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LeeU

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  1. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Hulk in QotW: How much area/distance do you cover when selling your ceramics?   
    About 250 round trip--quickly decided it wasn't for me! (not a commercial biz & I hated the packing/unpacking/hauling/setting up/tearing down/packing/hauling/unpacking of shows and ended up hating even the mundane routine of schlepping around to local (w/in 60 mi ) shops. 
  2. Like
    LeeU reacted to Hulk in Potters plaster reclaim boards   
    My reclaim slabs are ~2" thick, about same as yours.
    It does take several days for them to dry out! I load them up with as much reclaim as I can heap on top without it oozing over the edges.
    I've found it helps to prop up the slabs so air can circulate underneath, for the plaster will absorb water up to the point where they are saturated, then they can take more as moisture evaporates off the exposed edges and underneath. The reclaim dries quickly at first, then slower as the plaster becomes saturated. If I had extra plaster slabs, I'd rotate the reclaim to dry slabs!
    My slabs have been in service for over four years now, seems they work just as well as when new.
    They're much lighter once fully dried out - they don't feel as cool when fully dry, and there's the mineral fuzz - efflorescence.
    Eventually, the plaster may get crumbly and it will be time to make new ones? That's what I've read here somewhere...
  3. Like
    LeeU reacted to Bill Kielb in Gold glaze   
    My experience
    I have used it, also under the name porcelain.  It has a look but will not be mirror like and if used in an ashtray will melt a bit over time. Gold leaf comes closer but is really not sturdy. Gold luster is amazing and pretty sturdy. If you do ever use gold luster, smooth even full coat, else instead of shiny it will just look ugly. The good news, you can recoat until it looks great.
  4. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Rae Reich in Can a piece be fired again if a spot of glaze was missed?   
    I sometimes use enamels to embellish glazed clay, for artistic reasons. If I wanted to color match, I could (testing the color 1st).  If you have an eye for color you might consider paint--even just a good quality acrylic-you could also do a contrasting color, or a metallic for some bling--whatever you might like better than the bare clay body. If it were my cute little vase, I would not risk the reglaze.
  5. Like
    LeeU reacted to Babs in Is there a way to repair bisque pottery without re-firing?   
    Lee, some fixers have to be fired, I guess the poster is wanting to mend ceramic without having to fire the piece. Would be hard to refire anyway if firing temp of glaze on original is an unknown..
    'Refurbishing lawn art' aka patching up old garden ornaments????
  6. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Pyewackette in Drying room   
    People may respond well to the "hand made", but the "crappy imperfections" aspect of the craftmanship is not likely what they are attracted to. The nature of successfully working with clay includes an awareness that it takes time, requires patience, can be expensive to do it right,  and, at a minimum, a good basic ceramics class is worth the investment of time and money. I too am impatient and I had to become willing and delibertive in learning about clay/glaze/equiptment, testing clay/glaze chemistry, becoming familar with my own kiln, and a bit about ethics and integrity when passing on my work to others, whether as gifts or for money. "Flaws" can be intentionally and creatively used in a visually stylistic manner, but they still must be structurally sound. 
  7. Like
    LeeU reacted to Callie Beller Diesel in Drying room   
    As someone who learned patience very much against their will, moaning about it the ENTIRE time: this will only get you so far.
    At some point someone’s going to make a nasty comment, and the good feelings of cranking stuff out will vanish very abruptly. There is a happy medium between waiting 4 days for leather hard and speed drying in your oven in a matter of hours. It leads to better pots, and all the good feelings about having learned a skill/accomplished what you set out to do on purpose, rather than accepting “happy accidents” all the time. 
  8. Like
    LeeU reacted to oldlady in Drying room   
    do you have adequate liability insurance for those buyers who get cut on imperfect, crappy, pots you sell?   imagine someone with a mug full of boiling coffee when the handle falls off.
  9. Like
    LeeU reacted to Bill Kielb in Drying room   
    Interesting! Long ago when I first started  I made lidded pots only to often find out the lids I made failed miserably. I was left with a plethora of pots with no lids! What to do? I opened my first pottery business …… named it Topless pots! Opening day I was jamb packed with folks lined up down the street. I thought I had found  the perfect lasting solution, but In the end lots of disappointed potential customers for some reason.  
    Finally, I had to learn better how to make lids that lasted.
    Glad that worked for you, hope it is lasting and if not, you have lots of ideas above for speed drying.
  10. Like
    LeeU reacted to oldlady in Drying room   
    all of the above works for the folks who use those methods.  they may be exactly what you need,  dookie.   i just want to make a comment on the fear of using an oven with heat on greenware.
    there seems to be an opinion that heat in an oven is detrimental.   heat is only changing the state of the clay from wet, or moist, or damp or whatever stage it is in to drier.  and warmer for awhile.   that does not mean it cannot be returned to damp, moist or even wetter than moist.    i have been using the oven in some cases for years with no bad effects.  
    potters should know their clay.   its qualities and its limits.   some clay likes to be thrown but will fight being made into a slab and bent to a shape.   others are the opposite.  it is your job to seek its limits.    the very easiest thing to learn is how does it react to water.   it will not hurt the potter to simply dry out a piece of clay and test it.  a piece about the size of a business card allows a lot of tests.   totally dry it.    use a cup of water and dip the short end in deep enough for half an inch of wet to show on the clay.  pull it out fairly fast.   look at the surface to see if it still shines or not.   remember that.    now, scrape the wet area with a sharp tool to see how deeply wet that part is.   probably not very deep.   remember that.   try the opposite end of the clay and dip it longer.   remember that.   scrape it and see how much more the wet has grown.   remember that.  dip the alternate end in long enough to make it separate from the original shape.   remember that as too much.  anything before destruction can be reversed with heat or time.   just try it!
    by now, you might have realized that it does take a LOT of water entering a totally dry piece of clay to destroy the original piece.    so many folks think just getting something wet will kill their piece and they might be surprised to learn that was just fear and they need not believe it anymore.    i know a potter who thinks if she is interrupted while working, she has to start again from the beginning.  to her, there is just a short window to have the "flow" of making a piece work.    nonsense?
     
  11. Like
    LeeU reacted to Babs in QotW: What are your Winter strategies for working in the shop or on pottery?   
    They are available all over.
    Dr google thermal heated jackets, rechargeable, up to 10hrs,can get sleeveless ones or full jackets.
    Some washable. 
    I wear homespun and knitted sweaters with sleeves to elbows, snug as a bug, but Mediterranean climate here so no sub zero days 
  12. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Babs in Ever regret selling a piece?   
    I already commented, but later the topic got me thnking about whether I did have a piece I regret having been sold. I remembered a sentimental favorite from when I was in art school. Gas-fired terra cotta, no glaze.  I made this for my parents--representing my maternal grandmother who would sit on her porch to  "snap beans" for dinner. It was sold when my last parent died and everything was being licquidated. I was in a bad place at the time and couldn't deal with wanting anything, or driving south for 5 hours to get anything, and so it is gone. But I found a photo!! 

  13. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from dnarthun in Ever regret selling a piece?   
    I already commented, but later the topic got me thnking about whether I did have a piece I regret having been sold. I remembered a sentimental favorite from when I was in art school. Gas-fired terra cotta, no glaze.  I made this for my parents--representing my maternal grandmother who would sit on her porch to  "snap beans" for dinner. It was sold when my last parent died and everything was being licquidated. I was in a bad place at the time and couldn't deal with wanting anything, or driving south for 5 hours to get anything, and so it is gone. But I found a photo!! 

  14. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Rae Reich in QotW: What are your Winter strategies for working in the shop or on pottery?   
    With wind chill we hit - 40 the other night at -17. Very windy!  I was really glad I had taken my Thermal-Lite shelves inside from the non-insulated screen porch! It has not been this cold in NH in the 22 years I've been up here-the lowest previous was maybe -28 w/wind chill.  I'm able to block the snow drift from coming in but I wonder about the effect of such cold on the kiln (L&L 23S)?  I have a kiln load ready to go but I assume I should not be firing it! For some reason my studio (former bedroom) stays warmer than the rest of the trailer so I don't alter what I'm doing indoors.
  15. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Hulk in QotW: What are your Winter strategies for working in the shop or on pottery?   
    With wind chill we hit - 40 the other night at -17. Very windy!  I was really glad I had taken my Thermal-Lite shelves inside from the non-insulated screen porch! It has not been this cold in NH in the 22 years I've been up here-the lowest previous was maybe -28 w/wind chill.  I'm able to block the snow drift from coming in but I wonder about the effect of such cold on the kiln (L&L 23S)?  I have a kiln load ready to go but I assume I should not be firing it! For some reason my studio (former bedroom) stays warmer than the rest of the trailer so I don't alter what I'm doing indoors.
  16. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Ben xyz in Achieving a Particular Drawing Style on Surface   
    I have no tips or experience in deliberately going for this effect but it is a great topic and I hope there are some more replies---I could use them too. This piece  (HMS No. 8 Not Broken) has some  intentionaly gestural line work. The clay is Clayworks Cool Ice porcelain (^6 electric fire) and the drawing is Ghana Black Engobe (Laguna's Moroccan Sand series). I wonder if the engobe over a slightly wet surface would give the bleed?

  17. Like
    LeeU reacted to Min in Achieving a Particular Drawing Style on Surface   
    You can get underglazes to bleed by using a fluid glaze overtop. Example by Dawn Candy below. Gravity helps. Not quite the look of your drawings but maybe something to consider.

    Credit to Dawn Candy 
  18. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Hulk in QotW: In your pottery life, do you have any regrets about your journey with clay over the years?   
    There are very few aspects of my life-the more serious, important stuff-that does not carry some regret. Some regrets have been very deep-decisions/circumstances responsible for major shifts in feast or famine, well-being , and very not-well being, relationships, work life, and living situations. Some regrets have been sorrowful learning experiences that somehow transcended everything bad and became fuel for positive change years later. My clay journey is not separate from expressing my world view, and my creative spirit, even tho I had to leave it by the wayside for many decades. I work to not regret the past (sometimes much easier said than done, but it is do-able) and as such, no, I have no regrets about my journey with clay.  Since I retired I have been able to waken it from hibernation and am very grateful to be enjoying it...like today, when I "allowed" myself to overlay & partly "brillo off" some  metallic acrylics on a glazed tray--been wanting to do that for a while! It gave me a rush to "just do it". 

  19. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from oldlady in Ever regret selling a piece?   
    I already commented, but later the topic got me thnking about whether I did have a piece I regret having been sold. I remembered a sentimental favorite from when I was in art school. Gas-fired terra cotta, no glaze.  I made this for my parents--representing my maternal grandmother who would sit on her porch to  "snap beans" for dinner. It was sold when my last parent died and everything was being licquidated. I was in a bad place at the time and couldn't deal with wanting anything, or driving south for 5 hours to get anything, and so it is gone. But I found a photo!! 

  20. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Min in QotW: In your pottery life, do you have any regrets about your journey with clay over the years?   
    There are very few aspects of my life-the more serious, important stuff-that does not carry some regret. Some regrets have been very deep-decisions/circumstances responsible for major shifts in feast or famine, well-being , and very not-well being, relationships, work life, and living situations. Some regrets have been sorrowful learning experiences that somehow transcended everything bad and became fuel for positive change years later. My clay journey is not separate from expressing my world view, and my creative spirit, even tho I had to leave it by the wayside for many decades. I work to not regret the past (sometimes much easier said than done, but it is do-able) and as such, no, I have no regrets about my journey with clay.  Since I retired I have been able to waken it from hibernation and am very grateful to be enjoying it...like today, when I "allowed" myself to overlay & partly "brillo off" some  metallic acrylics on a glazed tray--been wanting to do that for a while! It gave me a rush to "just do it". 

  21. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Rae Reich in Ever regret selling a piece?   
    I already commented, but later the topic got me thnking about whether I did have a piece I regret having been sold. I remembered a sentimental favorite from when I was in art school. Gas-fired terra cotta, no glaze.  I made this for my parents--representing my maternal grandmother who would sit on her porch to  "snap beans" for dinner. It was sold when my last parent died and everything was being licquidated. I was in a bad place at the time and couldn't deal with wanting anything, or driving south for 5 hours to get anything, and so it is gone. But I found a photo!! 

  22. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Ever regret selling a piece?   
    I already commented, but later the topic got me thnking about whether I did have a piece I regret having been sold. I remembered a sentimental favorite from when I was in art school. Gas-fired terra cotta, no glaze.  I made this for my parents--representing my maternal grandmother who would sit on her porch to  "snap beans" for dinner. It was sold when my last parent died and everything was being licquidated. I was in a bad place at the time and couldn't deal with wanting anything, or driving south for 5 hours to get anything, and so it is gone. But I found a photo!! 

  23. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from shawnhar in Ever regret selling a piece?   
    I already commented, but later the topic got me thnking about whether I did have a piece I regret having been sold. I remembered a sentimental favorite from when I was in art school. Gas-fired terra cotta, no glaze.  I made this for my parents--representing my maternal grandmother who would sit on her porch to  "snap beans" for dinner. It was sold when my last parent died and everything was being licquidated. I was in a bad place at the time and couldn't deal with wanting anything, or driving south for 5 hours to get anything, and so it is gone. But I found a photo!! 

  24. Like
    LeeU got a reaction from Pres in QotW: In your pottery life, do you have any regrets about your journey with clay over the years?   
    There are very few aspects of my life-the more serious, important stuff-that does not carry some regret. Some regrets have been very deep-decisions/circumstances responsible for major shifts in feast or famine, well-being , and very not-well being, relationships, work life, and living situations. Some regrets have been sorrowful learning experiences that somehow transcended everything bad and became fuel for positive change years later. My clay journey is not separate from expressing my world view, and my creative spirit, even tho I had to leave it by the wayside for many decades. I work to not regret the past (sometimes much easier said than done, but it is do-able) and as such, no, I have no regrets about my journey with clay.  Since I retired I have been able to waken it from hibernation and am very grateful to be enjoying it...like today, when I "allowed" myself to overlay & partly "brillo off" some  metallic acrylics on a glazed tray--been wanting to do that for a while! It gave me a rush to "just do it". 

  25. Like
    LeeU reacted to shawnhar in Ever regret selling a piece?   
    Well I am not up to the level of many of you but every so often I really like the way a mug works out. I make one or two "experimental" every time I throw a big batch of  mugs.
    Anyway I feel like those that do work really elevate the look of my display and I just wish they would stay around longer for that contribution.

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