Idaho Potter

I learned the hard way that outdoor ceramics need to be fired to at least cone 4 to survive harsh winters--and definitely glazed or taken indoors before the first hard frost. Kudos on the gargoyle at the front door. Style points! Shirley

I concerned about you using household drains to cleanup studio messes. The sedimentary residue from clay, glaze, and other stuff will eventually block your drains and could cost you a lot of money to repair. That stuff sets up like concrete. Cink's are expensive. However, you can make something similar using laundry tubs with standpipes under your stainless sink. I've been using mine for over thirty years, never had plumbing problems, and when I moved to Boise, brought the whole thing with me and set it up in my new studio nine years ago. I use twin tubs, so once a year, I bail out water

Kohaku, I use Coleman raku (firing range 06 to 10) and it is fine grained. (It's from Clay Art Center) It also is endurable during the kiln to smoke pot, I don't do much by way of carving, but think this would work well if you are sticking to raku firing. Your work is so beautiful, I'm kind of with Chris--try another firing technique. If it's the luster quality in raku that attracts you, a second firing and you can have your lusters on a well vitrified clay. B-mix without grog is smooth as butter and carves very well. Shirley

How deep are your sinks? If they are over 12" in depth, buy some plastic pipe that fits IN the drain hole. Drill a lot of small (1/8" to 1/4") holes in the upper one third of the pipe. Use a good tub caulking to fix it in place (over the weekend so it will cure), the heavier particles will settle to the bottom and the clearest water will go through the small holes and then down the drain. I'd still recommend using a bucket for the first rinse, At the end of the day dig out any goo, and recycle My studio solution is regular double sinks positioned over double laundry tubs. The sinks

I have a chart from CAD that was made by Robin Hopper. I've used it for about three years for students, and have told them to add 1/2 lb. to 3/4 lb to what the chart has listed, because they can't yet throw as well as Robin. Making your own chart sounds like the best idea, because so much depends on the type of clay and your expertise. Start with a pound of clay and see how large a cylinder or bowl you can pull. Move up to two pounds and take note of the results. Start throwing lidded containers and making note of TOTAL amounts for body and lid. Same for teapots, include all parts.

Sorry, Lewis, but I really like my Peter Pugger. Wyndham says it's better taking it out of the hopper rather than the pug nozzle. Hmmm, I guess that's what I do when the machine has been just sitting for a long time, but I don't dig it out of the hopper. Instead, I pug (and de-air)about 8 lbs. of clay and set it aside. Then I continue to pug de-aired clay, and when the hopper is sorta empty, I reload the 8 lbs. and other scrap/slop mix it up and let it sit overnight. The next day I work all the scrap/slop that I have and sometimes even toss in 25 lb. bag of new clay. Other than reworking

Several years ago I was teaching a class of 10 to 14 year old girls. Three of ten were lefties. It turned out to be easier for me to learn left hand throwing (clockwise) than to burden them with changing their dominate hand. Worked out well for all four of us. The second round of classes I explained why we in America work counter-clockwise, and because of classes and workshops later in life it would be wise to learn both ways. One girl was so promising at ten years of age, I figure she'll be studying in Japan, Korea, or China someday and won't have problems adjusting to eastern methods.

When I lived up the mountain, my studio was attached to my living quarters--with an intervening laundry room. Even though kiln was vented to outside and I changed my clothes in the laundry room (especially shoes) there was still too much transfer of dust and odors into the house. My current studio is in a separate building and even with multiple rugs to clear dust from shoes, I'm sure some of it gets into the house. Definitely, the cabin needs to be either a studio or a guest house--NOT both! Shirley