Callie Beller Diesel

As far as a clay being vitrified at cone 6, it depends on the clay you were using. A clay body that is sold as a cone 6-10 clay will be a lot more porous when fired at cone 6 than it is at cone 10. For food dishes, I find it’s best to aim for your porosity to be less than 1%. Even if your clay body is a true midfire clay, it’s always a good idea to do a porosity test to confirm against manufacturer’s specs. Your method of firing may be different than what the manufacturer used to supply that info. The colour seems unusually vivid for mould growth, and usually there’s other colours involved as well. What it cleans off with will possibly also give you more info. If it cleans off with hot soapy water, bleach or peroxide, that would indicate bacteria of some kind. Or maybe something it picked up from the counter? I have kids, so my mind goes to something like drink mix, or dye transfer from some kind of wet packaging. If you need something like vinegar or CLR to remove it, that would mean it’s probably from the water.

The data from those studies are largely from folks working in mines, or doing things like industrial sandblasting. Definitely more exposure than you’ve described here. Take a closer look at the concentration numbers in those cases and compare them to the ion meter readings in your house, and you’ll probably feel much better about your exposure levels. If this one large sanding job is all you’ve really done, you’re probably fine. The housekeeping measures you describe are good general practice. Bear in mind the larger particles of clay, the ones that aren’t going to cause long term harm, are still lung irritants. There’s a lot more of those than there are of the superfine stuff. Give it a few days for your body to clear things out before you panic. If your weather has been exceptionally damp, a dehumidifier might help.

Unless you’re using a really expensive scientifically calibrated measuring device, there can be considerable variation in volume measurements. Not all 500 ml graduated cylinders are made equally. For things like commercial packaging, the acceptable variation is even more so. If you go by weight, there’s still some variation, but as long as you’re using tap water to do your mixing, I can’t see it making a huge difference. Even allowing for hard vs soft water, the variance at 60 C/140F (most people’s highest hot water tank setting), the variable is pretty small. If you do have hard water, I’d be more concerned with any calcium carbonate concentrations affecting deflocculation than water SG differences.

I got no personal experiences around eye surgery, so I can’t offer anything on that one. One of the best purchases I’ve made recently was the Maker’s Playbook photo course. I love it because it’s affordable, specifically for potters, and shows you how to create easy photography systems that are very friendly to my ADHD. It’s helping me break my posting paralysis on IG, which was no small thing! Taking good photos is something I’ve struggled with, despite the number of other workshops I’ve done. (Not trying to sound like an ad, but I found it really helpful.)

In addition to what Neil said, air dry clay will still be a bit porous, so if your spray paint requires a smooth surface to work (thinking of some of the metallic effects), you will want to apply some kind of primer or base layer first.

If you’ve used a hump mould, you have to unmould them sooner than you would a slump or casting mould. Clay shrinks as it dries, so it sounds like your pieces are stuck. You might have needed to remove them at 2 or 3 hours to get them to release easily.

Most ceramic glazes, even ones meant for earthenware, will melt at much higher temperatures than stainless steel, so that alone will probably make them not compatible.

Makes sense. We think of plastic as totally impermeable, but it isn’t entirely. With the recent addition of a cat to my life, I’m thinking of building a damp box out of one of my shelves, so she’s not climbing through wet pots to get to her favourite studio perch. I have some vapour barrier that I was going to use, which will be a change from my entirely too old stash of dry cleaner plastic. The vapour barrier I have is only 3 mil I think, so it might be a closer comparison than a heavier 6 mil.

As a 90’s kid who remembers hematite and rose quartz rings, there’s a reason they’re not making a comeback with all the other 90’s trends at the moment. They shatter easily with minimal impact and they’ll cut the heck out of you if it happens while you’re wearing it. I don’t know if that’s the most auspicious wedding band symbol ever.

Those are turning out amazing! I wonder if you could build up more detail if you layer multiple images.

If it’s just a single hole like a flower pot or in a small area like a teapot strainer, blow sharply into it while the glaze is still dripping. Hold it over the bucket to minimize splatter. That should clear enough of it out to leave it glazed, but not have it clog. This method works less well if you’re making something like a luminary or berry bowl with a lot of intricate hole patterning. +1 for not usually going under 1/4”. I like 3/8” for berry bowls.

This part stood out to me. Just because they come from the same manufacturer, that doesn’t mean it’s the same clay, or that they’re compatible. They may have similar shrinkage rates, but check to see if they have the same firing range. If it’s not common to mix them, ask why. If you are excited about slipcasting and incorporating sculpted parts, I would suggest making yourself a flat plaster bat, and pour a layer of casting slip on that to create a slab. You can then use the slab to build hollow parts with, similar to the method Peter linked to. Or there are a LOT of slab building tutorials that could be modified. Look especially for online classes or workshops that mention soft slab techniques, as you will have to work efficiently. Cast slabs can soften quite a bit as you work with them. If the casting slip slab is the same thickness as your other slipcast pieces, you can attach them fairly easily. This will work best to create relatively lightweight, hollow pieces.

It’s insurance, but IMO, not necessary if your slip is the same as your clay body. It’s an added ingredient, and best used if you’re experiencing a lot of shrinkage cracking. If you incorporate magic water into a slip, you shouldn’t add any rejected pieces to your reclaim.

Tuckers carries it premixed, but I don’t know about Greenbarn. It’s usually something you knock together yourself. The recipe is 1 gallon of water, 3 Tbsp sodium silicate and 1.5 tsp soda ash.

@Kakes if you find your slip does wind up cracking over your clay body, in addition to timing the slip application right, you can create a slip with less water, but make it more fluid by adding a little darvan. I agree with Joseph that it might be close enough, but if you’re doing something with a thick slip it could make a difference.

Try a test first just to make sure. It can vary by clay body. I’ve had a few pieces warp ever so slightly in an 04 bisque, and I use a cone 6 red stoneware. I wouldn’t say it’s the norm, but it’s not impossible.

So you already found the post about Trello and tracking things like special orders and production lists. I made further comments there. I think using Trello has some good potential for scenarios like you describe. It’s a bit of a blank slate, so as long as you can envision the tool you need, you can probably create it. For other people reading this, the tl;dr is that Trello is a virtual Kanban board. You create a horizontal list that is some version of to do, in progress, done. You add cards (analog Kanbans involve post-it notes) with assorted tasks or projects that need to move through. When someone starts the task, they move the card from to do to in progress, etc. With Trello, the “post it” has a LOT more room to write, and doesn’t fall down and get lost behind a desk. Trello cards can hold a lot of data if you’re making notes or adding attachments. I usually only need to add an image or 2 for my own purposes, so I don’t know what the file size limits are there off the top of my head, but there’s room for a few. If you want to add images via a cell phone, it’s very easy to do on the mobile app. So you’d either have to have employees download the app and log in via a link you’d send them, or have a studio tablet/phone that could take pics. Notes can be added to a card from the either app or desktop. Cards move with either a click of the mouse or a finger swipe. The free version is pretty simple to use and is great for sole proprietors or someone with only 1-2 employees. If you have more people and that’s resulting in chaos, you might find the first tier of the paid version works better. But you could try the free version for a couple of weeks to see if it’s got potential. If your staff is good about recording everything necessary (contact info, payment status, etc), you could get away with the free. If you want to create a more foolproof form, you’d either need to create it in something like google docs and link it, or if you get the first tier of the paid version ($10/month), you can create card templates to streamline things.

@MmThomp The free version is, well, free to try. I just looked at the sales page quick, and I didn’t see any restrictions on the size of your team. The baseline paid version gives features that I could see being useful for an operation with 5+ employees, and is only $10/month, so if you try it and it works ok, but would be great with just one added feature, it seems like good value. It’s essentially a screen version of a Kanban board. I like it because it’s a visual tracking system, and there are advantages to not loosing post-it notes or erasing/rewriting things on a white board. As a sole proprietor, I am absolutely underutilizing this software. The free version has more features than I will ever possibly need. If I had employees, I would be shelling out that $10 in a hearbeat. Just from what I know about a friend’s paint your own pottery business, I think it’s got potential. But I don’t know what parts of your workflow you’re running into problems with, or how many employees are involved. I also don’t know what you’ve got in place for piece identification through your process, which might affect things. It’s a project workflow management tool designed for teams, which is ideal if multiple people are moving a given piece through firing and glazing. I could see setting up a customer card similarly to how I have the special order board laid out above. If you get the paid version, you can make card templates that would serve as forms to make data entry more streamlined. If you’re dealing with multiple payment scenarios like parties, classes, date nite events, walk-ins, and folks that come in on a subscription or space rental basis, you could set up separate boards to keep those workflows more distinct and legible. (Again, that’s based off of my friend’s business.) It will work best if everyone’s diligent about documenting what they do as they do it, but if you’re loading a kiln for instance, it’s just a finger or mouse swipe to move a card.

We couldn’t do something like give you an exact recipe just by looking at this image, or even ballpark it without knowing what temperature it was fired to. The best we can do give a set of parameters to look for in order to replicate the effect. It’ll get you in the ballpark, but you’ll still have to do some testing. There’s some flaws here that would make me think whatever this exact glaze is, it’s probably not the best glaze to use as a liner. The glaze pooling that deeply and the heavy crazing could indicate that this glaze runs quite a bit, and that it might not be the most durable thing ever. Usually a glaze that heavily crazed will cause a pot to weep if the clay you’re using isn’t fully mature at the cone you’re firing to. The runniness could mean that the glaze is over fired at this temperature, or that it has too much flux and consequently might not be durable. The good news is, there’s lots of ways to get this shade of green in a more user friendly fashion at a variety of working temperatures. If you let us know what temperature you’re firing to and what clay you’re using, we can point you in the right direction.

Vinyl will be sticky because it doesn’t absorb any water, and canvas not only holds dust, but it keeps whatever’s under it from drying, which eventually will rot a wood table. I switched to a concrete patio paver on my wedging table, and much prefer it to canvas. Others have recommended cement board as an alternative to that because it’s lighter. I think even just having finished plywood would give the right balance of a surface that will release clay, and without the canvas holding the water, it’ll be less prone to rot.

You’ll probably hand it down to your kids. Old Shimpos and Brents last forever. They’ve got a steep price tag new, but they’re mostly a one and done purchase.

I have a plastic bench scraper that is the best thing for scraping down glaze buckets. It isn’t really altered from its original form, but it’s an off-label use. I don’t own tool making tools, like a grinder or a torch. But I find that if you use your metal rib as a trimming tool to refine curves, it takes the sharp edge off just fine. Word to the wise: don’t clean your rib off with your hands: scrape it on the edge of your bucket!

@Donna Fletcher I will dm you. I’m in Calgary, but I can maybe help you ask the right questions in the right places. If you’re looking for a basic form and not another design replicated, there are people who do such things.

Parts, proportions and percentages can all be expressed as either weight or volume, but it’s more accurate to use weight. If you’re mixing a 300 lb batch of percentage based recipe from 50 lb bags of dry materials, sometimes it’s easier to just scoop some of it, because the 1 or 2 lb variance that might result isn’t a huge proportion or percent of that final weight. If you’re mixing a 10 kg test batch, you have to measure more accurately so you don’t throw your recipe off.

The type of padding is less important than whether or not anything can shake against anything else, or if there’s any load bearing considerations. Dry or even firm leather hard ware is still going to be extra vulnerable to vibrations caused by going over even small bumps like utility covers. Don’t let pieces rattle against anything. If you stack things like bowl, make extra sure that the item on the bottom of the stack can withstand the weight of the items above it, and that the uppermost items aren’t being supported on the rim of the item below. Try to line up foot rings on top of each other.