[Help! Always getting air bubbles at the base of my clay when centering.]

After you wedge upur clay and either make it into balls or shape for throwing off the hump, try rolling the ball on wheel so the bottom cones a bit then press it down .

Try throwing and opening a piece without the coning process to isolate whether that process is the culprit.

[QotW:As an artist, when feeling 'stuck,' what helps to inspire or motivate you? Do you look at Instagram photos, read self help or art books, take a walk in nature, etc?]

Think Hulk hit my  method/ fix.

I find when I know I wont get to clay I look at magx and ocasionally instagram.

But when I get to shed I mosey about putting stuff back or checking if clay is ready to recycle I get back into losing the "other" life and get sorted. Too much external vIsuals knock me off the path. 

[Crawl glaze, like mudflats recipe.]

Thanks Min, appreciate your time given.

[Crawl glaze, like mudflats recipe.]

4 hours ago, Min said:

I'll try and find my glaze book from back when I did crawl / reticulation glazes, maybe one of them will look familiar to you.

Thanks Min, think you gave me a couple, one like chewing gum chunks , Chicklets or chiplets??and another with bigger

[Crawl glaze, like mudflats recipe.]

I have lost the recipe for a crawl glaze I used for some exhibition pieces. From memory Min gave a couple of recipes. I want biggish chunks

[Problems with engobe - again]

3 hours ago, njabeid said:

For some reason my posts seem to be disappearing.

@BabsThanks, I have one - it's just a bit Mario Bros working with clay drying around the edges in minutes. And hands!

@Min I'm being optimistic. You never know, something could work out. Anyway, my pots never ever turn out the same as test tiles.

You may have to become nocturnal.

[Problems with engobe - again]

Sounds like you need to make a damp box. Plastic lidded tub with couple of inches of plaster in the bottom  damped plaster and store your pots awaitIng handles or slip.

[Duncan ea-1029n temp climbs too fast]

Wierd  kiln with sitter at the bottom which ina top loader can run cooler. And overkill length of pyrometer, looks like that has come from a large gas kiln set up. 

If all else doesnt slow it down, nothing stopping you leaving the lid propped open and shutting it gradually, I noiced you biswuing to just over 900, or are you going on cones in sitter and at spyhole?

Do you plug those bung holes after a time?

How full do you stack your kiln?

[Problems with engobe - again]

Epsom salts flocculates  . Is that what you are after.

Soda ash and sodium silicate deflocs..just saying 

[Inlay/Mishima slip shrinking!]

Underglaze whilst containing clay may contain other stuff. Slip is clay usually to avoid what Russ is writing about, it is mixedvwith minimum water and lhquified by adding a defloc. Darvan or sodium silicate. It is plastered on when pot is leatherhard, spritz the pot beforehand, and scrape the excess off when dried enough not to smear.

You can stain the white slip with stains, prob a cheaper way to go anyway. 

Not sur wht look you are goung for or what glaze you are putting on top but maybe if hooked on slip trailing, onglaze decor. The way to go?

If underglaze can be applied with slip trailer, too  "liquid " unless pepared, as Russ states, go for "thixotrophic" searches.

[Problems with engobe - again]

@Min Not having read your posts closely, would a firing 100deg/ hr to 600   6hrs

Then slow through to 800°, say, 80° /hr 2hrs. 20mins ish

with a  soak

then 150°/hr to 1000°C   1hr 20min

which gives a more economical firing schedule.

Just thinking of a compromise to lessen electricity usage 

[Problems with engobe - again]

Ha, one bag of that clay would make a lot of slip, just saying!-)

Trade routes for centuries throughout , would make that authentic, right?

Handluggage, right. For your face mask beauty treatment.

[Problems with engobe - again]

That's where your notes would help, eh?¹

[Mason Stains in Porcelain Slip]

Are you usng body stains or glaze stain ,or are body stains a thing of the past?

[bisque fire temperature question]

Way back when, folk bisqued to c08. 

I would say that If all is good at C04 why would one change to 04. It would be more economical to stay at 06 unless there is a problem there. 

I do what Pres does above BUT if someone comes by wanting an absolutely exact replica, glazewise, of a pot they bought a few years ago, I don't promise  because as a potter, I don't need the exact same of anything.. ... .  I appreciate the folk who do this, wondering now if @ Mark saw any differences in the pots that came home last month.

 

[Problems with engobe - again]

One at a time and take copious notes and photos. Test tiles or shot sized cylinders may save a lot of kiln space

[Problems with engobe - again]

Lots of slipware artists in UK atm, some very generous with their methods, check them out.

[Problems with engobe - again]

22 hours ago, njabeid said:

Besides the mug tests, I tried applying a slip made of one of the clays I blend. This one is nearly kaolin, very white before firing, and the results are actually very encouraging, although it doesn't fire white. 

I made two test bowls and tried all sorts of combinations (sprayed, brushed and dipped slip on leather hard or bone dry clay), then sprayed, poured, dipped glaze, clear and with cobalt. I didn't try stencils, but there are no visible flaws. Problem: it looks best dipped, but I'm not sure stencils will stay on in a dip. More testing required. Although it isn't white I think it can work well enough for what I want to achieve.

The problem is that camels can be done by sponging colour as an overglaze through a negative stencil, kind of majolica-style, but I can't do that with the more complex traditional patterns. As you can see, brushing doesn't work well. The slip needs to be thick.

For the slip to fire whiter, you need to apply it a lot thicker. Applying slip to dry pot could / will cause a bloating of the slip away from clay body on firing.

Your stencils will stick to the clay at leatherhard stage , depending on what they are made of.

You could try a white firing porcelainous body as a slip .Need to use sodium silicate and test a few tiles for thickness and fit.

 

[Can you help me identify what OLD Skutt model kiln I have?]

43 minutes ago, Min said:

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Pardon?:-))

 

[Which glaze class to take ...]

12 hours ago, Bam2015 said:

Pyewackette, wondering how your glaze class is going?

Betty

@Pyewackette , ditto.

[Underglaze and Single Fire?]

Better imo to apply underglaze when leatherhard, then glaze when bonedry , dry and fire through to glaze maturity.

Pots turn out just fine.

@oldlady single fires her pots perhaps she will chip in here.

Quite comon , really. I learned the orocess and came uo caling it Raw Glazing, there are other names around.

 

[Firemate]

Post a photo of what you want discussed.  Makes it easier.

[Beginners guidance on temperatures]

Yes, you have a wide firing range clay so I would be surprized if fully vitrified at lower temp of range. You may think of changing your clay into the future.

clay and glaze maturing at Cone 6 or 7 would be a more economic and popular firing range. Google Midfiring glazes.

Bisque firing is low at 950degC ,go for  Cone 06, 1000degC ,  becoming more popular, cone 04, 1040 deg C.

[Paragon kiln A-9918]

A friend made an interior shell which fitted smack against the bricks then filled with packing matterial , this was to stop the bricks juggling and possible dislodging of the elements, it also supported the lid from inside if, that makes sense..may be overkill for you but with the roads around here, and distances travelled, made perfect sense

[Beginners guidance on temperatures]

The glaze and clay.

The clay needs to vitrify if being used for liquids and domestic use.

The glaze has to "fit" te clay. The glaze you have, if fired to the temp which matures your clay,  would probably run off your pots and ruin your kiln shelves.

Lots of other considerations but that is th basics