oldlady

your kiln manufacturer has a long history of getting the best out of it's kilns and providing simple controls for users.    why do you think your program is necessary and better than theirs?  and what is special about cone 09?   yours is the first post to mention it in all the years i have read almost every post.   are you glazing some special way that requires your bisque  so soft?  
once you fix the loading as suggested, just try what Neil, who is a kiln specialist and dealer, suggests. 

i have not read this entire post but would like the original poster to consider spraying glaze to avoid disturbing the underglaze.
a very simple siphon sprayer costs about $30 and is branded EZsprayer.  it is very fast and a kiln load, big kiln, can be done in an hour or so depending on how many colors you use.
just a thought.

i have not read this entire post but would like the original poster to consider spraying glaze to avoid disturbing the underglaze.
a very simple siphon sprayer costs about $30 and is branded EZsprayer.  it is very fast and a kiln load, big kiln, can be done in an hour or so depending on how many colors you use.
just a thought.

I am glad you are getting better,  I know that eight weeks is a long break for you.   I finished my radiation therapy on my skin cancer a month ago and it has finally healed.   I need to go buy a big straw hat for the summer.   Don't overdo it.      Denice

nice, lee.    i agree with bam.   the softer edges of your work seem to make them more accessable to the general public.  smooth a few more of those sharp corners so they do not look as though they broke by accident.
denice is right, it is still too cold.   my studio is heated by an oil boiler and 2 radiators, 1 is five feet long.  i turned the heat up from the usual 40 today and plan to do so tomorrow as well.  i have a choice of heating the house to 68 and turning it down at night to 61.  tomorrow the studio will go to 68 and the house can stay at 61.  with oil over $5 a  gallon, i am frugal.
today i made another pattern block using flowers from a succulent that grows inside the very front of the house with eastern sun.  it is just starting the blooming season with coral colored bell shapes dangling above a huge plant.   the final result will be a piece pressed into the pattern block so the flowers are in relief when a new piece of clay is formed into a butter dish, a small bowl or plate, soap dish, candy dish or whatever size tray i want.   look at christie knox's fabulous work.
last year the favorite pattern was actually 3 or 4 different flowers, snowdrops, hellebore at 3 different stages, dogwood and honeysuckle, my personal favorite.  these pieces sell very easily and are not so expensive that everybody can afford something nice to look at and use every day.  pretty is important enough to let their wallets hang open matching the smile as they buy.
good luck with this change!  the one partially shown on the left center looks like you could use it as a great  pattern block just as it is.  fire to bisque, roll clay into it but put some foam rubber under the whole thing before you roll it!
 

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.  

nice, lee.    i agree with bam.   the softer edges of your work seem to make them more accessable to the general public.  smooth a few more of those sharp corners so they do not look as though they broke by accident.
denice is right, it is still too cold.   my studio is heated by an oil boiler and 2 radiators, 1 is five feet long.  i turned the heat up from the usual 40 today and plan to do so tomorrow as well.  i have a choice of heating the house to 68 and turning it down at night to 61.  tomorrow the studio will go to 68 and the house can stay at 61.  with oil over $5 a  gallon, i am frugal.
today i made another pattern block using flowers from a succulent that grows inside the very front of the house with eastern sun.  it is just starting the blooming season with coral colored bell shapes dangling above a huge plant.   the final result will be a piece pressed into the pattern block so the flowers are in relief when a new piece of clay is formed into a butter dish, a small bowl or plate, soap dish, candy dish or whatever size tray i want.   look at christie knox's fabulous work.
last year the favorite pattern was actually 3 or 4 different flowers, snowdrops, hellebore at 3 different stages, dogwood and honeysuckle, my personal favorite.  these pieces sell very easily and are not so expensive that everybody can afford something nice to look at and use every day.  pretty is important enough to let their wallets hang open matching the smile as they buy.
good luck with this change!  the one partially shown on the left center looks like you could use it as a great  pattern block just as it is.  fire to bisque, roll clay into it but put some foam rubber under the whole thing before you roll it!
 

nice, lee.    i agree with bam.   the softer edges of your work seem to make them more accessable to the general public.  smooth a few more of those sharp corners so they do not look as though they broke by accident.
denice is right, it is still too cold.   my studio is heated by an oil boiler and 2 radiators, 1 is five feet long.  i turned the heat up from the usual 40 today and plan to do so tomorrow as well.  i have a choice of heating the house to 68 and turning it down at night to 61.  tomorrow the studio will go to 68 and the house can stay at 61.  with oil over $5 a  gallon, i am frugal.
today i made another pattern block using flowers from a succulent that grows inside the very front of the house with eastern sun.  it is just starting the blooming season with coral colored bell shapes dangling above a huge plant.   the final result will be a piece pressed into the pattern block so the flowers are in relief when a new piece of clay is formed into a butter dish, a small bowl or plate, soap dish, candy dish or whatever size tray i want.   look at christie knox's fabulous work.
last year the favorite pattern was actually 3 or 4 different flowers, snowdrops, hellebore at 3 different stages, dogwood and honeysuckle, my personal favorite.  these pieces sell very easily and are not so expensive that everybody can afford something nice to look at and use every day.  pretty is important enough to let their wallets hang open matching the smile as they buy.
good luck with this change!  the one partially shown on the left center looks like you could use it as a great  pattern block just as it is.  fire to bisque, roll clay into it but put some foam rubber under the whole thing before you roll it!
 

i try to save money on simple things so i can buy something else.   i use hot wax that i get free from thrift shops who get bent, partly burned, or dirty candles that they would normally throw away.   i supply a box about 12x12 inches  and  ask them to drop those off into the box.    i check back and find when the box is filled and pick it up, dropping a dollar or two into their cash drawer.
all candles work well, my favorites are red or any other dark color so when they melt, i can see them on the clay more easily than the clear i get with purchased wax.    the last box i got about 2 years ago  is still half full.
there is one kind of candle to avoid totally!   anything with "snow" or sparkles of any kind should not be melted,   there is something in them that is bad.   i do not know why, i only know the results were so bad the work met mr hammer.  

i try to save money on simple things so i can buy something else.   i use hot wax that i get free from thrift shops who get bent, partly burned, or dirty candles that they would normally throw away.   i supply a box about 12x12 inches  and  ask them to drop those off into the box.    i check back and find when the box is filled and pick it up, dropping a dollar or two into their cash drawer.
all candles work well, my favorites are red or any other dark color so when they melt, i can see them on the clay more easily than the clear i get with purchased wax.    the last box i got about 2 years ago  is still half full.
there is one kind of candle to avoid totally!   anything with "snow" or sparkles of any kind should not be melted,   there is something in them that is bad.   i do not know why, i only know the results were so bad the work met mr hammer.  

during the 1990s, i made some bluebird hanging ornaments for a fair.  they were cut with a cookie cutter and the bottom half was done with only red Velvet underglaze.  the top half was dipped into a blue glaze.   i still have one or two of them and there has been no change in them.   they do get dirty and i can wash them but still no color change.

if you are thinking of firing that paint, it won't work.   if you finish firing to the final temp and have left some areas free of glaze so you can add some zing that would work.   a potter who did that was featured on the cover of ceramics monthly years ago and caused quite a stir.   i may remember his name later.

if you are thinking of firing that paint, it won't work.   if you finish firing to the final temp and have left some areas free of glaze so you can add some zing that would work.   a potter who did that was featured on the cover of ceramics monthly years ago and caused quite a stir.   i may remember his name later.

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

what if you simply remove the broken piece with the proper tool to round it off.   dremel comes to mind.  glue will not last through a firing.

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

what if you simply remove the broken piece with the proper tool to round it off.   dremel comes to mind.  glue will not last through a firing.

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.

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.

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.
 

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.
 

I was schooled in the 90’s, so my teachers were working in the 70’s. As awful as their habits were, the only one of them that died of cancer had one that wasn’t silica related. The conditions I’ve read about that caused silicosis in the developed world involved construction sandblasters who were working long hours every day, and exposed to huge amounts of dust due to the wrong respirator and inadequate ventilation. Unless you’re doing something very wrong, i don’t think your studio looks like the inside of a dust cloud. 
I say this with love and gentle humour: you probably are being neurotic. The purpose of going to the doctor at this point is for them to reassure you better than we can here, but also to get a documented baseline for lung function. It’s one of those sensible precaution things, and it isn’t urgent. 

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.

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.

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.