Babs

Hi, is it possible to post a photo of blistered pots and cones? That way folk can better understand the extent of underfiring and length of soak required. A hold of a minute or two won't account for much imo.

I have used toothpicks or skewers placed befire glazing. Use the above to grab and dunk in glaze, remove before glaze dries, no chips on glaze around hole. You can get tiny "bottle" brushes these days if any need cleaning out

Yip, will drill staff a bit more when I buy again. My new stuff is a poorer quality, dont trust it as ware boards which is what I bought it for. Looking for a light, strong board,small old person here, cut to a span to fit my rack. New stuff good for wedging moist clay.

That's good to know. I did notice the different absorption quality ofthe new stuff I bought compared to old stuff but put it down to change in manufacturing, same thickness more flexible, less strong?

Cement board is great. A warning however,it sucks the moisture out of clay ..I found if making certain items this is a negative , somethings a positive. Canvas, for reasons given by other posters, I'd avoid. Cement board great but look out when making handles from coils or rolled out clay. CB easy to clean.

What are your table tops made of?

Well I had a similar experience! Just down from Northern hemisphere, hot Northerly, just under 40degC, out on sports field, xlegged under tree, kids summoned by hand gestures and demos etc done from shady spot, turned to see a guy leaning up against another tree, summoned him over......he was my supervisor, to judge whether adequate to teach in Aust.! He was impressed! My excuse, I was out there all day, kids out there 45 mins. He joked saying, " Well what are you going to do about that dog?" A big mutt was carrying off a softball! Well done re your demo. Removing the visuals can help focus on the feedback from the hands, and visualising with eyes closed can be another really underused focus.

The glaze looks pretty thick and is running at the bottom Wondering If the long slow firig is giving more heatwork treatment to the glaze?. At the top of glaze area , glaze is thinner.

I ended up using a variety of depths of plastic tubs with towels on the nottom, newspapwr between the pots, and towels on top. One tall one with an extended foot, think tree roots , had a plastic bucket lined with towels and supported by foam bits all to itself! All home, on their rims, on the shelves, a few touch up colour slips needed . Tomorrow.. Subaru back full, bucket strapped in to front passenger seat. Left fox terrier at home , too risky, eh!

Absolutely, I do this from time to time when throwing, learn to trust the feel, they giggled and laughed AND there were no phallic symbols, sorry , or maybe there were and were never allowed to get placed on the table!!

My class took place yesterday. The women and a few children had a fine time! Gave each a lumo of clay, got them to form into a ball, then hands under the table to shape for a few minutes, then pass to nneighbour, no peeking, x4 so clay now back with original owner, reveal all, keep, or squash. Lits of laughs, then slab building, or pinching , or any of the above, coliured slips, or not.. I had a big bit of paper and they gave their name, drew a sketch of their pots and what glaze they would like listed. Whew, did they have fun. Exhausted Babs trundled home. Now to return topack and collect the pots, and home to dry , bisque and glaze. What gutsy folk are out there

I recently held a class quite a distance from my property. The attendees made a variety of pots, bowls, plates. My question is When will the clay be at its best stage to transport. Initially I ws thinking leave till dry but today I was wondering if hard side of leatherhard would be better, my gut feeling. Wrap in newspaper? Bubblewrap? Thanks Babs

So head is solid clay? Wow! You do need to get inside that Head! Beautiful. I'l put it in a damp box with a sponge if water in there too. And make another one, and slice that open at leather hard and carve out abd rejoin. Time taken to get your initial sculpture Maube alright to fire may be a lot of time wasted.

Underglaze is made for just that! Useit any other way and Company won't vouch for it.

Lots of great ideas, folks. Thank you so much. B

What kind of temp rise do you have on the bisque firing from ambient to say 600degC Does any of the pot jut out from shelf into direct flame path? Closing All air inlets at top temp? Glaze and bisque. Shelves clean? Flick all your bisque pots . LIsten for the ping or pung. Like Min I think some of those cracks are happenning at or before bisque stage.

@Jeff Longtin Wow, didn't think of making slabs for them.!! I have a lot of straight preserving "bottles". I find beginners, unless taught properly, hmm, have quite a lot of failure re coils not squushed, scored and slipped. Thickish slabs would give the choice of shaping,or/ and texturing. Thank you Jeff.

Another thing to do is to "ping" your biscqued pots. Often unnoticed cracks which will not get better when going through glaze firing. Try to get a hold of Hamer and Hamer, your cracks are textbook examples. "A POTTER'S dictionary of materials and techniques." Grog can cause cracking as as the clsy body drIes, the clay shrinks but, surprize, surprize, the grog doesn't. Not saying that your images reflect that. Are you supporting the belly of your large dishes as you turn? What do your unturned/ trimmed platters look like? Are you flipping the platter as soon as it can hold itself after throwing?

Thanks Mark, have we come far from this time? Let's honour these brave souls! How could one purchase such pot and claim to "own" them?

I think the idea is to get their hands on clay for therapeuticexperience . Ad to that gathering withwomen of like experience, food and wine. BUT maybe I'll make them little cups to decorate. Thinking ofgiving them a bit of clay to pinch whilst I introduce stuff, or to play with for 5mins and pass to the one on your left...just for fun... And then???? Give them.a lump to pinch a mug / receptacle, then dry and decorate. I was learnig to say no but y'know these women have been strong for their families, many home alone when the fire front engulfed their homes, men ,and women , away fighting fire on a different front when the change came.

Hand made, pinch, slab or coil. If non glaze will take to c5. I would have to do any glaze application. Clay could be red clay which is short but can tolerate c5 Or cream firing c5. They have 2-3 hrs go to whoa. So..... Could try to dry surfacw....hairdrywrs ?? So could apply coloured under glaze....

I have ben asked to run a 2 to 3 hr one of clay experience for some women who were affected by bushfires a couple of years ago. This class will be held in a shed, no idea what space each perso will have . Any dream, fun play activity folk have used?

Even more relevant!! If you had put c05 glazed stuff and fired to c5 you may have had the learning experience of having to grind everything off your new shelves!! Step by step. You will find lots of help in these forums. No question is a silly one. You may want to find out how folk go about packing tiles in a kiln to get optimum use of space.

Can you post a photo? It may not be necessary with careful firing.

Personal use ok. If can hold liquid, or food, and for sale you lose control of use so...clear glaze allover imo