oldlady

notice the very uneven application that leaves the rims without whatever the white stuff is and very close to bare clay in some areas.   
they are being fired to cone 10 or so?  is it a flashing slip, not a glaze?  is there a different definition in her language that she is using the word glaze but means something we would have a different word for?
is she somehow using reduction in that kiln?   notice the elements, how did they get that way?

kswan, there is a trick to stirring things without making a mess.  it is true that if you use a 10 inch long paint stirring stick with plastic blades and remove it from a 6 inch container while it is still spinning, you can spread wet stuff all over the room.  the secret is to stir only while the container is sitting inside a tall paper bag, bucket or box to catch the overspray.  pushing a just damp sponge down the central stick while it is running slowly sends excess material down into the blade area.  a quick spin sends it flying into the original container, bag, bucket  or box.  

kswan, there is a trick to stirring things without making a mess.  it is true that if you use a 10 inch long paint stirring stick with plastic blades and remove it from a 6 inch container while it is still spinning, you can spread wet stuff all over the room.  the secret is to stir only while the container is sitting inside a tall paper bag, bucket or box to catch the overspray.  pushing a just damp sponge down the central stick while it is running slowly sends excess material down into the blade area.  a quick spin sends it flying into the original container, bag, bucket  or box.  

was wondering what you were doing.  kind of quiet for some time, now i see why.   congrats on building all this just from your idea of how you want to live and work.  very nice studio space, too.   you will discover that being happy is a good thing.  corp america can do without you.  keep those kilns hot!

love my Ohaus triple beam.   tried a digital but could not see the numbers under the container holding ingredientd.    watched Mea's video on mixing glazes and realized i could do that much faster with my Ohaus.    btw, if you need to add or subtract a tiny amount, the kemper tool with a flat arrowhead at one end and a curved point at the other is great for just lifting a tiny amount with the curve.

since you appear to have spent a lot of time doing it one way, would it be worth a trip to the manufacturer or to pay for one of their experts to fly to you and get a hands on lesson?

love my Ohaus triple beam.   tried a digital but could not see the numbers under the container holding ingredientd.    watched Mea's video on mixing glazes and realized i could do that much faster with my Ohaus.    btw, if you need to add or subtract a tiny amount, the kemper tool with a flat arrowhead at one end and a curved point at the other is great for just lifting a tiny amount with the curve.

tiny question.  kristinanoel, you mentioned masonite bats.  are you talking about 1/4 inch thick Duron  bats or actual masonite  about 1/8 inch thick and with the bumpy back?    the bats sold in the supplier's stores that i visit use Duron, a double sided smooth surface that is 1/4 inch thick. 
i never wire anything off my Duron bats, the pieces pop off when they are dry enough, usually overnight.  i throw as dry as possible, never leaving dampness inside any pot.  they pop off because i have trimmed the outside of the foot ring while the pot is still on the wheel.  no raggedy edges sticking down all around the pot.  

Speaking of Books there is one being made now that is all about the place I learned the most in Ceramics. I wrote a piece for that books which is in the editing stages now.
It was called the Laundry 
In the 50's-60s it was a commercial Laundry. In the late 60s it was bought by the Humboldt State University and turned into a pot shop. It has floor drains (wood covered cement troughs that drain out). They added a kiln room off the back. The builing is one huge barrel arch roof. A really great pottery setup for teaching.
Back then my mentor Reese Bullen  (who started the Art Dept there) hired a new instructor to help him teach ceramics from Alfreds as a recent gradute Lou Marak -it was 1969. I came a few years later to that program.
They hired another Alfred grad the year I came as well  (1972). It was the heyday of ceramics for this school. It was after the war and it was ahuge open learningtyransition time in ceramics-from Volkus to Arneson clay was expanding. Thes e recenty Alfreds guys where on fire from leaning from the greats who taught and wrote at Alfreds. Rhodes and the like passed what they knew down to my teachers who passed that to us. It was a solid 5 years in immersion in all things clay and kilns for me.Many a teacher and potter came out the other side of that Laundry .
In my time I learned slip casting, low fire ,high fire , kiln firing, hand building ,slab work,clay and glaze formulation just to name a few. I Worked in work study program for years as kiln and glaze room tec.( Back then tec was not used) loading and firing kilns of all types.Salt to low fire electrics-with redution cone 10 gas as the standard .
The program slowly after many deacdes switched as did many programs to  around the country  in schools to sculture and making art-mostly low fire. This slowy in my view turned the ceramics program into a lesser one than the one I was in at that time. I have heard lots of feedback on this from students over the past 30 years
Now the University recently became Cal Poly Humboldt and humanities is at the botton of the pile now. They now have funding to build in massive science expansion 3 new parking structures and you gues it the Laundry will be scraped to put in a parking lot as Joni Mitchell once said in a song. The last 10 yeared ceramics professor retires this year (JUNE) and no one is fighting this stupid mistake. For me the university long ago lost the community support as they do not care about that.
Two of the old ceramic teachers is compiling this book on 50 years of the Laundry-its history and students. I am just one of those and one of the few that choose the production pottery route over teaching and also stayed local and am still producing . In my. time we once had over 20 full timers in this small area making funtional wares now its me. Last man standing full time. The laundry is a special place for me in my brain  as well as the people who shared what they knew way back in the early 70s with me. When folks  are buying and using my pottery they really are using pottery that came from my years at the Laundry and those who taught there at that time.
Ps this book is being complied and underwritten by a gallery In Davis Ca called the John Natsoulas Gallery. John is footing the bill
He has a press at gallery and has had a 30 year ceramic realationship with HSU ceramics and did a book on the UC Davis ceramics lab already
its a great thing he is doing for our local clay history-if you are ever in Davis Ca stop by that gallery its worth the trip-just look for the 15 foot  high ceramic cat you walk to enter the gallery. You cannot miss it.
https://www.natsoulas.com
 

no, you have some  dry clay stuck on the walls inside the tube.   that creates a ragged lump that forces the damp clay to shape itself around the lump.   if you keep pugging,  and use a little water as you insert the clay, it will start to look like a normal straight pug.  normally,  twice is nice for making the clay exactly the way you want it but when you have this situation, you are gathering tiny hard bits of that dry clay in the middle of the pug. 
keep on and keep calm, it will eventually work its way out.  you might cut the chunks through and feel for small hard lumps now instead of finding them in your thrown walls.  there are no rules saying the first pug of the clay is enough.  it is your very strong  machine, make it do what you want.

an 18x18 concrete patio block works well, can me moved easily and tilted if you find a support for one side.   may only find 16x16,  look at used on craigslist.
 
NO CANVAS!

an 18x18 concrete patio block works well, can me moved easily and tilted if you find a support for one side.   may only find 16x16,  look at used on craigslist.
 
NO CANVAS!

OMG that is adorable

My answer is no, after learning the hard way early on! And I've learned that it's best to not try to explain why. Because if someone doesn't take no the first time, they probably aren't going to understand the explanations. 
However, on very rare occasions, I have said yes to people who are long time customers who not only have bought a lot of my work, but I have spent enough time talking to them to know they understand what I'm doing. These requests are always made within parameters that make sense, because like I said these people understand what I'm doing. For me it makes sense to differentiate a select handful of customers into a VIP category, and to do my best to make them happy.
Here's an example. Some long time customers of mine got married, and asked me to adapt my elephant figurines into a "bride + groom" version for their cake topper. I was happy to do this!

no, you have some  dry clay stuck on the walls inside the tube.   that creates a ragged lump that forces the damp clay to shape itself around the lump.   if you keep pugging,  and use a little water as you insert the clay, it will start to look like a normal straight pug.  normally,  twice is nice for making the clay exactly the way you want it but when you have this situation, you are gathering tiny hard bits of that dry clay in the middle of the pug. 
keep on and keep calm, it will eventually work its way out.  you might cut the chunks through and feel for small hard lumps now instead of finding them in your thrown walls.  there are no rules saying the first pug of the clay is enough.  it is your very strong  machine, make it do what you want.

min made a great suggestion.   i am aware of several glaze suppliers who will sell you their "secret" brushing medium if you call and tell them your problem.   do NOT email.
if you go back to the first post in 2020, follow johnnyk's  suggestion about pulverizing the dry glaze with a coffe bean grinder.   sounds reasonable but i am allergic to coffee and would not know a grinder if i saw one.

if you have made the glazes yourself, pour water into the container to cover the glaze about half an inch or so.   cover the container.  wait until at least 24 hours later and open the container to see how it reacted.   a cracked broken rough surface without water above the glaze will indicate you should be able to stir it, sieve it and use it.   if not, add water or delete water.  i have hard water and use distilled in all my glazes.  poke a spoon, dowel, anything into the glaze and try to stir it.  if too dry, add water.  if the water level is the same as it was when you closed the container, and you cannot poke it into life, you might try a blender.   if it is really too hard after all that, toss it.  safely.
if you have bought commercial glazes, wait for someone who uses them to reply.

someone planted a seed.  (No reference to current events intended.)

Speaking of copying  I long ago in another clay universe was a partner in a press mold ceramic pin and magnet  business we (the two of us which at that time was a girlfriend whom we spent 10 or so years together)
This business was concived as business that could fit in a very small space as the kiln was the only large item. We made the originals from clay and I made press molds and she glazed them. We used a small airbrush and very small compressor for glazing. We marketed zoos and aquariums from BC Canada to Hawaii  to the New England aquarium  and all in-between Places like the San Deigo zoo , Montery Aquarium buildt in 1984. Most of the marketing was personal as we went there and talked to them (Hawaii and BC) east coast was all on the phone and via mail.
I was alaways into fish from diving with them. My brother did the color layup master (a cibachrome) for us (he was a Art Professor at UCSB in Santa Barbara  and did cibachrome all the time back then) and had access to color equipment . Once I had a master I had a company print the color layouts
I have a few left even though this was all over 40 years ago-just a layout no price lists anymore. The  business was good for about 5-7 years and we moved on to other projects. I still have tons of pinbacks and magnets
 Now to the copyright  part of this story
At this time I was doing shows in the west coast callled harvest festivals in the late 70s early 80s and many clay folks where making ceramic pins I learned from them about copyrights.
We choose trhe cheaper copyright  path that many where taking and that is stamp the backs with the copyright logo  on pin backs and hope folks respected that. It worked and we never had any infringement that we know of. Her is that master cibachrome and final  color sales brochure. I still have a few magnets on the fridge of the more durable forms. We had 20 formscan you name them all? My guess is there are a few most do not know
The business was called Coruba Pins named from this rare rum label that I once enjoyed drinking -not much of a dinker past 40 years now.
Man I have done a lot with clay -most of this I had forgotten until this write up.
 

it looks like someone is scratching it out of the seams.  the distance from the top of the kiln down to it's  bottom is in inches.    the crack looks like it could be measured in significantly less than one inch.    probably not a worry unless you see it coming through the bottom.   kilns do not have to be kept pristine, just reasonably clean.

HAPPY POTS
i had a venco  without a vacuum and got a bailey with vacuum later.  i believe that the bailey has a cap for your vaccum area that will fit.   the one you show seems too big for that venco.   contact jim bailey with your measurements to see it his will fit.   you should be able to just buy that cap with it's own gasket attached.    ask him about the meter attached to the top of yours. 
just call on a telephone and talk to him, do not send emails.  they really do not work for this kind of info.

lee, what i find interesting is the number of people who ask me something and i suggest they come and visit my studio to learn what all is involved.  the funny thing is that i must have invited over a hundred people over the years and so far nobody has come except a customer who wanted  "another one just like the first one".   she and a friend came out and we had a great time.  they each made something uniquely theirs and nothing like mine.  both found some item in the studio that intrigued them.  i wish i had made something as terrific as the friend made.  
we went out on the boat and they discovered why i usually go out close to sunset, the sun was really bad.   good thing i have lots of very broad brimmed hats for visitors.  who never come.

spot on. denice!    IFa beginner has found this forum, they have at least found a lot of information that is in the very first section.   start with the glossary.   learn the proper terms for what you want to ask about.   learning to read starts with the alphabet, the glossary has that alphabet for you.   get some old books, the 70s was a time publishers did a good job with what became textbooks.   yes, things they made might not be what you want to make but the basics is what you need and that is covered.
there are posts on here about " What is on your bookshelf?"   if you can find that original question, you will have quite a good list to start with.   see how things are DONE!  ignore the final results that would be something you would never make..     remember you are learning a skill.     do you think those fabulous figure skaters started out throwing or being thrown many feet in the air without seeing a description of how it is done?
and do not ever mistake cone 06 for cone 6!!!   now, go to the glossary and look up what a cone is.
 

handicapped here because i do not know what measurement system you use.   usually  recipies are given in grams.   there is no Recipe for a wash, you just start with a small amount of colorant, red iron OXIDE is one choice.   i use it in a wash and do not care exactly how much i use because it is  only for this pot, right now.   a wet artists brush, #6 is my choice, picks up some red iron oxide from a container and i add an amount of water judging by the color swirling around in a white cup.   if it looks to pale, i add more RIO.  if it is too dark, i add water.
unless you plan to use exactly the same proportions many times, measuring is not necessary.  you certainly can measure to repeat exactly, that is what is meant when you see the advice you will see here often "test, test, test".

spot on. denice!    IFa beginner has found this forum, they have at least found a lot of information that is in the very first section.   start with the glossary.   learn the proper terms for what you want to ask about.   learning to read starts with the alphabet, the glossary has that alphabet for you.   get some old books, the 70s was a time publishers did a good job with what became textbooks.   yes, things they made might not be what you want to make but the basics is what you need and that is covered.
there are posts on here about " What is on your bookshelf?"   if you can find that original question, you will have quite a good list to start with.   see how things are DONE!  ignore the final results that would be something you would never make..     remember you are learning a skill.     do you think those fabulous figure skaters started out throwing or being thrown many feet in the air without seeing a description of how it is done?
and do not ever mistake cone 06 for cone 6!!!   now, go to the glossary and look up what a cone is.