbling comes from making the lower edge of the spout lip sharp, and also curving it downward. If a drop of water is clinging to the lip, it has to fall off into the cup. It can’t slide down the outside of the pot without first traveling upward, which gravity will prevent. 
 

Detail:

The flanged lid style stays put all the way to the last bit of pour without falling off.
The spout is thrown on the wheel, however, as it set up, was cranked over* with a rod fitted through the hole.
From there, the channel shape was polished and elongated once the spout was mounted and cut.
No glaze on the cut edge of the spout, trying for the "wettability" gradient at the edge that Mark mentions.
The untwisting Mark mentioned, this spout is overcompensated a bit (I throw clockwise).
The spout test project should then include untwist measurement, hmm.
I pour in, pour out the liner glaze;
wax, then cut a sharp line at the outer rim edge, then sponge away excess;
and dip the outside upside down. Any beaded up drops, a small sponge sweeps up, np.
All that to say this - a little wad of clay in the spout end and covering the cut edge worked well to keep the green glaze out of the spout and off the cut portion.
The liner glaze has to be dry-oh, however, and fix the clay, dip, then gently remove the clay soon as - when the slick sheen has died off - so, within a minute or so, else the clay wad might pull away some liner for you to fix, heh. Waxing kinda fixes that.

*learned that from someone's post on this forum, imparting the spout's curve/lean early on, using a chopstick/wand/brush handle that fits through the small hole; seems to work better than trying to shape from the other end later on
 

I think I’ve figured out what I’m going to do. I used 60-80 mesh granulated manganese, in the percentages shown below. Interesting that the speckles are sometimes larger depending on the glaze, because the glaze can cause them to spread out a bit. The 0.2% test looks the closest to my previous claybody. But there have been times in the past when I wished they were a bit more sparse. 0.1% is too sparse though, so I think the right answer for me is 0.15%.
 

This is the twelfth teapot*.
It pours well - solid dependable arc of fluid, which stops predictably and, and, no dribble along the bottom edge of the spout!
I'm also happy with: the overall feel; the shape/profile; boss lid that's heavy without being over heavy, stays in place through full pour-out, and fits well; the color.
I'd looked at many many teapots and searched for The Authority on dripless pouring in general, teapot spouts in particular.
Although there is a study on spiraling path of liquid flowing down a glass rod, uhm, didn't find that helpful - maybe there's something there.
There are many articles, forum posts, etc. that offer helpful suggestions, however, I didn't find anything truly definitive.
Features that may help:
  spout tip higher than (reasonable) fill line;
  lots of holes between the spout and pot body, so the liquid doesn't back up in the pot when pouring, and doesn't back up in the spout once pouring ends;
  the "sharp edge" at the pouring lip that so many mention;
  design such that the liquid prefers running back inside the spout over dribbling down the outside when pouring ends.
Ah, that last bit!
Good luck.
I hope to replicate my good fortune in future...
I'll post some detail pics later on.

From last Saturday's glaze fire.
Aardvark Buff clay, cone 5; exterior Rutile Green glaze, dipped; interior my low COE liner glaze, poured in, poured out;  chattermarks filled with Clear Blue glaze.
The tea cups are very close to same size; the camera I'm using distorts the image, especially away from center.
This is my last attempt before branching sideways into a spout test, making an array of test spouts that fit up to a test vessel, perhaps a soft rubber ball with spout and vent holes, press up against the spout to test, huh. I still might do that. No doubt others have done something similar already. ...the protocol for such is simmering
*The prototypes that poured reasonably in bisque were glazed and fired; none poured without dribbling, once glazed.
Several prototypes are still in bisque; as shelf space is tight, they'll likely see the bin, soon.

This is the dark side of the internet age. I’m sure you did not ask to be reviewed on google, but now all the crazies have discovered you. Keep that “the answer is NO” energy strong!

This is the dark side of the internet age. I’m sure you did not ask to be reviewed on google, but now all the crazies have discovered you. Keep that “the answer is NO” energy strong!

This is the dark side of the internet age. I’m sure you did not ask to be reviewed on google, but now all the crazies have discovered you. Keep that “the answer is NO” energy strong!

This is the dark side of the internet age. I’m sure you did not ask to be reviewed on google, but now all the crazies have discovered you. Keep that “the answer is NO” energy strong!

Focused demo:
If the student is comfortable with your focused attention, set a wheel next to them or facing them (whichever is better for the student - many people are more anxious when faced, but there are exceptions) and demonstrate the one or two* steps/skills that are key for that student, then follow up after some practice.
Watch.
You try.
Good, keep at it, I'll be back.
A lot can be said without words ...Do This. First This. Next, This. I like you. I care about you.

Build common vocabulary:
Choose key terms and systematically add to the common vocabulary. Point, say. Now you say.
Yes, no, clay, bat, fast, slow, pressure, water, uh-oh, Milk Carton Kids.
Rib, needle, stick, small sponge, big sponge, bucket; finger, foot, hand, eye.
Always take your foot off the pedal before standing up. Always take your foot off the pedal before reaching into the pan.
You might pick up some Korean from the student, if they will "play" the game.
The first phrase, and icebreaker between myself (swim coach) and star Brazilian swimmer was "Led Zeppelin" (blaring from the poolside sound system) - from there, we built a strong teacher/student, coach/athlete and friend/friend relationship. I learned to swear in Portuguese. 
The first phrases, icebreaker between a group of children just arrived from *** to the U.S., Hello and Goodbye, and what translates (loosely) to "Go With God" which serves at a greeting and farewell in the kids' language. The group learned all the "pool rules" without any common language, in just a few minutes.
It's been over four years since I completed "Wheel I" at the local Junior College, hence, my memories aren't as clear as they were, and have acquired rosy patina of "good old" days...
Any road, I definitely learned a lot more by observing the instructor and the other students than via any words, written or spoken.
*Over a few decades of teaching physical skills, I came to believe that for each student, there are one or two "things" to work on for each skill.
One or two things now, once mastered, there's next, yes, but most of us aren't able to learn dozens of "things" all at once.
The kids notice when you see where they are and have a plan for them and each of their peers as well.
Acquire or correct This skill or (more often) sub-skill; design activity or drill that "forces" the acquisition/correction.
Stick the clay on the bat. Apply centering force until the clay comes loose. Repeat. Repeat, but slower, come up to forcing the clay loose sloowly.
...now you know how much force is too much. When the clay comes loose from the bat, you are *******, start over. Good.
Hope that helps!

Since I am an avowed cheapskate when it comes to business expenses, and I was about to hit the limit of MailChimp’s free tier, I’ve been looking for a way to avoid entering the not-free tier. I’m not crazy about Intuit, which recently bought MailChimp, so I’d rather not enrich them if possible. 
I considered several alternative services, and I settled on EmailOctopus (https://emailoctopus.com). It’s a fairly new service, but it works very similarly to MailChimp. Its free tier is more generous (you can have up to 2500 contacts for free, vs. 2000 for MailChimp), and when you enter their not-free tier it is a decent amount cheaper.
I had two mailing lists in MailChimp, and I moved one of them to EmailOctopus. Now I can use MailChimp for free for maybe a few more years. At that point, if I think EmailOctopus has proven to be reliable, I will probably switch to them completely.
Thought this might be helpful to anyone who wants to leave the Chimp, or to those who are getting started with email marketing.

I think the walls are simply too thin. Combined with the fact that the transition from floor to wall is always more susceptible to fail. Some claybodies can handle the thermal shock when thin, and others can’t. I would try slip casting them thicker. 

I think the walls are simply too thin. Combined with the fact that the transition from floor to wall is always more susceptible to fail. Some claybodies can handle the thermal shock when thin, and others can’t. I would try slip casting them thicker. 

Well said. I wish this was at the top of everyone’s views of social media. People are hooked on the dopamine from the “likes.” But you’re right, the rewards you sometimes get from talking to real people in person are on a whole different level. It puts the social media “likes” in the right perspective.

Online selling is definitely not “less work” than doing shows. That’s a misconception. Maybe it’s less physical heavy lifting, but that gets cancelled out by the amount of packing and shipping. Also, setting up a shop update can take more hours than setting up a booth at a fair. Sure, you do it by sitting at a desk, rather than lifting heavy boxes, but it’s incredibly tedious. Online selling is easier in terms of having much lower barriers for entry, which is why it seems more attractive to someone who is starting out. 
And then there’s the issue with social media platforms changing their algorithms when they feel like it. Take Instagram for example, they recently decided that they want us to post more videos and fewer photos. I guess they’re trying to be TikTok now? In recent weeks, I’ve seen a few potters whom I follow on Instagram complaining that their engagement has dropped steeply due to the changing algorithms. For potters who were actually selling well online, suddenly a big chunk of their audience was pulled out from under them, after spending a whole lot of time and energy building that audience.  This is a problem that an email list and in-person shows do not present. 
Who has time to make a video everyday?? Posting an interesting photo everyday is already a lot of work. Making videos all the time means you won’t have enough time to make pots. I’m not changing how I use social media, just doing the same as before. It doesn’t matter if my engagement drops, because that’s not where my audience is. 

I take a long pug (10 or 12 inches long), lay it on its side. Slap my hands onto both ends, like I’m clapping my hands together but the pug gets in the way. Pick up the pug, turn it towards me a little, smack it down lightly on the table. Then keep repeating. Clap, pick it up, turn it a little, smack it down. Within 15 to 30 seconds, the proportions have changed to a wheel-ready shape. 
Congrats on the pug mill! 

Well said. I wish this was at the top of everyone’s views of social media. People are hooked on the dopamine from the “likes.” But you’re right, the rewards you sometimes get from talking to real people in person are on a whole different level. It puts the social media “likes” in the right perspective.

Well said. I wish this was at the top of everyone’s views of social media. People are hooked on the dopamine from the “likes.” But you’re right, the rewards you sometimes get from talking to real people in person are on a whole different level. It puts the social media “likes” in the right perspective.

I just got back from a weekend show and spoke with a customer at length about gardening and flowers (there was a lull on Sunday), and I showed her ways to arrange flowers in some of my vases. As she was leaving, she got a little teary and said my pottery was "life affirming"!!! You can't get an interaction like that online, for sure! 
What I've seen are some established potters who promote their work on Instagram (that's the only social media I have now) who then sell from their websites. They are the type who open their online shop at a certain hour and everything sells out almost instantly. One potter I'm thinking of in particular has been working for many years, and she has also built up a huge following online by posting process videos. That's very generous of her, not only to take the time to make the videos, but also to share her specific methods. I don't know if she will even do in person shows now. I managed to snag one of her mugs. It's beautiful, but it's different than I imagined it would be. She already has a customer base but expanded it through Instagram. I would have much preferred to have touched every single one of her pieces, spoken to her, and bought the one that spoke to me best.
@Callie Beller Diesel I'd be interested in people's thoughts on that if you make another thread. I absolutely hate the monster that Mark Zuckerburg has created, but it lives in the world with us now. We use social media thinking that it is there to help us, but its only purpose to exist is to make money from us in the end. It's not a free service like the library or something! @Mark C. You're not missing anything bypassing social media, clearly. It's a vampire anyway.  I hope your bronchitis clears up soon. 

Online selling is definitely not “less work” than doing shows. That’s a misconception. Maybe it’s less physical heavy lifting, but that gets cancelled out by the amount of packing and shipping. Also, setting up a shop update can take more hours than setting up a booth at a fair. Sure, you do it by sitting at a desk, rather than lifting heavy boxes, but it’s incredibly tedious. Online selling is easier in terms of having much lower barriers for entry, which is why it seems more attractive to someone who is starting out. 
And then there’s the issue with social media platforms changing their algorithms when they feel like it. Take Instagram for example, they recently decided that they want us to post more videos and fewer photos. I guess they’re trying to be TikTok now? In recent weeks, I’ve seen a few potters whom I follow on Instagram complaining that their engagement has dropped steeply due to the changing algorithms. For potters who were actually selling well online, suddenly a big chunk of their audience was pulled out from under them, after spending a whole lot of time and energy building that audience.  This is a problem that an email list and in-person shows do not present. 
Who has time to make a video everyday?? Posting an interesting photo everyday is already a lot of work. Making videos all the time means you won’t have enough time to make pots. I’m not changing how I use social media, just doing the same as before. It doesn’t matter if my engagement drops, because that’s not where my audience is. 

@Rebekah Krieger, you said you are looking for “seamless” results. Can you expand on what you mean by that? When combining more than one glaze on a pot, there’s almost always going to be a seam. Though @Pres has a great suggestion about softening seams with sprayed glazes. Or, are you overlapping multiple glazes, where one glaze completely covers another glaze? In this case, the result will be seamless no matter what. 
Or, are you asking which glazes look nice next to each other, more in a “harmonious” way rather than “seamless”? 

@Rebekah Krieger, you said you are looking for “seamless” results. Can you expand on what you mean by that? When combining more than one glaze on a pot, there’s almost always going to be a seam. Though @Pres has a great suggestion about softening seams with sprayed glazes. Or, are you overlapping multiple glazes, where one glaze completely covers another glaze? In this case, the result will be seamless no matter what. 
Or, are you asking which glazes look nice next to each other, more in a “harmonious” way rather than “seamless”? 

I have no tricks, tips,  tools, or time frames that are  not already mentioned. The only thing I will add is just a reinforcement, a repeat, of what 
I clean as I go along, almost fanatically-as long as it doesn't disrupt the technical production process and/or my creative flow. I subscribe to the "a place for everything and everything in its place" mantra of my dad, even when that "place" is a jumble of "everything" in a bin or a basket--at least I know where it is and it is contained. Cleaning up when done and then revisiting it yet again the next time I enter the studio,before I get to to work, is well worth the double-check. 

Good question!
Tools:
  Big sponges; buckets for yucky, cloudy, and clear water; commercial mop bucket, wringer, and mop; shop vac; mask; supply of clothing and rags.

Practices:
  Keep it clean; clear the floor to make cleaning it easy.
I'm trying to keep the dust under control because I
a) don't want to breathe it, and
b) don't want to track it into the house
Generally, dry clay is "bad," on account of how easily it becomes airborne dust (wet clay is, therefore, good); clay on the floor gets stepped on - bad!
Clean floors and studio shoes, that's a great start.
Dedicated (slip on) studio shoes, good idea.
Clean clothes and rags - change'm out when there's any clay on them.
Tips*:
Keep it clean - a few minutes before and after each session - becomes a habit.
Hit the work areas and the floor each time, and cycle through the shelves, and et cetera that collect dust as necessary - weekly, monthly, ?ly.
Wipe down all the dry clay (excepting, of course, the actual wares) - better yet, wipe it down afore it dries.
Use big sponges (big! e.g. grout sponge, car cleaning sponge) and big buckets.
I use one and two gallon buckets for throwing and clean up water.
Wipe down the work surfaces, routinely. You'll see where the dust is coming from - at the clay prep/wedging area, where the clay bags are opened and closed, where the clay is being worked, particularly trimming.
Get and use a commercial roll around mop bucket, ringer, and mop.
I pour off clear water and re-use it for cleanup.
The cloudy portion goes in the yard; the heartier plants can take it.
The wrung-out mop head makes a great foot wiper**.
Keep it ready and use it often.
Consider getting and using and use a shop vac, particularly if you have spiders, heh.
The vac exhaust will blow dust around, so put on your mask, open the doors and windows, run the vac, then wait on everything settling down afore breathing***.
Move storage off the floor, less things to move about for cleaning.
This may be challenging!
I have wall mounted shelves almost everywhere now.
Rags are bad, on account of they puff dust clouds, however, how else is one to dry their hands?
Hold the rag up next to a bright light; squeeze it - see the dust cloud? Put that in the wash and get a clean one, pronto.
Use the rag on rinsed clean hands only.
I do use towel rags in some of my processes - they get clay on them, so I start with a clean one and cycle them out afore they become dust spewers.
 
*Many of my (evolving) ideas and practices I came up with on my own, however, all my ideas (and more!) are not unique - see archived threads...
**Any time a job can be done without bending at the waist, let alone getting down on hands and knees, go with it! The wet mop is a super tool, sees lots of use in my studio. Wring it out, lay in on the floor, wipe feet, go. Run it around the wheel area, boom, done. Take a pass around the counter area when glazing, done.
...etc. etc.
***Dust and air movement = airborne dust. Be aware of air movement and plan accordingly.
Note: I looked, the "k" very likely represents Kathy, hence her post.

Well lets see the show was under perfect weather condions no wind in the upper 70s and 80s for 3 calm days. Best show of my life and thats saying something.
Customers heard it was my last show there after 30 straight years
They came from Canada and Seattle area,Bellingham to Germany. My largest sale was from a Jeweler from Atlanta area who flew in for show and was along time customer-she heard it was my last show and bought a few boxes of pots.. Had over 750 customers over the 3 days
My new fish plates in 3 sizes where a big hit and sold out in 2nd am.I raised the price 3 times on them.
It was tedious telling custmers over and over why I was not coming back
One thing people at shows think is you will always be there for them whenever they come. Well that was true for 30 years . They where slow to under stand that my wares sell out where I live and i have no reason to take them out of county ever again.
They get it now. It was sad and a joy at the same time doing this last of my favorite show -the show is 250 artists which 25% where brand new. Less than 10 potters left now as in most shows I see nowadays. Only less than 5 artists who like me have 30 plus years in there.
I meta youg potter couple in mid 40s and invited them down to our local art show and will if they ever come pass on some of my display racks for cheap as I have way to many sets of displays at this point-no more double booths for me. The diving was so so as the tides where not good and I picked up a cough/cold (not covid) on trip. I was masked whole time in the heat -no fun but I'm careful .
I'll miss the show and the customers as I saved them to the end.
well back to packing stuff up for 5 order drop day at local outlets