oldlady

good, joseph, i miss your photos of what you are currently working on.

I am investing in time, I get up for work at 3:30AM on a few days of the week, and instead of sleeping in on my days off I am going to just get up on those days too and work in the studio before the kids get up. I have all the equipment I need, I just need more time. Some ideas for my work popped into my head and I would like to explore them!

I bought another Peter pugger to help with clay body mixing (two bodies mixed together ).
I also just had a APL suspensionplasty with biotenodesis screw in left thumb. in laymans terms they cut out my trapezium bone out of thumb and use part of a thumb tendon to suspend the thumb over that hole. My surgeon did 3 techniques on my thumb to strengthen it.this was lastTuesday-i'm off of painkillers now and have a brace for two weeks then a cast for 4 weeks then rehab for 4-5 months . my thumb will have to be taught to work again as its immobile now. the other fingers are sticking out and i have use of them. The restriction of use is no lifing more than a cup of coffee.
i choose this coivid time to be down from clay to rehab as we cannot travel and are hiding ot on the property for a long stint.I did make lots of greenware and in few weeks will help my assistant glaze and fire a small kiln load to keep my outlets supplied duri ng this break. one armed now
my wife needs the same surgery as soon as i'm healed.

I spent the weekend glazing the rest of my bisqueware I had saved up, finishing bottoms and taking pictures.  Going to be listing it all on my online store and having a fun sale sometime in the coming weeks.  I have some stuff I know will be popular just from how many people on instagram, facebook and reddit have reached out to try to snipe things early.  
I participated in my local clay art associations pot swap this year and will be sending out this plate to the person whose name I drew!
 

small suggestion.   if you have rolled out the slab of clay to make your form, add the pieces to the slab while it is still flat on the table surface.  folding the slab around your internal form maker will allow the whole thing to be a more consistent construction.   much easier to add pieces when it is flat than working on a standing cube.

making a combination of things.  big pieces with leaves and birds and small, about 3 inches across lace impressed bowl shaped "containers".  the small items will sell if i can get a nice glaze in several colors.  the bigger ones also sell, depending on the venue.  but the small stuff is my version of mark's sponge holder bread and butter item.  not that they hold sponges, just that they sell quickly and bring in cash.


got to make some glazes!

This is what almost every Monday looks like on Glaze day-its whats on the workbench which is every flat surface I can find in kiln loading area. These are all the pots we glazed today(my assistant and I ) and I loaded the small 12 cubic kiln and the large 35 cubic car kiln(I forgot to take that photo but I have posted it more times than I can recall.This may be my last workbench shot this year not the last fire but the workbench is always looking like this every week since Sept when sales took off. As in above post my back hurts as do my feet and arms. These long days are killer on the body. I lit the kilns for a slow rise and will finish firing on Tuesday -unload them both on Thursday. I start throwing agin in am and this week is the last cycle this year for me. 98% of this glaze ware fit in the two kilns and I got it done by 6 pm. Out of a bath now feeling sore like i do every Monday night.Pottery is a contact profession and at my level it can wack you.I loaded over 50 advancer shelves in the se two kilns this afternoon. We cheated a bit and waxed a the load and I glazed a hour yesterday to get a jump on todays madness.My booth is closed for Monday and Tuesday so I could work without distractions of going and coming twice a day to booth.
I'll get the burners up later tonight to go thru quartz slow and get up at 5 am and kick both kilns up hard and go back to sleep a few hours.Fires will be over in afternoon at a soft 1/2 cone 11.  Slow two day cool. All pots are porcelain .I;m out of a few items right now and need some of these for orders NOW.
The beat goes on. Its days like this I wonder when folks ask about being a potter and how much do you have to work every day.I strongly feel if you ask that question you are not cut out for it. Time for some more Queens Gambit on Netflix.-Mea I'm putting my feet up tonight.

nataniajoy,  you are very fortunate to have such a nice manual kiln as a gift.  i thought by now you would have received an answer that addresses your problem as a totally new kiln user.
couple of things might help you understand the manual fred has so helpfully found for you.  you need to realize that the kiln is a very old one as far as its manufacturing date is concerned and there was a slightly different vocabulary used then.  "Automatic"  back then meant your kiln was equipped with a Kiln Sitter that would mechanically turn off the kiln when a particular temperature was reached.  the manual keeps referring to it as the ASD, automatic shutoff device (or sitter. prior to the use of a sitter, the potter had to watch the firing and turn it off at the end by looking into the kiln peep holes and judging the temperature at which to turn off the electricity. ) cones have been use for over a hundred years to help do that.
the temperature you select for each firing is commonly referred to by a cone number.   that means the same kiln can be used by potters who fire earthenware or stoneware which is usually fired to a higher temperature.  so you need to select the cone number for the clay and/or glazes you are using.
the number on the cone indicates a temperature but the firing can take a little longer as the elements wear out over time.  so the cone ,which you place HORIZONTALLY across the two little arms, will determine the time and temperature of your firing.  the arms hold up the cone and the rod end of the "claw" of the sitter sits over the cone resting on it.   SINCE THE INVENTION OF CONE BARS MANY PEOPLE USE THEM IN THE SITTER.  bars are of a uniform size end to end.  cones are tapered and some people have trouble putting them onto the arms and getting the claw rod in the middle of the cone.
when the cone gets hot enough for a long enough time, it will melt.  that means it sinks down and allows the rod end of the claw to sink as well.  the other end of the claw, the part outside the kiln, is really the claw looking end and it is holding a weight that will be released by the rising of the claw.  the weight will snap down and activate a round electrical shut off button that is located on the outside of the sitter.   (if you find you cannot start your kiln at any time, check that the claw is holding the weight and the button is close to the kiln, not sticking out.) 
i hope this is enough to help you read the manual and that will explain your particular kiln.  
the most important thing you need to learn is that it is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT that you understand the cone numbers of your clay and glazes.  look at a CONE CHART and read the numbers and the temperatures carefully.   there are some essential facts that are commonly glossed over when experienced potters are talking to each other.   
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 AND THEN CONE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ETC.  are each a little hotter running from left to right.  check the chart!  and check your clay.  write the cone # on the bag of clay so you  DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that cone 6 is the same as cone 06.  that is a completely different temperature and if you use cone 06 clay and use a #6 cone in your sitter, you will probably melt everything and ruin the kiln.
see the recent post by benzine for what can happen.
hope you bothered to read this long post and understand it.
 
 

It’s photo editing day!

liner glazin'

As I remember much of the discussion on other sites, years ago, cone 4 was just above Earthenware range and into stoneware. Others believed that to be a little low, and went to cone 5. Then there were a series of clays and commercial glazes that were designed for cone 4-6.  It became apparent to many that the better surfaces for the glazes often occurred at cone 6. Over the years, I have often wondered what would have happened if we had not had the energy cost rise that precipitated the move toward mid range stoneware. The move towards Cone 4-6 has certainly done well for Ceramics in general as many schools in cities without the resources for gas fired kilns with teachers trained in gas reduction have benefited from the use of electric mid-range Oxidation. 
Aesthetically there is was also another shift as those advocates of reduction moving to mid range carried their likes/dislikes with them and early glazes for mid-range tried to emulate reduction glazes. However over the years the mid range glaze repertoire has become quite broad with many craters and artists ranging far from the olde aesthetic. The richness of surface seen in reduction, can be emulated in mid range with layering of glazes, often by spraying and underglaze/overglaze color and other strategies. Colors achievable at high fire may be synthetically developed as in Copper reds with local reduction.  However much of these are not as pleasing as the colors achieved in High fire reduction. At the same time, now we see more low fire type decoration and glaze done at mid range due to the durability of the mid range vs. the earthenware.  All in all, the last 50 years has done wonders for the science and art of ceramics.
 
best,
Pres

This thread hasn't gotten much love recently.
Right now on my workbench is a small load of "sailing mugs", old school travelers. 

Also been doing some water etching on porcelain with shellac.

  Just finished some Christmas orders, still have more to do unfortunately, and I need to replace my elements of course, something always happens when it's crunch time.
 
 

thanks, bill, that is what i meant.

agree with all this.    does make me wonder if Wedgewood would have liked plastic bags or tubs for storing clay.

agree with all this.    does make me wonder if Wedgewood would have liked plastic bags or tubs for storing clay.

grumpy, if the kiln has been stored where flying insects can get to it, check for tubes of clay in the tiny spaces you might find. check the slits in the metal box. 

Easy suggestion for a QoTW  following last weeks question of the week; would you give up any of the technology you use in ceramics now and go back to a simpler not as technology advanced method? Maybe starting with defining the term technology as it pertains to ceramics making.

thanks, min.   sometimes reading the first answer is more confusing than the original question.   my suggestion is that if you want to answer a question, read it at least twice so the intent of the person can be determined.   none of us is perfect but if the reader looks at EVERYTHING, the time, the language, the vocabulary, the answer will probably be more appropriate.  someone who asks a question at what would be your 3 in the morning might not live in your part of the world or speak your language.

@oldlady Jim Butcher is an urban fantasy author who's largest and most ongoing series is the 15-book-and-counting Dresden Files.  They follow the adventures of Harry Dresden, Chicago's resident wizard.  Pres and I discovered we were both reading him in the "what are you listening to in your studio" thread earlier this year. If you'd like more details I'd be happy to share them in dm, but I should probably stop hijacking the thread here.
 

Sun loosing heat, heh. It's snowing here now.

denise, you might be more comfortable trying a technique i use to make bowls.   i think your husband is a woodworker if i am remembering correctly.    a woodworking friend made me a series of discs from walnut.  they ranged from 4 inches to about 8 inches in diameter and were each about 3/8 inch thick.  they thinned at the edges.
to make a soup size bowl, i would use about a softball size piece of clay and center it.  opening it and making it into a flowerpot shape with a slightly thick bottom is next.  when the pot is about 5 inches high, firmly insert the disc that is about 5 inches in diameter.  just push it straight down to the bottom of the flowerpot shape without hesitating.   the clay will widen into a perfect half sphere on the interior and  push the excess clay outward and down.   the height will be less than the 5 inches you started with.   remove the disc when you reach the intended bottom of the bowl.  do not go too deep or you will have no clay for a foot.
 use a circular ribbon tool to cut the excess clay (that was pushed down to the bat) in a single pass and stop the wheel while you remove that large amount all at once.  this takes a little practice and a lot of nerve.  and a good ribbon tool.  not the thick ribbon that won't fit over your thumb, the thin one that will allow a quarter to pass through the circle. 
your trimming is almost complete at this step.  do a series and allow them to dry enough for trimming in the usual way.
 

depending on where you are, $600 seems a high price for a small, used kiln.   can you get the owner to photograph the inside so you can see the elements inside their grooves?    if they are upright they may have only been used lightly, perhaps for only cone 06 earthenware.   if you can find out who used it, that might help, too.    perhaps someones' mother or aunt who made china dolls.  earthenware china.
what else comes with the kiln, shelves, posts, anything?

the size of the kiln shelf is a real help.   i have traced the shelf onto my white slab roller top.   making something too long to fit is not a good idea.   it also allows me to trial fit the forms i use for slab work on a shelf so i can tell if a new shape is profitable.   and it gives me an idea of what odd corners might be available for small fast sellers.  

the size of the kiln shelf is a real help.   i have traced the shelf onto my white slab roller top.   making something too long to fit is not a good idea.   it also allows me to trial fit the forms i use for slab work on a shelf so i can tell if a new shape is profitable.   and it gives me an idea of what odd corners might be available for small fast sellers.  

I have a hot waxer for feet and hands,  I was just wondering if it sped up the healing process.   I just got back from my nerve test and they were pretty bad the doctor thinks I should have the surgery right away.    I want to wait until January,  I guess I will have to speak to a surgeon about this,  maybe he will give me a steroid shot.   Good news is that my last MRI showed no new signs of lesions or damage from my MS.      Denice