Piedmont Pottery

Looks like it might be slumping due to over-firing. What's the cone rating of your clay, and what cone did you fire to?

I have increased the amount of custom orders I take on since Covid, which has really hammered our usual gallery sales.  I get a deposit of 50% up front on all custom work unless it's a repeat customer or something so generic that it will sell in the gallery.  There does seem to be some truth that if one item in a kiln load has issues it will be the one custom piece in the load.  For this reason I will often make 2 or 3 of the item if it's generic and then let the customer choose among them.  Customers frequently buy more than one.  the ones they don't take go into the gallery.  For orders that look like they will be very time consuming  or ones that I just don't want to do, I will estimate what I would charge if it was just something I would make for the gallery, and then  triple that price for the quote.  If the client accepts the quote, then I will make it for them.

Ive used a bit of bleach added to the clay in the pugmill....to kill the bacteria IF it becomes unbearable. On the other hand the bacterial breakdown of organic matter adds plasticity.

For years I fired a kiln with not venting system in my garage. Garage is brick with concrete floor, aluminum garage door, and metal entry door about 20X10. I fired the kiln through out the year. Temps in the garage would rise to about 110F at times. Last kiln died after 30+ years. New kiln smaller total square feet, but larger diameter has a floor vent system that has a flex hose attached to a fans system at the end. I have mounted this into a piece of plywood that I put in the open window to vent outside. The system works great and the garage stays cooler. The new kiln has a genesis controller that allows me to monitor the kiln on my computer or my phone. The firings seem to be a little brighter in color with the vent on, and the controller is spot on now that I have it calibrated.  IMHO, if looking for a used or new kiln I would go with this sort of system. At least a kiln setter and downdraft vent system. Over the years at a HS I have found that over head hoods get in the way.
 
best,
Pres

If you've ever seen the corrosion that happens inside vent tubes, you would not want your bathroom exhaust to have that happen to it! You need to place your kiln on something nonflammable like concrete, so I would think your garage is the best bet. If you were to have it on vinyl, you need a brick or cinderblock layer covering the whole area under where the kiln is. 
I use the method of vent attached to plywood in a window. My window pane comes completely off, and I replace it with the vent when I fire. I use rubber pipe insulation around the edges of the plywood to seal gaps and to help hold it in place. When I'm not firing, I can take the vent out of the window and I lay it on the floor near my kilns. I just pop the window back into its hinges and don't have to worry about it. 
A kiln without a vent can have one added later. There are other people who can tell you about all that, but I know it can be done easily. 

A piece of cardboard between them will work fine (thats how they ship most of them) . You need to keep them from slipping apart(tape the bundle as one) blankets can work  Or bubble wrap. They can be shipped flat or on edge but on edge they should be held tight so not to fall over.

I have increased the amount of custom orders I take on since Covid, which has really hammered our usual gallery sales.  I get a deposit of 50% up front on all custom work unless it's a repeat customer or something so generic that it will sell in the gallery.  There does seem to be some truth that if one item in a kiln load has issues it will be the one custom piece in the load.  For this reason I will often make 2 or 3 of the item if it's generic and then let the customer choose among them.  Customers frequently buy more than one.  the ones they don't take go into the gallery.  For orders that look like they will be very time consuming  or ones that I just don't want to do, I will estimate what I would charge if it was just something I would make for the gallery, and then  triple that price for the quote.  If the client accepts the quote, then I will make it for them.

If I was starting over now I'd invest in nitride-bonded silicon carbide shelves, not necessarily Advancer brand, there are lower cost options from other suppliers.  The lighter weight, durability, and ease of cleaning glaze drips are worth the investment in my opinion.  

You can probably resell it for list price. Buy a new one when you are settled in your new location. 

I would leave it in the crate for the move if you don't plan on hooking it up at your current location...

These are the ones that I have been using: https://www.harborfreight.com/50-pc-diamond-rotary-point-set-69665.html.  They are pretty good quality at a good price.

@Jose Keep in mind, if you are thinking plaster bats, that is going to reduce the amount of clay you can throw.  I STRONGLY suggest you go with the Whisper, not the VL-Lite.  I only bought my VL-Lite because at the time I didn't know the roughly-half rule of thumb and thought it really would handle 25 lbs. 
Plaster bats are heavy.  You're going to reduce the amount of clay you can throw by probably about a third, or close to it.  So you're looking at maybe 8 to 10 or at most 12 lbs tops, and probably not tops, what with the weight of the bat. You would be pushing that wheel to its utter limits ALL THE TIME.  The upgrade to the Whisper is WELL worth it, really.
A 2' square chamber ain't nuthin'.  You can get pretty big pieces in there. I really do like my VL-Lite and respect it for what it can do but mostly what it can do is mugs and small to medium size bowls.  Don't limit yourself to the capabilities of that wheel.  If your situation changes, the Whisper will let you stretch more and its just a better drive (direct drive instead of belt drive). And if it doesn't - you've still got a better wheel that you don't have to baby.
TL;DNR synopsis : Still recommending the Whisper for you; Recommending Pure & Simple bat molds and Hydrostone-not-Hydrocal-not-#1-potters-plaster for bats; recommending Hardiebacker-Tile-Backer-Board-not-Siding-not-Durock for ware boards.
As for plaster bats, I'm a fan.  Of Hydrostone.  It is harder than the #1 potter's plaster for one thing.  It is less prone to chip or flake or any of the other bad things plaster pottery stuff can do over time.  It's lighter weight.  Stronger AND lighter weight, always a good combination in my opinion, LOL!  I kind of wish that for myself in fact.
Also just to be sure - that is HydroSTONE not HydroCAL.  The Hydrocal is a lot softer and not suitable for these purposes. I'm pretty sure its not even as hard as #1 potter's plaster.  So STONE not CAL. 
I had some Hydrobats years ago and I loved them.  Stuff pops off lickety split. I'm afraid they've been lost in one of my many moves since then - I haven't come across them again yet (still unpacking from my last move which occurred under emergency circumstances). But you can buy molds from Pure & Simple and make your own, which is my plan when I can make a clay buying trip (clay and Hydrostone buying trip I guess). I really like that keying system.  Fumbling around trying to find the bat pins - really annoying. 
I like hardiebacker for ware boards because they are thinner, lighter weight, and schleppable, as opposed to any sort of plaster.  The one thing they don't do as well if you treat them just like plaster is drying your slops - they're too thin.  A half-inch (really .42") piece of hardiebacker board doesn't have near the mass of a 3" thick slab of plaster, so I used to dry my slops in strips, otherwise it wouldn't dewater in the middle as fast as the edges. 
Recently someone on the list (maybe @Callie Beller Diesel or @Min ?) described slapping their slops onto cloth over wire shelves by the handful - which is probably how I'll treat stuff from now on when I have slops to dewater on Hardiebacker.  I don't think I want to give the stuff up in favor of a much heavier plaster slab for that purpose, and I am pretty sure layering it won't have the same effect (to get it thicker) as something that's 3" thick and of a piece.  But dewatering in strips worked pretty well so I bet dewatering by the handful ought to work even better.  That is the Hardiebacker board for putting under tile, not the siding, and not any other tile backer like Durock or something.  They are just cement with some fiber in them and they're crumbly and fragile. The Hardiebacker is a pain to cut - basically you either score and snap, which I found difficult, or use something like an angle grinder with a masonry blade and wear GOOD DUST PROTECTION, but my preferred method (as soon as I an find my good DeWalt drill that's powerful enough to drive it) are these shears (PacTool Snapper Shears for cutting fiber cement) specifically for cutting it.  No dust that way and more even edges than any other method I've used.
Ware boards, unlike a dewatering slab, don't need to be thick.  You could probably get by with the smaller .25" (really .25") hardiebacker but the price difference isn't enough for me to have bothered, I just use the half inch (really 0.42") for everything.  I've been using it at the studio where they lost nearly all their ware boards in the changing of the guard.  Prior to that I was having to dry stuff on PLASTIC (not plaster like I wrote first) bats and that was a big fat fail.  Then the clay has changed and its a lot wetter, not so much short anymore.  I've had better luck drying on my hardiebacker ware boards but still some weirdness which I have determined is due to some people coming in and leaving the door open.  The drying racks are right next to the door and the wind (we get a lot of that here) was just sucking the moisture right out of the clay right through the plastic bags it seemed.  But we're in to cooling season now (it was 95F yesterday) so hopefully that has stopped.  But I'm pretty sure the last bowl I put in the kiln has, or will, come out with a crack in the bottom because it was subjected to the Great Outdoors that way.
At any rate I've been using hardiebacker for ware boards pretty frequently (even if we don't include that huge gap between now and the last time I could work regularly) and I love them. I couldn't say whether stuff dries more evenly on hardiebacker or hydrostone but the hardiebacker takes up less space and weighs less.  But I will make wet and dry boxes with the Hydrostone when I get things whipped in to shape around here and post clay-and-Hydrostone-buying trip.

No way the VL lite can do 20lbs,  you would be lucky to do 10. I can stop it with 5. The Wisper is WAAAAAY better, but even it would probably struggle with 20lbs. You want to use large amounts of clay go with a Skutt. 

I can't see that being any problem.  If you throw on batts you are not on the wheel head.  If you throw on the wheel head there is not enough damage to matter.  I have been throwing on a wheel head in much worse shape than that and have had no problem.  Lin

Algae happens occasionally in some of my reclaim barrels.  Remove as much as you can and ignore what's left.  the residual algae will burn off in the bisque firing.

I LOVE how quiet they are.  I can hear myself think!
Are you sure you're not thinking of the VL Lite?  That's the one I have at home.  I've thrown more than 10 lbs (in the past, not back to that yet) on the Whisper and it was fine.  The VL Lite will only handle 12 or 15 lbs ...
What's a "pancake motor"?

I have using the Peter Pugger VPM-9 for many years, and for the majority of that time it has been adequate for my needs, mostly reclaiming scrap from production work, only rarely mixing from dry ingredients.  In the past three years after changing a major part of my operations to classes, prompted largely by Covid, the volume of scrap generated in the studio has grown tremendously.  While I wish I had a larger machine, I will happily keep using what I have and just add some more temporary storage containers for scrap and slop, mostly 30 gallon plastic trash cans.

Yes, and it works great. In mixing mode the auger pushes the clay toward the back of the machine. Once it's all mixed, you turn on the vacuum, hit the switch for pugging, and the auger turns the other direction and pushes it out the nozzle. You don't have to dig it out.

I got the same cease and desist letter from the trademark holders.  I call them French butter dishes now on the website.  I think it's a bit ridiculous that a company can trademark a name that's been in common usage for a long long time, but such is the world we find ourselves in.  It would appear that they have someone on staff whose job it is to scour the web for trademark infringers. 
Interestingly, while on a tour through the Rhine region of Germany a few years back, I spotted a local pottery shop and of course had to stop in and meet the potter and look at her work.  In her shop they were called Swiss butter bells.

I got the same cease and desist letter from the trademark holders.  I call them French butter dishes now on the website.  I think it's a bit ridiculous that a company can trademark a name that's been in common usage for a long long time, but such is the world we find ourselves in.  It would appear that they have someone on staff whose job it is to scour the web for trademark infringers. 
Interestingly, while on a tour through the Rhine region of Germany a few years back, I spotted a local pottery shop and of course had to stop in and meet the potter and look at her work.  In her shop they were called Swiss butter bells.

I got the same cease and desist letter from the trademark holders.  I call them French butter dishes now on the website.  I think it's a bit ridiculous that a company can trademark a name that's been in common usage for a long long time, but such is the world we find ourselves in.  It would appear that they have someone on staff whose job it is to scour the web for trademark infringers. 
Interestingly, while on a tour through the Rhine region of Germany a few years back, I spotted a local pottery shop and of course had to stop in and meet the potter and look at her work.  In her shop they were called Swiss butter bells.

Damp at flue exit. Sounds like you're blowing heat out as fast as you're making it, maybe even using too much gas to maintain an even climb.

I'm a big fan of backer board, both as a wedging surface and for quickly drying out slop.  They're readily available, inexpensive, and no worries about getting bits of plaster in your clay.

Depends on my mood.  Pottery... It's a helluva drug 

They're fun to make, but my arms are killing me! 95% of what I make is under 5 pounds so this is rare. When I do these I center the 12 pound pieces in two parts- center half, add the other half, center all that. It's easier that way, and almost as fast. Saves my wrists a lot of strain. I could just muscle it all when I was younger, but now I try to work smarter when I can.