oldlady

glazing outdoors in the heat is really no fun. i have a canopy whose fabric is one of those ventilated things that provides some shade but it really hurts my eyes to work under it without a hat. of course, it is awful in the cold as well. still have not made that spray booth i promised myself years ago. all the parts are here, why haven't the elves put them together yet?

interesting question. most of my work is flat so it fits with one and a half inch posts on many shelves. however, i made 2 vases years ago, maybe 2016 and they are very tall. one is eleven inches and the other is twelve and a half. i do not normally bisque but had a load for a friend so i added these square vases. fired on their sides with the larger one hanging over the shelf in the test kiln. i might contact washington street studios for a cost of glaze firing them. or make a dozen more and fire them here. can i sell that many?

actually, lee, for the past few days i have been thinking of you. i even put together a small amount of things i could send you. i realize you are an artist first so i knew it would not be good to just send this stuff to you. i am a former marketing and sales person who wants to make things that please me but will also sell. easily. and make the buyer happy. so i did not send you a message asking if you wanted this but now i have the chance. you have access to a sales venue and it sounds as though you could benefit from having a few standard, easy, pleasant items that would sell quickly. i wonder if you would like to know how to make a variety of pieces that would sell for around $10? if so, please contact me. i admire you for making the mask series, being an artist is a very important person to be. making us think, understand and empathize with others is needed in this too fast world. the particular piece above is the opposite of what i would feel. if someone can rebound from such awful events and thrive, i would concentrate on that portion of the experience that would be joyful to the survivor, not remind someone of the worst of that time.

lee, the cutter, the plain metal kind, no fancy wilton rubber edge, is now shaped into a bird. the length, end of bill to end of tail is 4 inches. depth from back to breast is less than 3 inches. i do not know what size the original circle was but i would guess just over 3 inches. i shaped it with a needle nose pliers so the finished line is a little wobbly. who cares? a damp sponge cleans up the edge anyway. i made this one to do bluebirds, the theme of the bluemont fair one year. bluebirds are simple. dip back into blue glaze and front in amaco red underglaze. fire in slots of a cut firebrick. the underglaze does not stick to the firebrick. those birds were flat, though. now, i do very little to the bird. the eye is the grey end of a sharpie, there is a slight stylus line of wing and a smaller end of the stylus for the beak. dipped into a single color, i can use Qtip spots of any color dots on the breast. not trying for realism. would like to try a black licorice with a red triangle on the wing just for fun. brown top, beige bottom, brown spots and you have a thrasher. pink bird, purple and green spots and you have a child's tiny friend. good way to teach children to be careful with china! there is another shape that comes out like a fish with no alteration. a big strawberry makes a fish if, once it is cut, you remove the stem from the clay. fish this size are very popular and if you like to decorate, what is more colorful than a fish? that one is big enough for a soap dish. have any questions, just ask. this is a test to place a photo and type next to it.

if you find the clay out of the bag is too hard to throw easily, do what denise does, drop the bag on concrete from waist high. drop it on each of the 6 sides. then it is very happy to stick nicely to your bat or wheelhead. look up thixotropic clay. it is not that, just more plastic. i work mostly with slabs and my clay comes in long rectangles, not cubes. i slice the long side just an inch and a touch and slap it firmly on a printers blanket on the floor. two things happen, the clay compresses itself and stretches. my slab roller is 24 inches wide so i slap the clay two or three times until it just fits the width of my slab roller with printers blanket on it. then i can cut a number of pieces at the same time and have a variety of slab pieces by the end of my energy. can get a lot of (24) circles cut and made easily. the big ones use a lot of the original slab so i only get 5 or 6 pieces at a time. used to work through a box of clay a day. now it is slower. fresh clay for throwing gets dropped on its 6 sides and cut in chunks about 2 1/2 x 4 or so. that just gets whapped onto the bat and struck several times with a 'whammerdammer" a 4x6 wood mallet that i cut on a band saw to make a handle. whapping it into a cone shape with no sharp edges takes a few seconds and coning the clay up and down a few times is enough wedging for me. these tiny birds were made from a large round biscuit cutter. i squeezed the beak and tail and shaped the body simply. they sell out at big shows.

violette, is the studio you find uncomfortable one where people keep their pieces wet for a long time? is the throwing water kept for days? are there barrels of water for reclaiming studio clay? is the humidity level high all the time? in your own studio you can be a rebel. work as dry as possible, keeping the place clean and dry. there is no reason a modern studio should resemble something from the middle ages. i remember walking into one in brooklyn. the floor was covered with 4 inches of clay dust. i left in a few minutes, sure i would have an asthma attack if i did not leave.

glad to hear from you. the sources of info have increased greatly in the last 50 years. the problem with some of that info is that without a solid background it is easy to think that all of it is of value. then the problem becomes, "who should i believe?" you will get good info on this forum, everyone has a specialty and you will get to know a lot if you ask questions. personally, i want to scream at some of the googled "experts" who give bad advice. once the stuff hits the internet, it cannot be removed and thousands of people think they learned something good when they did not. just over the past few months it seems that everyone with a kiln has to do something special with it's programming. why do people slow cool with every firing? and assume that if there is a thing called "slow cooling" that the other, normal cooling must be called "fast cooling" so it must be bad . does anyone just use the manufacturers normal programs anymore? maybe i am just getting old. and impatient oops, much more impatient than ever.

katie, please do not feel bad. this is really a good group of very caring people who want to help. i have been where you are now and nobody offered any help. that was a long time ago when the only education i could get was in books. after all these years, i have learned a few things about working with clay and making things i can sell. it sounds as though you have a reason to make this specific item. has someone agreed to pay you for the mugs and you think you can earn that if you just find a way to fire the ones you have already made? you are not being criticized, each of these answers are to help you learn that you really need to follow some "rules" to progress. lately, there have been some questions that were not asking for an answer, they seemed more like challenges from some people who wanted to do stuff their way no matter what anybody suggested. i read the answers here and realize that all the answers are past what you have learned. you are still working on the alphabet and the answers are like reading shakespeare. it will take a lot of time and many, many mistakes before you will be able to do exactly what you want almost every time you touch clay. try to find a way to learn the basics and not become unhappy when you run into the inevitable rock when you escape from the hard place.

since you posted this for potters new to the process and english is an imprecise language, may i point out that the oxides are used on top BEFORE the glaze is fired. believe me, we have had some questions over the years that indicate a complete lack of knowledge of any language.

lee, remember the phrase "slow boat to china?", looks like your box was dropped off on the way there. hope nothing was broken.

shoveling it out. stuff collects there since it is near the car just outside the french doors. might need a construction dumpster.

just found this and though i do not have the problem, i wanted to mention a slight improvement for reading the metal label shown just above. that is an excellent example of how to photograph that kind of label and is is very clear. sometimes they are illegible but if you use a very soft pencil that is not too sharp to run over the numbers, some of the pencil graphite will stay in the numbers and be more easily read. then the photo is even clearer.

that worked out so well, how about imagining me actually working in my studio instead of walking through it. staying up in w. v. instead of florida this winter reminded me of exactly why i do not stay here freezing. maybe next week, 3-4 days of cold rain start tomorrow.

reminds me of an old (1910) metal lamp base. crackled slip??? nice job on color and finish. two thumbs up.

putting them in isn't a problem unless you turn it on.

babs, what is your address?

all the advice you have been given is valuable. you will learn how to treat the clay so it is just right to work with. sheetrock will dry out the clay. it is great for drying clay after it has been shaped the way it is to remain but it will suck out the moisture as you work with it. put it aside for later. stop wedging brand new clay out of the bag. you cannot get air out of that kind of clay, a huge machine has already done that. just slice a piece that will come out thicker than you intend to use and flatten it as quickly as you can. you might put a pillowcase over a regular piece of plywood, spray an amount of water that will dampen, not wet it, and roll on that. you can use a spray bottle to get a slight sheen of water onto the clay as you roll it. as quickly as the sheen disappears, roll out from the center into each direction. flip and repeat until the clay is larger and as thin as you want. you might be trying to roll the clay to the exact size you want to use, try using a bigger piece and cutting off those cracked edges. try lifting an edge as you roll and you will see when the clay is just right for working. at some point you will just do all this automatically. one other thing, just my personal observation is that clay that comes in a cube is more difficult to use for slab work than clay that comes in a brick shape. cutting thick pieces from a cube to make something long is harder than cutting a slice from a brick shape that is already part way there.

that is an L&L kiln by its original name. it is beautiful. if you have the money, buy it. now. it will be gone if you think about it too long. even if you decide to become the busiest potter in the country, it can become a test kiln later. 18 inches will allow you to fire many pieces often so you can learn faster.

victoria, how are you rolling the slab? on what surface? do you shape the slab immediately after rolling it or do you let it sit? do you use a spray bottle of water?

take the pictures of the whole exterior, the inside of the lid, the inside of the kiln elements, a shot of the bottom interior, a close-up of the metal plate with the manufacturer's name and the electrical info on it, the end of the cord and put measurements in the ad. and please put them right side up. hold the camera inside the kiln and aim at the walls for the elements condition. if you are including shelves and posts or other furniture, separate photo. DO NOT stack shelves on top of the lid! a fingernail can dent softbrick, do not break the bricks by putting weight on them. do price it reasonably. new kiln prices usually are high because so much newer technology is included.

miriam, you do not need a heat gun if you have a hair dryer, gun type. it might take just a little longer.

i can see that a model number has been scratched into the metal label. are you able to read that number?

miriam, this is a skill you will learn once you start using less water. everything said so far should help you figure out how to do this. the most important thing is having dry hands and to lift as low as possible. keep a towel hanging nearby. i have not wired a pot since the 1970s when i started using Duron bats. i remember pot lifters being useless. fingers work better and you can control them easier. good luck and remember you are learning a skill, not making a pot.