Callie Beller Diesel

@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.

I just want to say good for you for including cones to verify firing temps. They’re especially useful whenever dealing with a kiln you haven’t fired before. They’re all a bit different.

Euclid’s is Canadian. They’re a division of Pottery Supply House and are based in Oakville Ontario. The $40 won’t include shipping.

Most often, I’d say 99% of the time, assume recipes are in weight. The only time you usually see volume measurements is if the recipe is an older one from the US (1970’s or earlier), or the end batch size is measured in hundreds of pounds or kg. If the person who originally wrote a volume based recipe was less concerned about precision, variability may have been acceptable, or even desired. Even 20 years ago, almost no one who was mixing their own clay was worried about end porosity. They were concerned with working properties and aesthetics.

Hi and welcome! The most typical issues with glazes in the first couple of years of making pots most often involve how they’re applied. The 2 places to look first are how well the glaze was mixed before it was applied, and how thick it went on. From the information you’ve given, I don’t think your firing had anything to do with it. Your cones indicate the firing was within Amaco’s suggested parameters. With test kilns, you don’t have to go super slow on going up to replicate a firing in a larger kiln, but you should pay more attention to how fast it cools. 11 hours sounds kinda slow for something that small. You could either add another 5-10 minutes to your hold at the end, or try a drop and hold schedule. Unless your glaze bottle was sitting for months and you didn’t shake it well before applying, I don’t think it’s a mixing issue either. That leaves glaze thickness. Most often, you don’t get the colour on the company’s test tile if it goes on too thin. It could just need a third layer if you only applied 2 thick ones. The textures on the sample images appear to be heavily filled in, so that’s what I’m leaning towards first. Make yourself a small test pot with a thin layer, a layer similar to what you did on this piece, and a layer on top of that to confirm. It’s good practice to make sure you put a clay cookie/ waster slab underneath tests like this to avoid scraping shelves later. Especially if you’re ever using someone else’s kiln! The other factor that could be at work is the underglaze you mention. If this glaze is applied over a layer of a dark or blue coloured underglaze, that could also affect the end result.

It should also be mentioned that there’s a narrower window where nice looking and well melted, well fitted glazes overlap at lowfire than at cone 6 or cone 10. The lower you go, the better versed in ceramic tech you need to be to get it to work. You won’t do it just out of the box with commercially made materials.

I agree with Mark and Kelly about remaking the batch being the least amount of work involved at this point. Best case scenario you save some of them, but you’ll have to remake the ones that blistered in the refire anyways. If you have to remake some, you might as well do the batch properly from the start, with fewer headaches. @Kelly in AK, Milestone makes decals specifically for cone 6. Their stock decals are kinda fun and they also will custom print larger batches.

If you’re concerned about the fragility of a sculpture as opposed to a pot, how the piece is constructed is going to have more of a bearing on the durability than the clay body. A thin walled piece constructed with the best methods described in Min’s link above will still break sooner than a brick made using the exact opposite principles. If your sculptures are thin walled and unglazed, making them out of earthenware glazed with a well fitted glaze will add strength, but you’ll still need a lot of packing padding. If your pieces are solid, they’ll withstand more impact. But even construction bricks break if they’re dropped from enough height.

It sounds counterintuitive, but add a bit of zircopax to glazes. It’ll pop the stain colours a bit. 1-3% will do.

Re bucket suspension properties: with recipes like Lynette’s Opal that also contain soluble ingredients like neph sye, if you noticed gelling issues with a gerstley borate version, a frit or borate substitute could alleviate some of it. I say some, because I find frit 3134 is also slightly soluble. Not nearly as bad as GB and it takes longer, but it does happen. After Ferro moved their production to Mexico it took them a while to get back up and running properly. I’ve heard some rumours about first batch quality control bumps that have been worked out. It sounds like they’re re-establishing supply networks, and working on back orders. I would assume that availability of those frits will smooth out before we’re in a substitution crisis again. Something to keep an eye on.

@Mosquito If this kiln only has switches as the OP describes, any value that would be in this kiln is entirely dependant on the condition of the bricks. If there are no big cracks, especially in the lid or base, if the element channels are in good shape and there’s no glaze spills or chunks missing, you could sell this as a project kiln for maybe $50 on facebook marketplace or similar. Include any kiln furniture in that price. Advise any beginners looking for a mid fire/cone 6 kiln that this one likely won’t meet their needs, or will need to be completely gutted to do so. You can try offering the plaster moulds, but if the buyer isn’t interested, just throw those out. They loose some absorbency or become uneven after a number of uses and have no resale value. Just because you mentioned doll making: If your mom used anything like gold lustre, even a partial bottle of that has value. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to ask a pro-rated cost of a new bottle.

Think of using stains the same way you do iron oxide or other colourants. Ceramic stains are pigments that let us get colours that are difficult to achieve, or may offer a much safer way to use oxides like vanadium or cadmium. They’re designed to have low reactivity, which is why they can look kind of flat if a glaze is oversaturated with them, or if it’s used as a sole colourant. They can’t be called completely non-reactive because some are affected by some things while in the kiln, but they’re not affected by things like daylight or air. They can go in slip, terra sig, clay bodies, glazes, all the things. They do tend to be more expensive than just a raw oxide might be because they’re engineered. Using them in large quantities in, say a casting slip, is still going to be kinda spendy, but if they’re 1-5% of a recipe they’re an affordable way of introducing colour to low and mid fire work. Making that coloured casting slip yourself is generally less expensive than purchasing one someone else made. Re colourfastness and ceramics: you’re right about things that survive kilns being fine on the colour front. Fading isn’t really a concern. There’s a couple of specific exceptions to that rule ( copper raku glazes, a glaze that fails a lemon test), but of all the things people worry about in a glaze, colourfastness is probably at the very, very bottom of the list.

I have a 20 yo Brent C that has never needed any maintenance, so I think whatever replacement parts cost, it’s probably worth it. I suspect disposing of this wheel will be my kids’ job when I die. I’ve used a Shimpo/Nidec Whisper, and because I’m used to a hum from my Brent, I found the absolute silence of it a bit weird. But it depends on how much background noise you like when you’re working.

Would a sprayer for kiln wash be less work than using a paint tray/roller? I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone using a spray gun for kiln wash. That doesn’t mean no one does, it just means it’s not common practice. Alumina hydrate has a larger particle size, and that could present clogging issues with the nozzle. But I’m mostly commenting to boost this for others who use sprayers more often.

Hi Santino, and welcome to the forum! The Brent model A hasn’t been made for a very long time, but according to archived posts here, they still sell most of the replacement parts. Given minor repairs, Brents usually outlast their owners. This thread in particular has some good discussions on possible issues getting a Brent A running properly, along with a number of images. There’s mentions of replacing and sealing the plywood deck that will rot with water exposure. @Mark C. contributed a great pic of one that was bought new and looks pristine. He could maybe answer more questions as well. Has your wheel been altered from the original, or does the underside look different than the image Mark posted about 3/4 down the page? The fitting under the wheelhead looks the same as the one under my 20 year old Brent C, so the modern pan should fit. To my knowledge, the design hasn’t been changed. A new splash pan will be very stiff, and needs to be shoved into place with some authority until it wears down a bit. I would suggest that if you (or your student?) are throwing with enough water that a typical Brent splash pan is leaking, you’re/they’re using way too much water. The tray will hold half a gallon at least before it reaches the overlap. Using that much water isn’t uncommon when there’s a very new beginner involved, but it’s something that most people will move away from pretty quickly.

Because I make with a certain amount of consistency for my customers in mind, I will do play sessions like Pres describes as a design session to come up with new ideas, or refresh older ones. Once I’ve picked one or two versions to run with, I’ll make a bunch of copies without having to think too hard about it.

Ferro frits 3134 and 3124 were designed as replacements for Gerstley Borate too. The drawback to using the frits are that you loose the trace amounts of phosphorus, titanium and iron that add more visual interest. Which was the gripe 20 years ago: the substitutes were boring by themselves, and you couldn’t just swap 1:1. Edited to add: the price of freight has been going through the roof for quite some time. I’d imagine that accounts for at least a portion of the price increase. Probably not all of it, but at least some.

Mason stains can be incorporated, but with caveats. Stain particles are larger than ball clay ones, so you have to add stain to Sig after it’s been siphoned. If you add stain before, most of it winds up in the discard sludge. Be aware you will likely have to mix frequently during application to keep everything evenly suspended. But it does give nice results. Also, if you use any sig methods involving ball milling, that can alter several stain colours. It isn’t recommended for encapsulated ones at all.