oldlady

beautiful, sorry hyn, some people without a sense of humor have to be humored by editing my comment.

thanks, all of you. i have known about her work for many years and look forward to watching this movie when i get the sound fixed on my computer.

you might want to contact Marcia Selsor about the way she handles the large slabs she uses in raku. not that you want to do raku, but the way she prepares the slab when she does the horses that are a part of her work. look at her website and here in albums to see the results.

thanks, clayshaper! it is easier to teach new people that they are learning a skill and are not going to make a perfect product for many months. instead, they are practicing just the way ice skaters do. nobody puts on a pair of skates and begins throwing someone smaller around assuming will land on their feet and not break any bones. looks easy on tv but would they want to be the thrown person? no.

thank you, madeleine, your picture of the printer's blanket is just what i have wanted to do for years. posting pictures is so complicated now, that i have not even tried. windows 7 was easy. i am now up to windows 11 and i do not even want to try. rae, if you just call any large printer and ask them if they use printer's blankets they will tell you. some smaller blankets are used by smaller companies so ask if they do city size newspapers. all the blankets i have used came from big city newspaper printers and were the size of an open newspaper. i am sure that los angeles has at least one big newspaper. ask them the name of their printer. i cut them so they will fit on my 24 inch bailey slab roller so i usually get a top and a bottom out of one 48inch wide blanket. the printer uses the blue side and sometimes it is not totally clean. ask what they use to remove the ink. i think i remember fingernail polish remover working. hulk, can you identify the shelf "paper" you use? around here people call the brand called "Conctact" which is actually plastic, not paper, "shelf paper". i am sure mentioning a brand name here is not forbidden.

it is true, henry, that the appeal can wear off once a person starts actually working on something that has so many steps that cause serious frustration when something fails. your oven, even on 'self clean' is nowhere near the amount of heat needed to go from clay to ceramic. i have introduced 2 people to making items to be used. one decided she was not in love with making and should be spending money on acquiring beautiful pieces made by others. the second realized that she hated handling wet clay and washed her hands several times before she left. " looks like fun, but i hate the ooze." trying out something before commitment is a sensible way to go. find someone whose work you admire and ask for a private session to see if it is worth pursuing. you do not "do pottery" you become a potter. air dry clay is not clay and will never become ceramic or useful except to look at.

is it time to ask for a welfare check to see if he is really OK? with no contact in such a long time it seems worth it to know he is in good health.

the outside of a mug is not a food contact area but the lip is. the lip needs glaze. once that is taken care of, wiping off the disc so it has glaze only in the texture should do it.

my personal choice is a Pacifica, bought in late 1970s with only the belts replaced from wear. i do not count the damage from lightning that required something done with the foot pedal. i do not use a splash pan and built the table workspace around the wheel. see my album. i dislike brent wheels because of their noise. really awful in a setting where several are being used at once. did use bailey during an NCECA event in Tampa and liked it's solid construction. the bailey wins in that two wheel race.

dick, reading all this tells me that pacer is probably in financial trouble. maybe a bankruptcy is in the offing. the signature on that letter min shared is a lawyer. not good.

Chris Campbell, one of our members has been inactive here for some time. she makes all kinds of colors from pale yellow and pink to darker colors. check her albums for some examples of her fabulous work with shading and blending. computer illiterate here, maybe you can see her previous posts. look under chris campbell pottery for several articles and photos of her work.

Highwater makes a wonderful white clay that is very easy to throw and trim and makes great slabwork that does not tear. it is a cone 6 white stoneware with no grog called Little Loafers. their cone 10 white stoneware is Loafer's Glory. have been using it for at least 10-12 years with no problems. check out my albums. disclaimer i throw very dry, smash my slabs on the floor at least 4 times, stretching the about one inch thick slices to about 3/8 inch thick before rolling with a 24 inch wide bailey slab roller. i roll it out to less than 1/4 inches, it is very strong and quick to dry i use a glaze recipe from Min that is transparent and easily stained to the color i want. thank you Min! that glaze is perfect for the newer work i am doing.

after more than 20 years i have finally tossed a very few of the duron bats made in the 1990s. never wired off a piece on duron bats. using a 4x8 sheet gave me tons of 5x5 bats to fit inside one that is about a 12 inch circle.

cone 6.

martinja, do you have only a few members or are there people tracking floor dust all over all day? keeping good cleaning working habits are the safest way to avoid dust. add some containers to all areas and tables so small bits can be tossed into them instead of being brushed onto the floor by sleeves or other items. put up signs and teach any new person exactly what you expect from users. clay is easer to clean if it isn't there.

pye, min gave me a perfect glaze recipe for the one clay i use. as a clear it is totally clear, no bubbles. thank you min!!! because i am making work that relies on color on heavy relief, i use that clear recipe and add various mason stain colorants to the glaze recipe. i want to see transparant color in the deeper areas of the relief and on the parts above. i will have some photos soon that i think i can post here so you can see what i mean. the percent of color is usually under 4. cobalt is so strong it is 1%. i have a perfect very white liner glaze that i have used for many years. i can send you one bowl that has been in daily use since 2000 . the recipe was from a book written by a ceramic engineer in 1972 and there has not been an update with warnings since. so i think it is safe to continue using it. i trust the experts but keep my eye open when i use a piece to see if it holds up under normal use. there is no excuse for selling something dangerous but the likelyhood of that happening is so remote when the source recipe and the stains in use are well researched by the developer of the glaze. i have never seen a headline about DANGEROUS POTTERY! AVOID BUYING ! since the announcements about lead in glaze 40 or 50 years ago. (i bet you can't find lead to use in glaze unless you leave the usa.) i think you are going just a little overboard in worrying about this. no, i do not have a list of dangerous (???) additions to a base recipe. i don't think many potters do.

i have given this recipe to members of this forum. there is a very easy to use red clay made of only 2 ingredients so everyone was positive it was not good. someone did the chemistry and discovered it has all it needs. it is really very plastic, no grog, strong stoneware, pretty red. try it 50 pounds redart, 50 pounds XX saggar. water. makes a lot of great clay. i no longer use colored clay, just white.

could it be impending bankruptcy?

if you have found a kiln in the very good condition like the one that fruch sent photos of, do not hesitate to buy it. the fact that nobody has fired it for years is good. testing is done once you get it home to your own studio and will only happen after you get it connected correctly. neil is the expert, his advice is sound. one more note. the kiln shown has good elements. the things you call coils are standing upright in their channels. old ones, which only need replacement like tires on your car, lean all over each other and show their age. just another thing to anticipate, not worry about. we are a techie group, not me, but others want lots of info so they can tell you anything about your particular kiln. fruchs missed the label because of the lighting. everything is helpful.

callie, thank you for the reference to SIAL. who knew where the makeup masters get their materials to create horrible looking actors?

contact the manufacturer of the glaze for their particular thinning method. i was sent something for a glaze that was their propriatary product and it worked well. i only use one bottled glaze, a bright red on exteriors only. the cost was quite reasonable.

since you live in london, home of many excellent museums, i suggest you contact the one whose collection of old ceramics is their main feature. there may be some easier way that their staff knows about and i am sure someone would be able to help you out. do not send an email, call first to ask the name of the person who oversees the ceramic and pottery exhibits then contact him/her. always go to the top first.

after many, many years of using used candles, i have learned a thing or two. #1 do not use any added decorated candles with "snow". toss them!! #2, read #1. or, you may end up with a mess spread all through the entire kiln load by the fumes. read #1. i find that mixing a red into the usual clear or white melted wax allows me to see exactly where the wax is and how far up the edge it goes. i single fire nearly everything so scraping off any splashes or whatever is easy since the clay is removed with the mistake. if done on a bisqued piece, re-bisquing removes the wax. wiping the bottom on the interior edge of the hot pan immediately removes enough wax that the burn-out smell is hardly noticable. my hot pan is set at 350, and i wait until it is that hot to attempt to wax bottoms. the amount used is just enough to cover the foot. the best part of using hot wax is that it is almost instantly dry. some brush on wax needs hours to dry.

terri, why do you raku your beautiful pandas? do you see an advantage i cannot think of?

do as suggested above and try this. i was told by my washing machine mechanic that new washers do not use as much water as my nice, old kenmore. i have had no problems, mainly because i do not use much water to throw and i am alone (whoever makes the mess has to clean it). if you are really making a huge mess all over the studio, maybe having a smallish bucket and holey plunger would remove enough mud before the washer gets turned on. to make the plunger work, use a drill with a 3/4 or 1 inch bit and a piece of 2x4 behind it to control the tendency for the rubber to slide while being drilled. put about 4 or 5 holes about half way between the handle and rim. slosh enough water around one or two towels at a time and empty the dirty water where you normally would. not into a sink! pour it through a sieve so you save the fines to add to reclaim. smallish bucket and only one or two at a time reduce the weight and make the job more comfortable to handle so each potter can do it daily.