oldlady

been reading a book about the different kinds of people and how some succeed in areas where most people are helpless. how did you learn to use your hands to make things?

pir, there is one other thing that you should consider. how tall are you and how far down into the kiln you buy can you reach? can you load shelves and pots easily today? for 20 or thirty years in the future? L&L now makes one that is wider than it is tall. i wish i had one. at 82 i find putting things on the bottom shelf, which is raised off the bottom of the kiln by 2 inches, is getting difficult. if you are going to pay for a new kiln, remember how long they last with reasonable use. notice when you see one close up that your fingernail will indent the brick if you just push your finger in. and yes, the new discussions of kiln size talk about cubic feet. ignore that and get the depth and width and shelf size. that is what matters. the size of an acre is 43,560 square feet. the shape matters, you cannot build a house on a 2 foot wide by 21,780 feet long acre. L&L makes an easy to maintain kiln, those hard brick channels saved the day often when i unloaded a heavy shelf and smacked the wall. to learn about kilns look at your local library section on pottery. lots of junk about collecting old stuff, avoid that and get to the ones that are textbooks. there is a very complete list somewhere in the archives here.

thanks, min for the division lesson! as always, you are top of my list when it comes to glazes. wanna do a glaze workshop together over zoom? our guild has lots of new people stuck on bottles instead of mixing ingredients. you be the puppet master and i will do exactly what you say.

have noticed the increasing interest in the speed of firing. potters now talk about time instead of cones. i will stick to what i know works, when i do not screw something up. single firing is so simple, a firing may take 12-14 hours but that is the whole thing. i can spray glaze a load that fills my very large L and L kiln in an afternoon. fire it next day and it is done. fire it that same day and it is done faster. spraying glaze allows the work to be touched as fast as you put the spraygun down. no waiting for drips to dry.

sorry to hear that, hope it resolves soon i just got old very suddenly, never noticed until it happened. glad i lost 40 pounds but that wasn't the way i wanted.

color, whether it is called a stain or pigment, combined with only water is a "wash". using a wash under any other ceramic material should not have any effect on the results except color that is different from the base clay. i use slip that has been colored with a mason stain or an oxide or carbonate. the only difference between my slip and your wash is that i am using the clay body that is the actual clay underneath it all. slip is only very, very wet clay, a liquid rather than a solid. there are lots of "recipes" combining clays to make "slip". since i work with white clay i use it to make my simple slip. i mix bits of dry, broken trimmings and other discards from making something out of my white clay and a blue stain. so now i have a clay that is white and a blue stain in the same white clay that is very wet. the difference with the slip or wash is that i have mixed the exact clay with the color whereas you have left out clay in your wash. when they dry, the color is imbedded in the clay. the slip only adds a very thin layer of more clay so there is no problem with peeling off or any other result other than color. testing and measuring accurately allows you to repeat a color you like. keep good notes and also note which slip or wash works well with each glaze you use. bookkeeping? ugh!

cannot see photos. what cone, what clay, etc.

WOW! built like a tank! that is one lucky lady! pretty kiln, what cone does it fire to and what cone do you plan to use on a regular basis?

yes, babs, everything is getting heavier. there is such a thing as gravity now, i never really noticed it until lately. just brought home 500 pounds, packed like pres gets his, 50 pounds to the box. i hijacked 2 neighbors going by and asked them to just set the boxes inside the bay window and i would put them underneath the shelf right there. i dropped two of them and the helpful neighbors asked me to just get out of the way while they did it.

keridawn, why not contact the manufacturer by TELEPHONE not email to ask a technician your questions? the one marked 5/6 indicates you can fire successfully at either cone number. ask the professional, they have a stake in keeping your business and will help you.

upholstery fabric is rolled onto cardboard tubes. very long pieces can be cut so you can make a number of the same size mugs at the same time. do six and remove the tubes in the same order as they were used. work quickly tp avoid shrinking over the form, cardboard can soften as it becomes moist.

a tightly woven curtain fabric allows you to touch the clay with your fingers without leaving marks. half a yard from a fabric store lasts for years.

trying to do the math, callie. so you buy 10 x44 pounds (approx 440) at a time. my stuff comes in 50 pound boxes and i buy 500 pounds at a time, also for the price break at 500 pounds. the guild ordered over 1000 pounds and shared the delivery charge among all of us who ordered anything. just moved the storage to under the bay window at the front of the studio. not close to any radiators. until last week, it had been stored next to the boiler that heats the radiators and maintains a constant warmth so the radiators do not have to start up from room temperature in the winter, very cold matching the outdoor temp, adding a bit of warmth for sunshine each day. a little worried about the cold of that location, the boxes stand 3 high and 4 stacks of 3. a little was left over from last time i ordered. floor is concrete with vinyl tile on top. staying here during the winters now so i may be moving all of it back to the boiler area if it gets too cold.

love the tool holders at the edges. why "heavily grogged" clay? i would use just a layer of grog on a totally flat shelf. remember, if the clay warps into a crooked shelf it will not be flat enough for the glass.

min, the test tiles are first done as greenware on one side then bisqued and tested on the reverse. pretty clever1

franny, do you have any photos of what you are trying to achieve? sorry, i am one of the chemical idiots and do not plan to embrace it. if there is a potter out there whose work you admire, a photo or website would be helpful. yes, the chemists among the membership know a huge amount about combining things to get a particular result. someone will know what you need to do.

tina, do not buy the Keraplast. it is not a clay you can fire to make it into pottery. it is just for making pretty things to sit around and be looked at. it will never hold water so cannot be used that way. it is extremely expensive, too. you are correct, peter h and hulk are awesome. they are able to research on their computers to find just about anything. please check the white studio, hulk lists, i do not know where it is or if it is close to you. peter's map shows many town names, where is the nearest one to where you live? i congratulate you also on your skills with the english language. to search so hard for something you do not truly understand and have to do it in a second language is impressive.

oh! that is very bad stuff, i do not want to call it clay. seeing it makes me feel like i should send you some good clay but i cannot afford the shipping costs. is there any other country that you can buy clay from? there is no future in trying to work with whatever that stuff is. you just must find a clay source that has real clay. does your country have an art program in a university? if so, maybe you can find their supplier and buy from them. wish you good luck finding clay.

danielle, welcome to the forum. we have several kiln experts here but they will need a lot more info to help you. can you post photos of everything about your kiln to help identify it? if there is writing at all on the exterior case, take a photo. look in all the places the info may be, along the sides of the box on the front where the knobs are. is it an old square one or is it many sided? photos of the exterior and some of the interior, size of the interior, photos of the elements themselves. is it loaded from the top or from the side? where did you get it and are you a new owner? someone can help you if you give all this info.

thanks, min! as always, you are so helpful to everyone. will look it up. thanks, again. and you work on NEWSPAPER! i live so far out that the washington post has to be special ordered. that is OK, if i actually got it daily, i would read it all day long.

not a sculptor but i wonder if it is possible to suspend the piece upside down somehow? electramom, the stilts shown are usually used for low fire earthenware clay. stoneware or porcelain would likely melt over them at the high temps used to reach maturity of those clays.

pres, good question but there are a number of new potters here lately. it might be good to let them know that each member has a gallery where photos from that potter are stored as "albums". i have no cell phone but am aware that some members use them instead of laptops or other things. do cell phones show the entire page the way it is seen on my laptop?

tina, could you please identify your location for us? i do not think you are in the United States but in the country of Georgia. that makes a very important difference so we do not give you information you cannot use. from experience, i learned that trying to wet clay that is already partly wet does not work. drying out the clay in thin slices works very well. once the clay is totally dry, the water you add will immediately be sucked up and the clay will soften. if the clay is not totally dry it will not work. left overnight, the clay you have wet will be usable the next day. i do this in a bucket and collect dry bits as i work each day. when i want to use it, i add the water to just above the dry clay and let it soak in overnight. if you know of people who use this clay, talk directly to them to ask what they do.

WOW! using half blocks for your posts is a great idea, no possibility of catching fire. the roof looks very steep but i see that you are in utah so your climate is totally different from mine. where did you get the decorative wire arched vine supports? how do you plan to use them? excellent work!