kswan

Definitely agree, but the Katz research (pictured below) makes a good point re: the danger of passing that test: interesting research, interesting read, interesting presentation at NCECA 2016 interesting observations on gloss as well.. Full paper here for more clarity     
https://www.ceramicmaterialsworkshop.com/uploads/5/9/1/2/59124729/katz_matthew_glossed.over.durable.glazes-2018.pdf

I started making pottery about 20 years ago, and I am one of the slowest and most inefficient people on the planet! But I do things this way because it's part of my personality, and it would stress me out to do it differently. 
@Callie Beller DieselActually, I love using bats for mugs, because I don't trim them and rib them smooth before taking the bat off the wheel. If I lifted it off with my hands, it would smudge it all and mess up my foot.  But 100% agree about precleaning your bat! I wipe the whole thing off with my sponge and then I use one of the green Mudtools rib to scrape the rest into my reclaim bucket.
One thing I'd tell someone just starting out is that you don't have to send every piece you made through to glaze firing. Especially at the greenware stage, it's easy to scrap a piece and reuse it. You can spend a lot of time futzing around with something trying to fix it, or just start over and make something again in the same amount of time.  
Another thing for beginners to know about is good posture!! I have a block under my left foot when my right foot is on the pedal to keep my feet on the same level. My wheel is raised on blocks, and my chair adjusts up and down. Some people stand at their wheels. I have a mirror in front of my wheel, so I don't have to scrunch over to see the profile. I take breaks and move around.  I guess talking about back pain wouldn't make for a good Instagram post though!!  
 

I use a little drill bit to make my shaker holes. I attach the top separately, so I can brush off the little crumbs that would be on the inside. 
I don't glaze the inside either, since I use stoneware which is not really porous. I cut round toothpicks in half and plug the holes with them to glaze. That way there's no glaze to have to remove from the holes. I twist them out before the glaze has dried all the way, so it doesn't flake off during removal. I rinse off the toothpicks and reuse them, storing them in a tiny cup. 
@Min That's brilliant! I have been sticking a chamois through my colander holes and twisting it around which is pretty time consuming to do all the holes that way. 

Pres, who normally does the Q of the week, is taking some well deserved time off, and we’re filling in for him for a few weeks. There’s a couple of suggestions in the list that we’ll be using, but I wanted to start off with this question.
Personally, I’m always interested in what other people make, and how. I don’t think pottery videos will ever get old. What I’ve noticed over the last 2 years especially, is that there’s a lot of folks that took up doing pottery at home, learning online, and posting it on social media.  
In perusing the socials, especially the video based ones,  I come across a lot of beginners who are doing a lot of  things awkwardly or inefficiently, as you’d expect for folks getting started. But if you’re working alone in your workshop, you don’t have access to others at a similar stage of learning to trade ideas with, or help problem solve.  Without making light of anyone, and acknowledging that sometimes people do “inefficient” things because they feel otherwise satisfying,  what things would you suggest to any beginners to make their lives easier? Are your suggestions based on the assumption the advisee is working towards a more professional level of work, keeping it as an enjoyable and small scale activity, or will it work for everyone?
I’ll start with a maybe slightly controversial one for the non-professionals  who are considering buying bat systems: You don’t need bats for mugs, unless they’re wider than they are tall. Learning to lift small items cleanly onto a ware board cut to fit your shelves saves more space. You won’t regret it.
Along similar lines, I’d also like to suggest that if you don’t like cleaning bats, take your sponge to it before you remove it from the wheel and the slip is still wet. It’ll help lower dust in your studio a lot, and then all you have to do is scrape the remaining clay off with a  6” drywall knife/scraper when you take the piece off the bat.

Joe Thompson has a pretty nice blog write up on making a simple and nice light box.

https://www.oldforgecreations.co.uk/blog/simple-and-cost-effective-photobooth-for-product-photography

I have had a few of the cheap amazon ones and they are all...cheap frankly.

For larger holes like in berry bowl, colander or draining soap dish a countersink drill bit removes the sharp edge left behind from the drill bit or hole cutter really nicely.

I've done this before. Make sure all flaked underglaze is gone or it could peel up and come off after glaze firing. Fresh underglaze will take glaze differently than bisqued underglaze. You may have to apply a second coat of glaze in the freshly underglazed area. If you bisque fire again, that solves that problem and the glaze will apply evenly.  

You could try a decal or china paints.  They are both done on top of fired glaze.

I like to support my electric floors all the way around with heavy sheet metal between the stand and the floor. I have used 1/4 steel plate and 3/16 aluminum. Whatever is cheaper at the fabrication metal place. 3/16 is thick enough. That way the walls are supported well and the floor lasts forever. The stands they sell for electrics are to small and they put stress on the floor when the floor overrhangs the stand and the wall sits on top. Crappy design but you can fix it witha piece of metal

This is a bit different from the topic I think, but I'm planning to see the Majolica Mania exhibit at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore sometime soon. I don't get out to museums or anywhere much anymore, so it will be nice to see a ceramics exhibit and be outside my house for a while. 

The phrase that’s standing out in your original question is “I don’t know what I don’t know.” That would be the thing to fix first.
If I hand only $100 to spend on something to make my photography better in the early days, I’d head to Skillshare and take a course on photography lighting for product photos. The tent is like a specific kitchen tool: great for one job, and if you do a lot of that job, they’re worth owning. But if you’re doing more stuff for social media, they have limited use.
I actually find the tents cumbersome BUT. My advice is given with the caveat that  I don’t apply to juries or publications until after I’ve forgotten about how much the last round annoyed me, or about every 2 years-ish. I do a lot more website/social media photography, and the best practices are different. If you’re doing more plain background images photos, the tents are great. My suggestion would be to see if you can borrow from a friend or rent one from your local camera store first, to see if you like using them. If you do enjoy, do what Mark said. 
But if you don’t like using one, the lighting tents are primarily diffusers, and there’s lots of budget friendly and effective ways to do that. 
IF you need a quick and dirty diffuser box for temporary or occasional use, Here is an older, but still very good tutorial on how to build and use one.
If you want, I can give a description of an easy natural light setup, but this post was turning into a novel. 
Photography gadgets that I do get WAAAAAAAY more use out of: a gorilla pod for my phone, figuring out that I can use my headphones as a cable release (IPhone) Snapseed (photo editor), and a course on how to think about lighting an image. Tools for reflecting and controlling light that I use are largely dollar store purchases: the poster board, foamcore and tissue paper. Some may recommend a shinier reflector, and you can use tinfoil over a piece of foamcore. If you are using a fancier camera, you just want the fancier camera versions of the tripod, cable release and editing software (Lightroom).
Whatever you use for your rig, you will have to figure out how to edit your images in post. Even if you hit all the boxes and get an image “out of the can” that’s almostperfect, chances are you’ll still have to do some white balancing, or colour correction. If you’re working with your phone, I can’t recommend Snapseed enough. If you have a nicer camera than I do and work on your desktop, it’s worth it to take a course, or at least a few tutorials on how to use Lightroom. 

The ones you listed are all 16 cubic inches, which I think would be pretty small unless you make almost all small work. You may want to go for a bigger size so you wouldn't have to buy another later if you make bigger work.
I made something for myself out of PVC pipes and a thin polyester fabric shower curtain. It's about 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall. It sits on a table. I have 2 lights on tripods on each side, and one light that I can hold in front, above or put on a tripod too. The thing I spent money on was a Flotone sheet. There are lots of ways to make a light setup yourself if you're interested.
I think with ceramics, being able to adjust the angle of the light hitting your piece is important. You can move the light around to eliminate hot spots and get better shadows and such. I was glad to take a photographing ceramics class, which helped me to be able to see those things I wouldn't have noticed or known how to deal with before. Diffusing light is important for shiny glazes. I don't have any info on using a premade lightbox, but I think you might want to also have some other light source that can be moved around in addition to the one mounted in the box. 

The ones you listed are all 16 cubic inches, which I think would be pretty small unless you make almost all small work. You may want to go for a bigger size so you wouldn't have to buy another later if you make bigger work.
I made something for myself out of PVC pipes and a thin polyester fabric shower curtain. It's about 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall. It sits on a table. I have 2 lights on tripods on each side, and one light that I can hold in front, above or put on a tripod too. The thing I spent money on was a Flotone sheet. There are lots of ways to make a light setup yourself if you're interested.
I think with ceramics, being able to adjust the angle of the light hitting your piece is important. You can move the light around to eliminate hot spots and get better shadows and such. I was glad to take a photographing ceramics class, which helped me to be able to see those things I wouldn't have noticed or known how to deal with before. Diffusing light is important for shiny glazes. I don't have any info on using a premade lightbox, but I think you might want to also have some other light source that can be moved around in addition to the one mounted in the box. 

The ones you listed are all 16 cubic inches, which I think would be pretty small unless you make almost all small work. You may want to go for a bigger size so you wouldn't have to buy another later if you make bigger work.
I made something for myself out of PVC pipes and a thin polyester fabric shower curtain. It's about 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall. It sits on a table. I have 2 lights on tripods on each side, and one light that I can hold in front, above or put on a tripod too. The thing I spent money on was a Flotone sheet. There are lots of ways to make a light setup yourself if you're interested.
I think with ceramics, being able to adjust the angle of the light hitting your piece is important. You can move the light around to eliminate hot spots and get better shadows and such. I was glad to take a photographing ceramics class, which helped me to be able to see those things I wouldn't have noticed or known how to deal with before. Diffusing light is important for shiny glazes. I don't have any info on using a premade lightbox, but I think you might want to also have some other light source that can be moved around in addition to the one mounted in the box. 

absolutely!  the fun of getting into someone's studio or gallery is seeing how things are set up for the kind of work done there.   i remember being in a studio in bethesda, md that was as big as a small classroom and held 3 rows of long tables.   that potter made huge tile installations and was working on something brand new (at the time).  she was portraying DNA which was her husband's field of expertise.  the finished work was placed on a wall in a public space near DC.  can't remember where but it was an entire wall with garden space in front of it.  beautiful!
i was fortunate enough to buy a small, square bottle that had peony leaves pressed into the sides.
there are 2 places near me in florida that i want to visit.  they are new since i was here last,   that was may of 2020.  

This is a bit different from the topic I think, but I'm planning to see the Majolica Mania exhibit at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore sometime soon. I don't get out to museums or anywhere much anymore, so it will be nice to see a ceramics exhibit and be outside my house for a while. 

It's a new day, hope the boredom has evaporated like the mist over the Pacific just did...
I'll have to remember to get some "view from" pics; here's what I found perusing my archives.
The large window provides lots of light (during the day :| ), and views of the sky, neighbor's tree, a bit of valley vista, and direct line of sight to a neighbor's giant window, hence the plants on the shelf there. That's bisque on the counter, liner glazed, waxed - about ten days ago. Next was cutting the edge and wiping the excess away, then allow to dry afore outside glazing - mostly inverted dip, some inverted pour over...
The rollup door also provides lots of light (even at night, as there's a streetlight across the street ,) ), air, and view of the sky, street, a bit of hill and valley vista, and the neighbors' houses. The across the street neighbor (she is a treasure!) has a fish bowl (all glass), so I typically roll the door down a bit. There we're all set for last Fall's "Open Studio" event - the Studio (also bike shop/workshop/repair shop...) had never ever looked this good!
 

I have a pugger only, and I can control the moisture level of the clay by combining new bagged clay (which is often too hard for my liking) with reclaimed slop that I can dry to whatever softness I like. It’s a process that requires some daily attention (keeping an eye on my slop bucket) but once you get into a routine it’s easy to do. 
I’m with you about not wasting materials, even before we started having supply shortages in the past year. I reclaim about 600# of clay per year. Throwing away that much “free” clay seems unthinkable. And adding it to a landfill feels wrong. I am the type of person who puts my trash can on the curb every 4 or 5 weeks, because it’s really important to me to generate as little trash as possible. 
I have a Bluebird but it is definitely not designed for easy cleaning. I only use one clay body, so not an issue for me. But the company is great and the few times I have needed spare parts, it wasn’t a problem. This might not appeal to you, but would you consider limiting yourself to one main claybody? If you want to try others here and there, you can hand wedge on occasion. There is a lot of artistic growth that can happen when you make commitments like this, rather than always switching around with new materials and directions. Being able to work with clay is a huge reward all by itself. All of the different clay colors an temperatures are relatively unimportant. In my mind, the trade off between wedging and frequently cleaning a pugmill doesn’t seem like a gain. 

I think the small Peter Puggers would only be good for recycling your daily (weekly?) trimmings, not for mixing fresh clay from dry powder.  10-15 pounds at a time seems like a real waste of time for making new clay. I would only do that in bigger batches. But for tossing in you trimmings and scraps and pugging out a few pounds every day or two it sounds lovely.

@neilestrick @Mark C.
For me its not about recycling reclaim - I would do that ANYWAY.  I don't waste.
It's about not having to wedge.  I'm old and I have trouble with my shoulders AND my wrists (mostly shoulder and back issues).  I'd rather use up my physical reserves actually throwing than getting clay ready to be thrown.  I'm also cheap (believe it or not) and the ONLY reason to get a pugger for me is so I don't have to wedge.  It is the difference between throwing and not throwing. For that, I'll pay $5000.  Just to reclaim? Nope.
Thanks for the responses.

I'm with Neil on the whole expensive machine deal-I threw away my trimmings and slop for decades and the only reason I have the two Petter Puggers is for my wrists (after surgery)
I have 7k invested in them total as I bought each used. I need soft clay these days and do not wedge -these work well for that-I can soften clay if need be or Harden it for my press mold forms.
I have yet to clean either of them as there is no need to-the clay never dries out with the rubber cap on.

IMO, all pugmills are a pain to clean.
In the big picture, I don't think that recycling is worth the time and money unless you're doing it on a fairly large scale. If you look at the value of the clay and your time, you're going to have to run A LOT of clay through that machine for it to pay off. Like years and years of clay. Personally, I'd rather spend my time making pots, not recycling clay. Say you go through 2,000 pounds of clay a year, which would be a lot of clay for most hobbyists, and trimmings make up 15% of that, you've got 300 pounds of clay to recycle each year. That's about $135 worth of clay that you're recovering. On a $5000 pugger it's going to take 37 years for the pugger to pay off. If you go through 5,000 pounds of clay per year, it's going to take about 15 years. Add in the value of your time and you're probably losing money on the deal. In the amount of time it would take for me to recycle 300 pounds of clay, I can throw a lot more than $135 worth of pots. Throw away your trimmings or donate them to someone who wants them, and spend your time making pots. IMO the only reason for a hobbyist to have a pugmill is if you need it for wedging purposes, as it will prevent a lot of wear and tear on your wrists. But for recycling I think it's a waste of time and money for most people.

The Venco and the shimpo in my mind only pug clay-which is only part of whats needs doing in my mind
whatever machine one gets its needs to come apart to clean  out. Usually its 4 bolts
I would never buy just a pug mill-waste of money-as the newer machines mix and pug so making clay more or less firm is easy as well as reclaim or even starting with dry materials
Pug mills are outdated unless all you want to do is pug mixed clay say at the clay factory.
My peter puggers keeps clay moist for any amout of time. I would only clean it to change bodies and I have two of them with different clay bodies .
The Petter Pugger and the Bailey that mix and pug are the only way to go. 
Venco came out long ago and was one of the 1st mills on the scene for consumers. Parts are a bear to find-the Shimpo is another import so check on parts availability .
all machines need from 4 to 6 bolts off to come apart-My Peter has 4 bolts on the barrel
De airing is the only way to go these days with whatever machine you get
I no longer wedge -its been about 10 years ago I stopped after my wrist surgery

Hi Kswan!
I use the Peltor earmuffs quite often.
For something really loud, I'll put in the foam earplugs and the Peltor earmuffs over. More often, I'll do earbuds (to tune into, or stream my favorite local public radio shows) with the Peltors over - music/entertainment, plus hearing protection, plus clean ears!
Pottery related, the only time I use the Peltor earmuffs is when I have the overhead kiln vent system cranked up and I'm spending more than a few minutes in the Studio. The fan is rather loud.
Un-pottery related, I use hearing protection ...quite often. My studio is actually a studio/bike shop/repair shop/workshop.
I'm also wearing my P100 when cleaning up, and leave it on for a short while afterward, whilst the air wafts through via the rollup on one side and person door on the other.
Awesome lighting is a key part o' good safety strategy, imo!

@Hulk What do you use the earmuffs for? Are they better than the foam ones? I use the foam ones when I'm using my dremel and other tools like that. (I think I ought to use them for our coffee grinder too, I have to cover my ears!)
I also have a little changing station near the stairs where I put on and take off pottery clothes and shoes. None of them go upstairs into the house. 
I wear my respirator when I'm cleaning up and turn my HEPA air filter on. It sits on a top shelf and has a timer. If I'm stirring dust up while cleaning, I want the filter to catch it.  Then it turns off after a couple hours. I don't know if that's the best system to use, but I can see that it's working when I change the filters. 
Not necessarily for safety, but I got some awesome big LED panel lights put in. They are a bright white so I feel like I can see things pretty clearly.