Chilly

Tayberry is a blackberry/raspberry cross, but tastes better than both. I used to grow loganberry (same parents), but have replaced with tayberry. I have two plants, one is spiky as Heck, the other is smooth. The spiky one outcrops the smooth, by about 5 x.

Made two lots of jam yesterday. Tayberry and gooseberry, both the last of last years crop, frozen on day of picking. It's much nicer making jam in the winter, not in the heat of summer!

HI @Stellaboo From memory (the centre where the mangle lives is closed, and I never wrote down specifics). The baseboard is a piece of ply we happened to have, probably about 8mm thick. We suck 4mm slats onto the long sides, and use thickness slats inboard of these. The stuck on slats stop the proper thickness slats from escaping. The base board could probably be any thickness, it doesn't affect the finished clay thickness. It's the inner slats that determine final clay thickness. Hope that helps, I love my mangle, so easy to use and works really well.

I fired some dug clay that our scouts had made into pots in a fire. We piled the fire with very dry wood, kept it going for several hours, and got it as hot as we could. The pots were "fired", but not very. I later fired same clay in an electric kiln to normal bisque temps. The fire fired clay was quite different, softer, more easily broken, and black cored. I estimate the temperature did not exceed 800C. Still an interesting experiment, so long as you set their expectations.

@JDP Joel (High Bridge) hasn't posted anything since last July. You might be better to message him.

Wise words, mirrors my attitude.

Hope not in the UK, they're saying "over 70s" should self-isolate from next week!

So what is it with toilet paper hoarding? It's the same in the UK. I just don't get it.

Dustbin lids (upturned) make good wide bowls for holding glaze.

Generally speaking, yes. Plaster absorbs moisture from the clay, so it dries from the air above and the plaster below. With non-porous moulds the clay only dries from one side. Give it a go, but you must use proper mould release (soft soap - I bought mine from Potterycrafts) between the plate and the plaster, or they will stick together. Wash the finished mould with vinegar to remove ALL traces of release. Allow mould to dry thoroughly in moving air before first use.

I too have a bat box, but never seen any signs of use. Maybe I need to set up a camera.....

Looks like this model only has one ramp. I can't find much info about it, no sales leaflets, only the (sparse) instructions. What are the fired results like? I'm wondering if it has a built-in " go slowly until quartz inversion, then go as fast as possible to top temperature." I use an IPCO controller, but it is a more sophisticated model that allows multiple ramps. I usually set it for very slow ramp to 99C, then slow to 550, then fast as poss to top temp, so it might be mimicking that kind of firing.

Nearest commercial supplier is 33 miles = 50 minutes, Next nearest is Potters Association "clay dump" for clay only, 70 miles = 1 hour 40 minutes.

Commercial clay and glaze. I was given a stack of raw materials from a retiring ^10 gas reduction Potter. Couldn't make them work at ^6, so passed them on. There are enough (dried out, unfortunately, so constantly need work) small pots of brushing glaze at the centre and in my studio to keep me going for several lifetimes.

Sounds like you've been inside my head @LeeU. Couldn't have said it better. I thought I was the world's worst shopper/customer, seems like I have a twin.