LeeU

The work flow "loop" for clay in, clay out (plus clean vs messy) that Mark described is the way to go IMO.  Also, I would absolutely install water and a utility sink--why would you operate a studio w/out water & be lugging buckets if you don't have to and it's not a temporary situation??   How exciting --good for you!!

The work flow "loop" for clay in, clay out (plus clean vs messy) that Mark described is the way to go IMO.  Also, I would absolutely install water and a utility sink--why would you operate a studio w/out water & be lugging buckets if you don't have to and it's not a temporary situation??   How exciting --good for you!!

Great minds......  I've recently started using metallic enamels on some pieces, either as thin line detailing or covering an area and then wiping it off, just leaving the sheen.  All shades of gold (rose, bright, old, etc). Going for subtle, not too attention-getting-should be an interesting evolution, as I'm using a softer, lighter palette overall.  Fun! 

My 50 years experience (about 40 with Laguna most as a direct  supplier) is the same story. This may sound weird but its only 1 bad ton.
I have had it happen to more than a ton a time . My fellow potter friends (all full timers) have all had this happen over time. It never the suppliers fault-thats always the same story. The box of most clays lists this on the outside and say to test it.
One had a ton with lots of  inch silicone caulk chunks in it. They did know about iot and sent him another ton-they do not want the clay back ever
I'm sorry for this but for me its been a lot more than a ton.
Rawa materials are going thru some strange times now as well.
If you want all my tips just  check your PM and I will send you my # and lets talk a bit-I have some ideas
Now on a great story about bad clay from the later 80s .I once got many tons of bad porcelain clay from laguna (these where elery days for them). It bloated a lot at my usual mcone 10 soft 11 gas fires . I had lost 3 35 cubic foot car kilns loads. They asaid I was niot bisquing hot enough and not drinking enough tea and rubbing my head to much and using to much water and whatever else you could make up. It was a crital point for me and I knew I could not get satisfaction from them so it dawed on me I needed to feel better. Now I had met the owner and knew his dad as well I should add. I got three huge color TV boxes (you know thw old large TUBE TV boxes. I loaded 2 kiln loads of fired pots in those three boxed and used no padding at all in boxes and really tappeed them up. They filled my 3.4 ton truck bed and took them to UPS and sent then directly to the owner of Laguna. It cost well over 100$ in 1980 money. I felt great afterr that.Decades later I was at a wood fire gallery opening and my old Laguna friend (clay body guy John Pacina was there and after decades of phone talking we meet face to face at the opening in Eureka Ca,) I told him my old story-little did I know UPS took those huge heavy boxes upstaire to the owners office and left them. He came to work next day and got really mad as he had to pack them all to the dumpsters downstairs . He said I was famous after that incident at Laguna.I felt it needed doing as a full time who knows how to bisque and rub my head while drinking tea. I later became pretty good friends again with him but I will add I always felt better after sending those bad clay pots.He did have better respect for me after that
It made my point and they made some body changes and that fixed it for some more years
I ordered some red clay for a friend in so-cal last year and it was fuba as well. Saved him as they only had a small amout =so he got shorted with only a smaller amout of the stuff.
That said it can go sideways ina second.
 

I have been a free weebly user for a really LONG time. many many years now. I also was with square as soon as they started. That all said Square bought out Weebly and now have only a fee based system for weebly square . I will add that Mea also turned me on to Weebly long ago. The flat rate for a simple pay for a year site was 110$ paid up front. I have yet to be forced into that as my free site is still running (i'm not looking ever for e-commerce). When it does go away I'll pay up. I'm near the end of wanting much of a website . It does drive my long time customers  spread over the west my way and does pay for itself in spades when I have to pay for it.I'm getting to not want more work and my wholsale is plenty . I did just send out 42 mugs to one customer who realized I will be dead and he will run out of my mugs so he bought a lifetime supply he said.Now thats a weird thought for me.

I have squarespace and I'm fond of it. I've used their ecommerce system and it's pretty user friendly. I like how it works with square card readers to streamline online and physical inventory levels. 

I just remembered that last year Mea mentioned she switched from Weebly to GoDaddy as her blog and website builder. I just had a look at their pricing, and the non-shopping systems are all quite affordable. The one tier that offers e-commerce is comparable to both Square’s top end and Shopify’s most affordable. All 3 of the latter have comparable service offerings. 

I have used Weebly for a long time and it works well. I use their shopping system, too.

I'm using Weebly/Square, where I'm posting some "about" my work, images of current and historical work, blog entries, contact info...
It's not perfect, but it is fairly easy to use and maintain.

Weebly is still fine as long as you don’t want to add e-commerce. As soon as you want to start adding e-commerce via Square, it gets clunky and obnoxious fast, and the financial reports are limited when you try to integrate the two. Don’t let anyone talk you into a Square website if you want to improve that reporting. Their layout and tech support are both limited and abysmal. And their templates are mostly ugly. 
If you need e-commerce, bite the bullet, prepare to push it out enough to be profitable and go Shopify. Their back end is nice and straightforward, and if you need help tech support is amazing,  even when you tell them you’re just on the free trial to see how the back end works, and won’t commit any time soon. 

Glaze pencils on white clay would be good for writing more than 10-15 words. Bisque a few small pieces to test how the glaze pencils work and how much clear to apply. Make a few large pieces, a bowl, a pitcher, a vase, with some surface smoothed with a rib to write on. Bisque fire the pieces.  Choose the one you like best. Write lyrics on the cleared space with the glaze pencils and brush over that area with clear glaze. When dry, wax over the lyrics and proceed to glaze the rest of the piece with colors you have been successful with.
If there aren’t too many words, you can carve them into the leather-hard clay with a stylus, needle tool or small loop tool and glaze as @Pres suggests. You will still need to make test pieces to try out various glazes or stains that will work for you.  
 
If you are working on other things in the studio for practice or assignments, you can test some of your ideas on them. 
 
Happy Anniversary (even if you have to present an unfinished piece or photos) 
 

You didn't mention how much time you have to pull this off. You will need several tests and trials, from start to finish, before you are likely get a result that is what you intended and (or) that you really like.  So, I'd want to be sure I had enough time to deal with the inevitable process of getting from point A to point B, including set-backs. Time is especially important if it should turn out that  there is a need to switch gears and design something else. Just something to think about--how much time is available to explore & produce to your satisfaction. Just FYI, Sanbau Studio offers underglaze transfer papers (lettering sets) for ^04 to 10...maybe someone else here has some experience with a transfer method...tho it would probably not be something to use for a lot of text.

You didn't mention how much time you have to pull this off. You will need several tests and trials, from start to finish, before you are likely get a result that is what you intended and (or) that you really like.  So, I'd want to be sure I had enough time to deal with the inevitable process of getting from point A to point B, including set-backs. Time is especially important if it should turn out that  there is a need to switch gears and design something else. Just something to think about--how much time is available to explore & produce to your satisfaction. Just FYI, Sanbau Studio offers underglaze transfer papers (lettering sets) for ^04 to 10...maybe someone else here has some experience with a transfer method...tho it would probably not be something to use for a lot of text.

You didn't mention how much time you have to pull this off. You will need several tests and trials, from start to finish, before you are likely get a result that is what you intended and (or) that you really like.  So, I'd want to be sure I had enough time to deal with the inevitable process of getting from point A to point B, including set-backs. Time is especially important if it should turn out that  there is a need to switch gears and design something else. Just something to think about--how much time is available to explore & produce to your satisfaction. Just FYI, Sanbau Studio offers underglaze transfer papers (lettering sets) for ^04 to 10...maybe someone else here has some experience with a transfer method...tho it would probably not be something to use for a lot of text.

You didn't mention how much time you have to pull this off. You will need several tests and trials, from start to finish, before you are likely get a result that is what you intended and (or) that you really like.  So, I'd want to be sure I had enough time to deal with the inevitable process of getting from point A to point B, including set-backs. Time is especially important if it should turn out that  there is a need to switch gears and design something else. Just something to think about--how much time is available to explore & produce to your satisfaction. Just FYI, Sanbau Studio offers underglaze transfer papers (lettering sets) for ^04 to 10...maybe someone else here has some experience with a transfer method...tho it would probably not be something to use for a lot of text.

Testing/proofing on test tiles, small slabs, et cetera, time permitting ...afore committing a large piece.
How many words are you looking to depict? A phrase, a stanza, the entire lyric?

As for decoration, have you ever thrown a cylinder, then decorated it by either stamping, or incising then shaping the cylinder into the shape you want?  I find this a very satisfying way to work, and if you have letter stamps, or a decent script hand you can work wonders with phrases in the clay. Then after bisquefire before glazing you can use a stain/underglaze to work color into the script and wash off the high areas. This will allow the decoration to show up under glaze layers if the glaze layers are thin enough and not too dark in color. Check out some of the posts on my blog site. . . listed in my profile.
 
best,
Pres

Books are my "essentials". My library is Lawrence, Branfman, Rhodes, Mills, Nelson, Tristram, Pitelka, Clark, Penland School, one on Seagrove, one on certain hazards of art materials, and one account of an American apprenticing in an old school Japanese pottery village that John Baymore strongly suggested: The Road through Miyama by Leila Philip.   Also  imperative, I still use  my comprehensive art school notes. Other than those, all of which are the "old friends" that must be respected, revisited from time to time, and cherished, the Internet is a treasure trove of anything I  need to or want to know about anything, as long as I exercise some discernment regarding the quality/accuracy/true usefullness of the material. At the top of the cyber list is groups like this one! Last, the ceramics communities in this and neighboring states are friendly and helpful, tho being rural, all involve lots of travel.

Books are my "essentials". My library is Lawrence, Branfman, Rhodes, Mills, Nelson, Tristram, Pitelka, Clark, Penland School, one on Seagrove, one on certain hazards of art materials, and one account of an American apprenticing in an old school Japanese pottery village that John Baymore strongly suggested: The Road through Miyama by Leila Philip.   Also  imperative, I still use  my comprehensive art school notes. Other than those, all of which are the "old friends" that must be respected, revisited from time to time, and cherished, the Internet is a treasure trove of anything I  need to or want to know about anything, as long as I exercise some discernment regarding the quality/accuracy/true usefullness of the material. At the top of the cyber list is groups like this one! Last, the ceramics communities in this and neighboring states are friendly and helpful, tho being rural, all involve lots of travel.

Shut everything down and unbricked the door as fast as I could. There’s a strange kind of panic when you think your phone is cooking. It’s a new feeling. Sure enough it was cooking. When it was cool enough to handle I peeled off the melted gooey case and of course tried to turn it on. Half the screen was gray, the other half looked like nothing happened. I was able to plug it into the computer and back it up, which seemed like a miracle, another new feeling. I went and got a new phone, and all was well with the world. I also ran an extension cord and lamp to the kiln.
Makes me smile every time I think about it. What a dork! Haha! 

My worst screw up was generating an emotional wound. I know how to load a kiln properly. The mistake I made was in part due to cognitive deficts (memory/acting on flawed recall) , but also  due to arrogence (know-it-all ism/being over confident). My sister made some pieces in a community class. She was very pleased with her stuff and her pieces were really lovely. She actually hauled the glazed greenware up to NH from VA on her vacation.  One piece was a beautiful tray. My half shelves where I put the tray were not aligned at the same level--one was about an inch higher. I placed the tray with one end of it extending over the gap. My sister asked me if it would be OK that way. I assured her it was fine. She asked several times--I wish she had said she just plain didn't want me to do it. Each time I said it would be fine. I fired it like that and of course it warped and was useless. I have no idea what I was thinking or why I didn't reload the kiln to avoid the situation. I absolutely know/knew better.  The worst of it is we have never bounced back or healed from that, because the loss, the disappointment, was just one more in previous and subsequent other problems afflicting our relationship-still unresolved. Apology if TMI.  And just FYI, I'm OK-I've perfected the art of self-forgiveness when such is essential for my own well-being. 

Where is the ha-ha emoji when we need one?  Do please  follow up with what happened!! 
 

Where is the ha-ha emoji when we need one?  Do please  follow up with what happened!! 
 

Where is the ha-ha emoji when we need one?  Do please  follow up with what happened!! 
 

Ok, the question’s been out here a while, but I just remembered an epic screwup that makes me laugh and had to share. Not the worst , but probably the funniest. I was loading my kiln, it’s outdoors and dark, so I turned on the flashlight on my phone and propped it up on the bagwall. Finished loading, got the door bricked up, lit the burners and reached for my phone to take a picture. Where’s my phone? Oh noooo!!!