Joseph Fireborn

Becoming self employed is always a BIG step in your life and when you persist and become successful, there's no turning back. It was a scary thing back in '78 when my wife left a cushy, but boring office job to start a housecleaning business with a girlfriend. They started the business with 500 printed flyers which they delivered to all the local realtors on a daily basis for a week. The beginning of the following week they got a call from a successful realtor who decided to give them a try. That was the last and only time they advertised. Everything since then has been word of mouth. I got involved with them a few years later as a handyman doing any repairs they needed in the houses that they were working in. That ultimately led to my becoming a General Contractor which lasted until I retired 5 years ago. My wife is still working and making $50 an hour cleaning houses, painting, decorating and organizing for a few select clients. Once we got established, we never looked back and could never imagine working for a salary. So, Joseph, your whole world is there for the taking as long as you want to put in the effort!
GOOD LUCK, grow well and be successful in all your endeavors!

I think I told the story years ago about leaving  a Summers worth of raku pots from a class with Don Tigney at Penn State on a back porch next to an alley of the apartment we lived in. 2 years later all were gone, and on occasion I would find them in various places like someone's mantle or a bookcase. Tongue in cheek often I would pick them up to see if the EPR was on the bottom. . . .Yep. Stolen, but not a word said!
 
best,
Pres

I hope you get some throwing done this summer.   Work and family can keep you busy,   I have been busy buying new equipment,  I bought a new Paragon Caldera test kiln a few months ago.   I just got a call and the shipping company  is delivering my new LL kiln tomorrow.   I sold my big  Skutt last night to a new potter,  I told her I would help her with her first firing or answer any questions she had.    Denice

What Denice said. The stuff we think is terrible sometimes is exactly what they want. I had some pots that were on a table in my house where I was observing them. We had a family over that had helped us with some hand me down clothing for my 3 boys. They saw the cups and were going crazy over them. I wasn't too satisfied with the details of them, but they were functionally perfect. So I offered them to the family. I spoke with my sister in law a few weeks ago and she brought up that they use those cups to drink tea/coffee out of every single morning for the last 3 years or so. I was just going to throw them away because I didn't like the looks.
I imagine this is one of the greatest factors that separate a great unsuccessful artist and a great successful artist.
I run another business now and people constantly amaze me at what they think looks great. I am looking forward to making some pottery this summer and I will probably list all the functional pots on etsy instead of hammering them if I don't like the looks. I have grown a fair bit in the last 2 years of self employment.

What Denice said. The stuff we think is terrible sometimes is exactly what they want. I had some pots that were on a table in my house where I was observing them. We had a family over that had helped us with some hand me down clothing for my 3 boys. They saw the cups and were going crazy over them. I wasn't too satisfied with the details of them, but they were functionally perfect. So I offered them to the family. I spoke with my sister in law a few weeks ago and she brought up that they use those cups to drink tea/coffee out of every single morning for the last 3 years or so. I was just going to throw them away because I didn't like the looks.
I imagine this is one of the greatest factors that separate a great unsuccessful artist and a great successful artist.
I run another business now and people constantly amaze me at what they think looks great. I am looking forward to making some pottery this summer and I will probably list all the functional pots on etsy instead of hammering them if I don't like the looks. I have grown a fair bit in the last 2 years of self employment.

I used to have a stack of pots that I really didn't like  and I would let visitors to my studio take one home.   I would watch them ooh and ahh over them  and it slowly started to sink in that  people can have very different taste in art.   Some people would look for the piece that had the most imperfections,  now I know not to throw those away.     Denice

Nice research Joel.

Hi!
You can definitely create this on your own. I do it in small batches because I don't have a mixer.
Find a ratio of sand, grog, and grit(if you want it super chunky). I sprinkle the mixture onto a wedging surface. Then I take about 5-10 pounds of clay sliced up into cubes. I place the cubes on the mixture and roll them around. Then I slam wedge all the pieces together for a bit, then spiral wedge it and slice it apart into throwing balls.
I will say learning to throw this type of clay takes practice because it will eat your hands apart very quickly. Particularly if you add the grit.
https://www.starworksnc.org/starworks-clay
If you are local to the south east USA. Starworks clay makes a clay that resembles of the above clays:
Grogeewemee 10
This is the coarsest clay we make. It is based on OkeeMedium 10 with added coarse grog.  Perfect for larger scale coil building and slab work. The Grogeewemee 10 clay body works very well in wood or salt kilns.
Cone 10-12, Average Shrinkage at cone 10 OX = 11.94%, Average Water Absorption at cone 10 OX = 3.95%, Contains 19.5% Mullite, Kyanite and coarse grog
I have handled it in person and it is very nice.

This is super important. I am glad you wrote this Callie. I completely forgot about the techniques that add to the bodies.
When I was working with the bodies, I hand trimmed everything on a banding wheel and a wooden knife, just ripped it away. Lots of failures until I got the hang of it.
 
 

This is super important. I am glad you wrote this Callie. I completely forgot about the techniques that add to the bodies.
When I was working with the bodies, I hand trimmed everything on a banding wheel and a wooden knife, just ripped it away. Lots of failures until I got the hang of it.
 
 

Funnily enough, @ThruTraffic’s inspo image is from Bandanna Pottery’s instagram, one of the links Peter posted about.  I recognized it right off, but if you’re ever wondering about the provenance of an image, reverse image search is a pretty fun toy.
So good news! That clay is already in your back yard, no orders from overseas necessary. They’ve got their process described in the link Peter posted. If you don’t want to dig your own, I’d check out Highwater’s catalog, and look at adjusting one of their bodies. They might even have something that’s already what you’re looking for.
Because I’ve been following Naomi Dagliesh and her husband for a few years now, I know the clay is pretty short, and she cuts those feet with the edge of a wooden rib. It leaves the grit they add to the clay exposed. They get that texture only partly from the material: technique is significant as well. 

Hi!
You can definitely create this on your own. I do it in small batches because I don't have a mixer.
Find a ratio of sand, grog, and grit(if you want it super chunky). I sprinkle the mixture onto a wedging surface. Then I take about 5-10 pounds of clay sliced up into cubes. I place the cubes on the mixture and roll them around. Then I slam wedge all the pieces together for a bit, then spiral wedge it and slice it apart into throwing balls.
I will say learning to throw this type of clay takes practice because it will eat your hands apart very quickly. Particularly if you add the grit.
https://www.starworksnc.org/starworks-clay
If you are local to the south east USA. Starworks clay makes a clay that resembles of the above clays:
Grogeewemee 10
This is the coarsest clay we make. It is based on OkeeMedium 10 with added coarse grog.  Perfect for larger scale coil building and slab work. The Grogeewemee 10 clay body works very well in wood or salt kilns.
Cone 10-12, Average Shrinkage at cone 10 OX = 11.94%, Average Water Absorption at cone 10 OX = 3.95%, Contains 19.5% Mullite, Kyanite and coarse grog
I have handled it in person and it is very nice.

Hi!
You can definitely create this on your own. I do it in small batches because I don't have a mixer.
Find a ratio of sand, grog, and grit(if you want it super chunky). I sprinkle the mixture onto a wedging surface. Then I take about 5-10 pounds of clay sliced up into cubes. I place the cubes on the mixture and roll them around. Then I slam wedge all the pieces together for a bit, then spiral wedge it and slice it apart into throwing balls.
I will say learning to throw this type of clay takes practice because it will eat your hands apart very quickly. Particularly if you add the grit.
https://www.starworksnc.org/starworks-clay
If you are local to the south east USA. Starworks clay makes a clay that resembles of the above clays:
Grogeewemee 10
This is the coarsest clay we make. It is based on OkeeMedium 10 with added coarse grog.  Perfect for larger scale coil building and slab work. The Grogeewemee 10 clay body works very well in wood or salt kilns.
Cone 10-12, Average Shrinkage at cone 10 OX = 11.94%, Average Water Absorption at cone 10 OX = 3.95%, Contains 19.5% Mullite, Kyanite and coarse grog
I have handled it in person and it is very nice.

Hi!
You can definitely create this on your own. I do it in small batches because I don't have a mixer.
Find a ratio of sand, grog, and grit(if you want it super chunky). I sprinkle the mixture onto a wedging surface. Then I take about 5-10 pounds of clay sliced up into cubes. I place the cubes on the mixture and roll them around. Then I slam wedge all the pieces together for a bit, then spiral wedge it and slice it apart into throwing balls.
I will say learning to throw this type of clay takes practice because it will eat your hands apart very quickly. Particularly if you add the grit.
https://www.starworksnc.org/starworks-clay
If you are local to the south east USA. Starworks clay makes a clay that resembles of the above clays:
Grogeewemee 10
This is the coarsest clay we make. It is based on OkeeMedium 10 with added coarse grog.  Perfect for larger scale coil building and slab work. The Grogeewemee 10 clay body works very well in wood or salt kilns.
Cone 10-12, Average Shrinkage at cone 10 OX = 11.94%, Average Water Absorption at cone 10 OX = 3.95%, Contains 19.5% Mullite, Kyanite and coarse grog
I have handled it in person and it is very nice.

You can definitely get some body flashing with wood-ash in electric kilns. I did it for a bit, as an experiment to see what all I could get out of unwashed ash from my fireplace mixed in with various components to make sure it melts at cone 6. It helps with shells for sure to add to it. That being said it isn't anything random or magical like a firing with an atmosphere. The only interesting results you are going to get are ones that you create manually via your glazing process.
This can seem like a downer at first, but if you are careful with your application and research you can achieve interesting results that are repeatable. So maybe to the potter it isn't as great of a pot, but to others it can be just as magical.
\



 
All of these are cone 6 electric fired, you can see subtle flashing around the bases where wood ash glazes end. I would just start experimenting with seashells as the first flashing opportunity. They are easy to acquire, work well, and don't need any special treatment besides placing them on a pot.
Oh I found photos of my test tiles previous to this work that show the flashing better:

You can definitely get some body flashing with wood-ash in electric kilns. I did it for a bit, as an experiment to see what all I could get out of unwashed ash from my fireplace mixed in with various components to make sure it melts at cone 6. It helps with shells for sure to add to it. That being said it isn't anything random or magical like a firing with an atmosphere. The only interesting results you are going to get are ones that you create manually via your glazing process.
This can seem like a downer at first, but if you are careful with your application and research you can achieve interesting results that are repeatable. So maybe to the potter it isn't as great of a pot, but to others it can be just as magical.
\



 
All of these are cone 6 electric fired, you can see subtle flashing around the bases where wood ash glazes end. I would just start experimenting with seashells as the first flashing opportunity. They are easy to acquire, work well, and don't need any special treatment besides placing them on a pot.
Oh I found photos of my test tiles previous to this work that show the flashing better:

You can definitely get some body flashing with wood-ash in electric kilns. I did it for a bit, as an experiment to see what all I could get out of unwashed ash from my fireplace mixed in with various components to make sure it melts at cone 6. It helps with shells for sure to add to it. That being said it isn't anything random or magical like a firing with an atmosphere. The only interesting results you are going to get are ones that you create manually via your glazing process.
This can seem like a downer at first, but if you are careful with your application and research you can achieve interesting results that are repeatable. So maybe to the potter it isn't as great of a pot, but to others it can be just as magical.
\



 
All of these are cone 6 electric fired, you can see subtle flashing around the bases where wood ash glazes end. I would just start experimenting with seashells as the first flashing opportunity. They are easy to acquire, work well, and don't need any special treatment besides placing them on a pot.
Oh I found photos of my test tiles previous to this work that show the flashing better:

You can definitely get some body flashing with wood-ash in electric kilns. I did it for a bit, as an experiment to see what all I could get out of unwashed ash from my fireplace mixed in with various components to make sure it melts at cone 6. It helps with shells for sure to add to it. That being said it isn't anything random or magical like a firing with an atmosphere. The only interesting results you are going to get are ones that you create manually via your glazing process.
This can seem like a downer at first, but if you are careful with your application and research you can achieve interesting results that are repeatable. So maybe to the potter it isn't as great of a pot, but to others it can be just as magical.
\



 
All of these are cone 6 electric fired, you can see subtle flashing around the bases where wood ash glazes end. I would just start experimenting with seashells as the first flashing opportunity. They are easy to acquire, work well, and don't need any special treatment besides placing them on a pot.
Oh I found photos of my test tiles previous to this work that show the flashing better:

You can definitely get some body flashing with wood-ash in electric kilns. I did it for a bit, as an experiment to see what all I could get out of unwashed ash from my fireplace mixed in with various components to make sure it melts at cone 6. It helps with shells for sure to add to it. That being said it isn't anything random or magical like a firing with an atmosphere. The only interesting results you are going to get are ones that you create manually via your glazing process.
This can seem like a downer at first, but if you are careful with your application and research you can achieve interesting results that are repeatable. So maybe to the potter it isn't as great of a pot, but to others it can be just as magical.
\



 
All of these are cone 6 electric fired, you can see subtle flashing around the bases where wood ash glazes end. I would just start experimenting with seashells as the first flashing opportunity. They are easy to acquire, work well, and don't need any special treatment besides placing them on a pot.
Oh I found photos of my test tiles previous to this work that show the flashing better:

@Joseph Fireborn was interested in what gave the Black Ice Porcelain from Sio-2 Clay its black colour. From this thread he was told by the manufacturer it is stain plus oxides but not including manganese. SDS for Black Ice Porcelain doesn't give any clues.

I think these are just snapping because the handle is being applied to dry. To me with the clean break it looks like it was stressed when bending the shape and then as it dried the stress caused it to crack. There is really no other reason a handle would snap at this location besides stress during application. Cracks from a handle from drying normally would be around the application point, where the body of the cup is pulling moisture from the handle.
I would try to apply your handle a bit sooner, no amount of slow drying is going to save a fractured piece when being bent.

I think these are just snapping because the handle is being applied to dry. To me with the clean break it looks like it was stressed when bending the shape and then as it dried the stress caused it to crack. There is really no other reason a handle would snap at this location besides stress during application. Cracks from a handle from drying normally would be around the application point, where the body of the cup is pulling moisture from the handle.
I would try to apply your handle a bit sooner, no amount of slow drying is going to save a fractured piece when being bent.

I think these are just snapping because the handle is being applied to dry. To me with the clean break it looks like it was stressed when bending the shape and then as it dried the stress caused it to crack. There is really no other reason a handle would snap at this location besides stress during application. Cracks from a handle from drying normally would be around the application point, where the body of the cup is pulling moisture from the handle.
I would try to apply your handle a bit sooner, no amount of slow drying is going to save a fractured piece when being bent.

I really enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/c/ShinobuHashimoto/videos
They are not in English, but some of the techniques he uses are remarkable.
Some of his more recent stuff has translations.

I really enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/c/ShinobuHashimoto/videos
They are not in English, but some of the techniques he uses are remarkable.
Some of his more recent stuff has translations.