[Make a plaster mold of macrame cushion cover.]

Hi vika...would you show us a photo of the object you are trying to make a mold of?

[Clay Cracking problem]

Before doing the paperclay patch as @neilestricksuggested, you might take a scratch tool like a dental pick and in one of the least obvious cracks do some scraping to see how deep the crack goes. If you can scratch to the bottom of the crack, you should be good to go with the paperclay. Otherwise, the cracks will probably reappear or the tentacles may pop off at the higher glazing temperature. When applying the paperclay, make sure the cracks are thoroughly wetted. If not, the patch won't stick...

[Forums page layout]

What's different here is that you have 2 posts for QOTW and 2 posts for Paragon Kiln and one for Kiln wash. In the previous edition there would be one post for QOTW with the author's name and an indication of how many responses, but there would also be 4 other different questions with the author's name and number of responses. I've seen pages where there would be 4 responses to the same question instead of a varied spread. I'd rather have a choice of topics, some of which I may be interested in and some not so much. Change is not always good IMHO...

[QotW: What would you tell yourself about pottery, if you could speak to yourself when you were in your early adult years.]

I would have told myself to get involved sooner rather than waiting until I almost retired...

[Sealing unglazed work for outdoor use]

I have used Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultracover matte Clear on a Raku fountain. The fountain was exposed to winter weather with rain and low temps in the upper 20s as well as summer heat to 115 degrees in direct sun. The finish lasted more than 2 years in these conditions without yellowing. It was a working fountain, spouting water on a regular basis. I have also used it on various other types of yard art with great success.

[QotW: What have you learned from/by customers/students when dealing with them?]

36 minutes ago, Joseph Fireborn said:

I have grown a fair bit in the last 2 years of self employment.

Becoming self employed is always a BIG step in your life and when you persist and become successful, there's no turning back. It was a scary thing back in '78 when my wife left a cushy, but boring office job to start a housecleaning business with a girlfriend. They started the business with 500 printed flyers which they delivered to all the local realtors on a daily basis for a week. The beginning of the following week they got a call from a successful realtor who decided to give them a try. That was the last and only time they advertised. Everything since then has been word of mouth. I got involved with them a few years later as a handyman doing any repairs they needed in the houses that they were working in. That ultimately led to my becoming a General Contractor which lasted until I retired 5 years ago. My wife is still working and making $50 an hour cleaning houses, painting, decorating and organizing for a few select clients. Once we got established, we never looked back and could never imagine working for a salary. So, Joseph, your whole world is there for the taking as long as you want to put in the effort!

GOOD LUCK, grow well and be successful in all your endeavors!

[Coffee Table Legs - weight restriction? strength issues?]

20 hours ago, Jill Smolkin said:

Oh I never thought of that before firing! Is there a special kind of threaded rod I should be looking for? One that can withstand the heat (cone 6). Silly question maybe but I am still fairly new to all this  

Stainless steel

[Coffee Table Legs - weight restriction? strength issues?]

Instead of just a bolt, you might consider a threaded rod to run through the entire leg and embed it in the leg before firing to further strengthen the leg...

[QotW: What have you learned from/by customers/students when dealing with them?]

Looks can be deceiving...

While I was taking my Ceramics1 class at Sierra College, about 3 weeks into the course, a young student (weren't they all young?) who was looking to add the course had mistaken me for the professor, who happened to be out of the classroom at the time. It may have been my age and the Vandyke I was sporting at the time

[QotW: How do you complete tax preparation for you personal/business taxes?]

We provide info to our CPA and he generates the tax return which we review and approve before submitting to the IRS and the state...

[QotW: In your pottery life, do you have any regrets about your journey with clay over the years?]

The only regret that I have is not spending more time with my hands in the mud. Something I plan on changing soon...

[QotW: Do you think it takes a certain mentality or emotional state be engage with clay as a potter?]

I would call it "creative outlet"...I spent years working with Photoshop to let my creative juices flow in photography and got to be very good at what I was doing and then came CLAY! I've since put my photography on the back burner as I pursue what I can do with clay, but even that is put on hold as I deal with the ramifications of the storms we are having here in California. While the rainfall is phenomenal and welcome, so much continuous rain is saturating the ground. My big fear now is that, with multiple oak trees in the 70-foot height range, the 60mph wind gusts may topple some of these giants, meaning a little more yardwork...Anyway, when things settle down a little, I'll be able to get back in the studio and let the creativity flow...

[JEWELRY STAND SUCCESS!!]

3 minutes ago, neilestrick said:

Congrats! It would be worth getting a cone 10 to build them from, as it will be less likely to bend at cone 6. You may be able to add more wires then.

Thanks for the input, Neil...I'm guessing that you're talking about ^10 clay which I do have in stock. I'd just be firing them to ^6 to stiffen them up. The ones I made are setup for 4 wires, I just didn't want to overload them on this first go around. The first failure was due to their being just bisque fired before I ran the jewelry glaze firing...

[JEWELRY STAND SUCCESS!!]

After my first failed attempt at building my own stands for firing jewelry, I've succeeded in fabricating new stands which held up to ^6 firing! The first time around, I made the stands with ^5 B-Mix and bisque fired them to ^04. They seemed solid enough, but when I fired the assembled stands, the weight of the jewelry caused the stands to sag, which, in turn, caused most of the jewelry pieces to run together and touch its neighbor. The melting glaze joined the pieces permanently. In the cases where the pieces were not co-joined, they were stuck to the stainless steel wire I used to string them because I drilled the mounting holes just big enough for the wire to fit AND I didn't clean the holes of glaze, thus fusing the pieces to the wire.

This time around, I added a strut to the B-Mix w/grog ^5 stands and fired them to ^6. I drilled the jewelry holes bigger and cleaned the holes of glaze. The stands held up to the firing and I had only 2 pieces stick to the wire but was able to break them loose without breaking the pieces. The photos show the first failed attempt, the second successful attempt, the layout of the stands, the assembled stands, and a selection of copper-toned pieces that I thought came out looking pretty darned good! (The penny is to show proportion.) In a number of the pieces, I was going for a raw, organic look with the rough edges which I think will look great as part of a necklace.

[determining weight of dry ingredients v. water in a glaze]

How about you take 100g of the wet glaze and dry it out? You could spread the glaze on a cookie sheet and air dry it first and then maybe put it in an oven at about 150 degrees for a while to dry it out further. Then measure the weight of the dry materials. Then you can easily calculate the weight of the additive...   As I see it, you could have done this in less time than you're spending trying to make the above calculations and the results would be definitive...I think...

[Cracking handles]

1 hour ago, HoneyBee Pottery said:

Thanks guys.  Technology confounding me once again.  I tried to share photo and  informed file was too big.  Gotta figure out that hurdle now…

 

What are you using to take the pix? Phone (what type: Android or iPhone) or camera? Do you have photo software? I'm guessing, no...

[QotW: Do you synthesize, formulate or modify the clay bodies for your use?]

I've tried making paper clay in very small amount to try using for patching but was not impressed...I did have a customer who wanted me to incorporate his parent's ashes into the surface of an urn he wanted me to make for him. This was the result:

[Casting a Flexible Object]

How about a photo of the toy. It might help with suggested solutions...

[Alternative for foot pedel]

Welcome to the Forum...The primary reason for using a foot pedal is to control the speed of your wheel and enable you to use both hands while throwing. If you were to use a VFD to control your wheel speed, you would lose the continuity of the throwing function by having to interrupt the process to change wheel speed. Plus, it would get pretty messy unless you cleaned your hand each time you wanted to change speed...thus slowing down the throwing process significantly.

[QotW: Which came first?]

In my case, the kiln came first. It was given to me by an 87 year old ceramist who turned me on to pottery by suggesting I take a pottery class. When I let her know I was taking the class, she gave me the old Cress kiln since it was a second kiln that she didn't need anymore. Then, when I was talking with another friend about the pottery class, he said he found a CI MP wheel in the barn on a property he just bought. He said I could "borrow" it for as long as I wanted it. After cleaning all the black widows and webs out of it, ai was off to the races. I've replaced the kiln with something used, but newer, and am still using the CI wheel...I have another friend who hasn't thrown on her Brent C for more than 2 years now. She says she may get back into throwing, but I doubt it. Who knows...I may be able to get that wheel for a reasonable price. If that happens, I may be able to give some private lessons to some individuals who have expressed interest...

[QotW: Do you have a favorite tool that you use with a lot of different materials?]

I would say an electric drill. I use it on clay for drilling holes and mixing...for drilling holes in plastic, wood and various metals, for rotating coarse wire wheels to create texture in clay and wood...for driving screws, too!

[Lava texture]

You might take a look in the CAN store for Additions to Clay Bodies for info along the lines you are searching...

[Sales tax/resale certificate and wholesale accounts]

Welcome to the Forum, Rinny. YES, you can get a resale certificate and buy your materials tax-free, charging your customers sales tax on the product unless they also have a resale cert. You will then have to pay the gov't the sales tax on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis depending on your level of taxable sales...

[Glass bowl for a slump mold?]

Thanks for all your suggestions! I was just thinking, too, that I could put a layer of sand topped with a layer of cardboard in the mold to give the form a wider, flat bottom. That would give me an area to install a foot without having to worry about any kind of release material...

[Glass bowl for a slump mold?]

1 hour ago, Mark C. said:

Is the texture on the inside or outside? hopefully on the inside 

It needs a foot-thow and attach one

The texture is on the inside of the glass--outside of the clay. With that in mind, how do I remove the oil to install the foot? Scrape the clay where the foot would be installed?