Piedmont Pottery

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...

We have been using E6000 to attach D rings to wall hangings.  Use a liberal amount of adhesive and let it cure fully before hanging.  In our experience, E6000 has proven more secure than epoxy.

!!Is it illusionary because of amount of white surrounding the arabic text compared to the compact Cafe Beirut design?

Oops, in that case Babs is right.

I understand your concerns with bakeware, but you should not be overly concerned as most ceramic will do well for baking. I have made, used, sold bakeware as casseroles, egg dishes and other items using a cone 6 mid range stoneware clay. My glazes are made to be fully vitrified, thus durable one the ware. However, bakeware like other non metallic ware needs to be brought to temp slowly, not loaded into a hot oven from a refrigerator, Corning made much of its from glassware for baking and the rules were slow heating, and slow cooling, thus no thermal shock. I believe these rules hold for most work that is made of ceramic for baking. 
The clays that I have used are SC 112, 211, and 630. I use those because they seem to fit the way I throw, and like to work. They hold up well in firings and do what I want them to without surprises.
 
best,
Pres

I like cornstarch too.  I apply it to the slab then invert in on the mold.

I remember helping a short clay with vee gum.
It was only a couple of weeks old and I was impatient. It worked well but I don't remember how little I used. It wouldn't have more than few percent or less.
I do remember it being expensive.
Hawthorn bond seemed to help surprisingly well once too and it was only something like 6%. *never mind all this I forgot you are at cone 5.

A ton of short clay, that’s a lot. I definitely understand the shipping situation though.
I’ve used Epsom salt with my local clay which is short and thixotropic. It made a noticeable difference, but not as much as I needed. Veegum is what I settled on. 1-1/2% allows me to throw it reasonably thin, which was impossible before. It has to be thoroughly mixed with (hot) water beforehand, I do that a day ahead. 
I haven’t tried bentonite, but it’s a time honored plasticizer for clay bodies.
Of course, you could also make a ton of tiles. When life gives you lemons…  

The industrial filter presses that are for clay production don’t use a bladder. Instead, they pump clay slip horizontally  between sheets of canvas and squish the water out. Here’s a youtube video showing a hand crank one from Pewabic, because me describing it doesn’t do it justice. The physical pressing motion of a ratchet style press rather than the outward pressure of a bladder wine press would more closely approximate this action.
If you’re trying to build a small footprint clay reclaim setup that’s essentially a slow, gravity fed filter press, there’s also this article. (if you don’t have a Ceramics Monthly subscription, you can still read 3 articles free a month.) This is what inspired me to just spread my reclaim on a sheet over my existing wire racking. But if footprint is your problem, building small but stackable frames could be a workable solution.
I’d be really curious to see how that turns out.

You'll want to get the elements and thermocouples from L&L. Relays you can find online for 1/3 of the price, like HERE. If you're going to replace the wiring,  getting a wiring harness from L&L would be the fastest way to go, but you can buy  insulated wires, controller wiring, and terminals ends by the foot online and save some money there. Search SRML wire for insulated wire, I buy HERE. For jumper cords make sure you get cords rated for 105C/220F- you can buy SEOOW cable from McMaster and put your own plug ends on it. You can use SEOOW for the power cord, too. You can get insulating sleeving on Amazon. For the element blocks, use stainless steel hardware from the hardware store. You don't have to use the hex head bolts since they're hard to find, just use 10-24 panhead bolts.
Make sure all your wires are the appropriate gauge for what you're doing.
Get a Bartlett Genesis 2.0 controller. There may or may not be deals out there, just order from Bartlett if not.

Pres you need to be using Pirate ship-its a super deal with UPS and USPS rates-The best deal I have worked with by far. Anyone can sign up-you just need a printer and a scale and a ruler 

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 gave that up long  long long ago (hard deadline where I’m beholden to someone )
its all on my timeline and schedule-been that way since I can recall.
I have made a life my way and never have bent well to others demands-been that way since youth
As a potter you get to pick and choose thats the beauty of it 
I'm in the drivers seat and have been for many many many decades .
The only fixed dates are shows and now there are only two and one I pick the dates.
Now with no options for store galleries or shops in terms of new potters. You are really in control.
I had some customers in Wa state  last week take a gallery road trip on the Oragon coast to buy ceramics -the whole trip they said was a bust -no more potttery in the galleries.
Not sure whats going on back east or up North of the border but out west we are te last of the Mohicans
I just raised prices again when I got home on some items and dropped them off in the shops last Sunday
 
 

Mark,
Another way you have been a good example for the community here. I want to live long and play in the clay as much as possible, travel, and enjoy life. Not to suffer through it.
 
best,
Pres

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
 

Congratulations on going out with a splash (literally)! 

There used to be a store set up like you’re describing in Calgary, one that sold glazes, lustres, china paints and decorating stuff, but no clay, dry materials or equipment. She retired a couple of years ago, but did quite well. So you are describing a proven business model.
Nancy’s clientele was a lot of learners and hobbyists who relied on bottled glazes, and the china painting groups. She had the best selection of underglazes in town. And for a while, it was the only local place to get lustres and china paint, because Ceramics Canada didn’t carry them. (They started selling gold when she closed down.)
As to your question about what frustrates me, that’s a little tricky to answer, because I think it depends on what point in your pottery making adventures you’re at. My pain points as someone with a lot of experience now is very different than what I was frustrated with when I was starting out. And I have always mixed my own glazes, so I’m probably not your ideal customer. I’d be more likely to come to you if, hypothetically, I was interested in adding china paint to my work and needed help with that because they didn’t cover that in my college courses. Or less hypothetically, if you sold tissue transfers and stock decals that I didn’t have to buy out of the States. None of the other regional suppliers carry them. 
What I can say from observing a lot of questions here over the years though, is that folks come in with a lot of questions about how to fix glaze flaws. Even though commercial glazes and underglazes are set up to be as easy to use as possible, the key words there are “as possible.” And it’s tricky to troubleshoot that stuff, because the recipes are proprietary. If you can offer technical help based on skill and experience, that would be very valuable.
 

I use a Braava Jet robotic mop in the studio, made by the same company that makes Roomba.  I do pre-mop the biggest blobs of clay with a regular mop and bucket, and then turn on the robot mop to finish cleaning while I work on other thins,  For rags with clay, I keep a bucket under the sink in the studio filled with water and a bit of bleach,  Dirty rags go in there to soak.  After a day or two I carry the bucket outside, wring out the rags, and use the remaining clay water to water plants.  I will  repeat this with fresh water until the rags are mostly free of clay.

I use a Braava Jet robotic mop in the studio, made by the same company that makes Roomba.  I do pre-mop the biggest blobs of clay with a regular mop and bucket, and then turn on the robot mop to finish cleaning while I work on other thins,  For rags with clay, I keep a bucket under the sink in the studio filled with water and a bit of bleach,  Dirty rags go in there to soak.  After a day or two I carry the bucket outside, wring out the rags, and use the remaining clay water to water plants.  I will  repeat this with fresh water until the rags are mostly free of clay.

I am using Insight Live for developing and tweaking glazes and maintaining a database of all of  my recipes.  I can access it from home or from my studio.  I haven't kept a paper notebook in years.

I use a Braava Jet robotic mop in the studio, made by the same company that makes Roomba.  I do pre-mop the biggest blobs of clay with a regular mop and bucket, and then turn on the robot mop to finish cleaning while I work on other thins,  For rags with clay, I keep a bucket under the sink in the studio filled with water and a bit of bleach,  Dirty rags go in there to soak.  After a day or two I carry the bucket outside, wring out the rags, and use the remaining clay water to water plants.  I will  repeat this with fresh water until the rags are mostly free of clay.

If you're not set up with a good mixer, pugger, and appropriate ventilation, then don't mess with mixing clay. And even if you are set up, it's not worth the time and hassle. If you don't have a good de-airing pugger, then don't even think about it, because the quality will not be good if you plan to throw with it. Leave mixing to the people who do it for a living, and spend your time making pots instead. The cost of clay is cheap in the big picture, and your time is worth a lot more than whatever you'd save.

I suggest unless you have power mixing equipment say like a peter pugger you forget the whole dry thing.
The factor you never spoke about (gas .travel, dry vs wet costs) was your time and a quaility clay product at the end of your labors . Clay makers mix the clay ,take the air out of the clay and pug and bag and box your clay-you cannot even ever come close to doing this yourself and think you are saving a thing. Especially money
now if you have a lot of power equipment  for clay making and tons of FREE time then lets talk more
Now its it dry slip casting clay thats another story but you never mentioned slip.
 
PS I have bought dry clay in 50# sacks to add to anothrer clay body (custom blend) and what a pain-I donated most of that dry clay to an art center as a tax write off decades later

Seems to work. Not sure I will depart from significantly below boiling point though as I am rarely looking to save a specific amount of time and like to be cautious with the wares.

A lot depends on the glaze chemistry plus the firing. Only way you are going to know for sure is to have a sample tested. BSC labs does glaze testing, you would need to send in something like a cup that they can use to test the glaze. If you pay for return shipping they probably could return it to you. It's approx $30- per oxide being tested. (sometimes more, depends on what oxide they are testing for) I don't know if they can test a plate surface, would have to ask them. They ask for a cup / cylinder shaped pot.
https://bsclab.com/pottery-testing
A simple home test to rule the glaze out as being durable would be to half fill a cup with household white vinegar then leave it sit for 2 days. Rinse and dry the cup and see if there is a change in either gloss or colour. If there is the glaze is leaching something, could be barium or could be some of the colourants. This test checks for glazes susceptible to acid attack. To check a glazes durability to alkalinity leave a piece in the dishwasher for a couple months then compare the surface to a plate that hasn't been through the dishwasher.