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C.Banks

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Everything posted by C.Banks

  1. It's only an issue when I have to re-enter certain recipes and that's really nbd. I thought maybe if it was an easy fix i could save myself the occasional hassle but I'm only working on the odd project that benefits from EuCal. I'm illiterate when it comes to excel so I'm just thankful to have it.
  2. anyone else having an issue with the two cells for strontium and magnesium eutectic toggle converting to true/false(1/0) and away from the check boxes? Some files work and some files don't. I thought maybe saving as different file types/versions might help but no luck with the few simpleton type efforts could muster. It's no big deal. I've been loading old files with working Sr/Mg eutectic cells but it's getting more annoying. ?
  3. For some of us with lithium problems that's like finding a horde of buried treasure. iirc 500g @ 120$ was the last restock cost in some parts of north america
  4. You are not alone here. At most I'll risk a dip on the rim or pouring swipe of some safe matte for slight changes in texture mostly. There are many more than two of us keeping metal oxides out of our liner glazes I imagine. The iron in tenmoku is an exception here. A case can be made for copper too except for the one medical condition - so copper is out. Opacifiers like tin and titanium are ok so this helps us find more shades of iron. Zircopax can help improve durability apparently and if I remember correctly magnesium helps with glaze fit? I know 'good glass' will prevent leaching but the cynic in me sees more people concerned with projects other than a sound liner glaze - this includes craze free clears. As liners, clears are the most difficult in this regard, imo. We don't get to hide behind tenmokus. And even though a properly vitrified clay will forgive some crazing its easier to simply promote a crackle aesthetic than develop and maintain a craze free, clear surface. My pots might tend towards boring but idc too much. I do tend to overthink things so keeping things simple can help - sometimes.
  5. I've waited up to 3 weeks for clay to come around. If you let your most plastic clays slake overnight your clay will come right sooner than if mixed up all at once from dry.
  6. When GB was going extinct the first time I started using Boraq 2 from and it worked just fine for what I was after. This was ? 2? decades ago? https://digitalfire.com/recipe/p3998 https://digitalfire.com/material/boraq+2 https://digitalfire.com/material/boraq+3
  7. good thing - the numbers I remember suggested something was amiss there's something witty to say about simple answers and memory loss I'm sure ...
  8. this number seems high? or I'm probably missing something
  9. drying cups upside down keeps the weight of the handle from pulling away I've been trained to keep handles pointing in too - except in soda kilns though. It's fun sticking handles poking out all over. but drying all my handles are pointed in
  10. I remember helping a short clay with vee gum. It was only a couple of weeks old and I was impatient. It worked well but I don't remember how little I used. It wouldn't have more than few percent or less. I do remember it being expensive. Hawthorn bond seemed to help surprisingly well once too and it was only something like 6%. *never mind all this I forgot you are at cone 5.
  11. The mixer I use can handle small batches and the pugmill I own is old and in need of repair. The last few years I've been wedging up my small batches. I'm closer to 60 than thirty and thankfully I can still find the work exercise. I enjoy making my own clay although I don't make tonnes at a time. I make enough to serve its purpose.
  12. This discussion reminded me of something I read about wet pots in a kiln with the damper choked. The humidity is kept high till a point where the damper is opened and due to the heat the pots dry quickly and without issue. I'm ok waiting most of the time.
  13. OpenOffice is not friendly towards Eucalc. NeatOffice works much better.
  14. I'm trying to find cobalt in the materials list and analysis page but all I see is CO2 which, if I'm not missing something, should be a gas. It's always possible I'm being a bit dense somehow but I'm unable to see my way through this. Thanks for the software btw. It's helping move a couple of stalled projects. cheers *looks like I am using an old version - now the trouble is the v. 1.9 link for download is opening in read only mode
  15. I grew up around mining so I'm well aware of the consequences of resource extraction. The original question was about how we felt about the possibility of our use of cobalt suppporting child labour. Responses encouraging the stockpiling of cobalt to take advantage of market fluctuations seems a bit off topic to be perfectly honest. I know this is a prickly subject but this question opens up a whole slew of things we take for granted.
  16. I was thinking more along the lines of doing without cobalt or finding alternatives rather than buying in bulk. My 0.5% cobalt glaze is another 'just a drop in the bucket' but it is mine and every once in a while I get to wondering just how special is it. I know a black glaze can be acheived without cobalt but, of course, batteries are a different issue. Alternatives to Cobalt, the Blood Diaomond of Batteries - Can scientists find a way to power our phones, robots and electric cars without cobalt. Maybe technology will save us sometime in the future. It's a nice thought but maybe, today, I don't need another blue glaze. Or maybe we don't 'need' that market blue at all.
  17. Apple and Google named in US lawsuit over Congolese child cobalt mining deaths I wish there was an option other than not using cobalt altogether. Skutterite might work if a person could work around the arsenic issue.
  18. 'Takers' might be a better term. I didn't necessarily want to pick on the west. I'm not sure what a more accurate umbrella term would be. Capitalism? "Elements of capitalist culture include the mindset of business and corporate culture, consumerism and working class culture. " This qotw for me, brings up a lot more than just cultural appropriation. By choosing a term 'taker' I'm referencing Ishmael. It's been a few years since I read the book but there is no denying that something is wrong with our society and we need to start listening to people like Greta Thunberg who imo deserves a nobel prize for standing up for the planet. I try everyday to be kind to people too - I also try to have patience with people. It's a thing I'm working on.
  19. I was taught at an early age that words have weight and deserve respect. I learned words are special and for a time felt they were responsible for creating the universe. Now I'm open to some cooperation between language and numbers but I'm wandering. The lack of respect in western today language is a frustrating thing to listen to or participate in. I sympathise with her attempts to express strong feelings in a foreign language. I hear someone who feels deeply and wants dearly to be heard and understood. Her words, for me, carry passion not bitter, hurtful vitriol. Generally speaking 'we' in the west don't respect much. I don't have much confidence in our ability to protect what we have never mind speak for the best interest of others. We don't deserve nice things in my opinion. Cultures that have suffered historically such as the Japanese or indigenous of N.A. or Australia or Africa are understandably sensitive to western 'good intentions'. I wish humanity could be more kind to each other but I have little hope for anything so revolutionary in my lifetime. I better got off this high horse. Hypocrisy is a difficult thing to keep in check. My kimono is not your couture is perhaps a more tempered viewpoint.
  20. glaze software I've only been mixing glazes for 10 years or so but the moment I downloaded my desktop copy of Insight my life changed. I resisted the molar math because I could melt and see my way through most issues. Local materials also don't necessarily fit well into neat categories. I still rely on results but my adjustments and forays are more precise and less wasteful.
  21. The studio was relocated and the electric kiln never got hooked up again. Combustion sure has a lot to say about just how successful you think you will be
  22. When we were firing in oxidation I was lucky enough to have 3 glazes that I was satisfied with. They fit, played very nicely, behaved on the pot as well as in the bucket. They were complete for the most part. The public liked them and could match pieces from year to year. They took a few years to develop but they were complete in my eyes. This was a few years ago so a decades worth of perspective might offer some insight but I'll leave them for some other year.
  23. This requires some brutal honesty and a merciless hammer. A person once told me there was enough crap pottery in the world she didn't want to add to it. She was a forthright person and I liked her. I sometimes garage sale or cruise thrift stores with potters who find their own work. They smile and handover a few dollars and if necessary say something like "ya' - it's ok" all the while thinking how quickly the hammer will fall. I like these people too. I hope to find something of my own one day and it would be nice to feel as though it deserved a good home away from hammers and rocks and piles of shards.
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