Callie Beller Diesel

Even if you just get the little glass plate that goes in the welding visor, that’s better than going without. If you’ve got to have the pieces for Christmas, it is possible to do it, but it’ll be under less than ideal conditions for your kiln. The good news is, once you replace your elements, and likely the relays too, you’ll have essentially a brand new kiln. Insulating bricks don’t expire.

@kevinpleongWhen you’re early on in your clay career, many teachers and mentors will give you a lot of generalities that sound like absolute rules. That’s because clay knowledge is vast. Think really, really big. (Insert your own Douglas Adams reference). Because of that, teachers have to limit what they show to learners, or they’d wind up with a permanent case of decision paralysis from the sheer overwhelm. As you learn more, it’s a good idea to question those generalities and find out your specifics. Not all cone 10 bodies meet a <1.5% porosity threshold either, but few people test for it. Clay is mixed from ingredients that can and do vary on the regular, and your firing cycle will matter in how close to maturity you get. If you fire differently than the way the manufacturer did under their testing conditions, your results can vary. The generality of cone 6 clays not being vitreous usually comes from manufacturers that sell clays that are rated for cone 6-10. If you only fire that clay to cone 6 though, no it won’t be fully mature. Not everyone buying that clay is making production pottery and is concerned about long term durability, so that’s why they do that. If you go through the catalog that your supplier has, you can find many clays that are formulated to be mature at cone 6. If you’re making functional work, that’s what you need to stick with. All that said. Generally, it is easier to get more vibrant colours at low and mid fire temperatures than it is at cone 10. It’s possible at cone 10, but you really have to do a lot of glaze testing to work out what you like. Reduction atmosphere and when in the firing it’s applied is a whole other layer of complexity to how glazes turn out, and is really good at adding visual depth to a piece without really having to layer your slips and glazes. The atmosphere creates more chemical reactions. One clay, one glaze and the right firing cycle, and you have some rich, satisfying surfaces. But they do easily drift towards a more earthy palette. If earth tones don’t make your heart sing, that part can be really frustrating. At cone 10, the clay and glazes are simple, but the firing is not. Cone six oxidation firings will usually make you a better chemist. Vibrant colours and neutrals are both pretty easily obtained. While you can adjust the glaze’s outcome with carefully applied soak holds in an electric kiln for some really great results, the firing is simplified, compared to cone 10. But that means to get more visual depth, you have to pay a lot more attention to your surface applications, and how they work together. When working at mid fire temperatures, the firing is simple, but the clay and glazes are less so.

The shallow serving bowls I was thinking of start their lives as 5 and 8 lbs of clay respectively, but I can’t say as I’ve ever weighed the bisque piece. Between drying and trimming, I’d estimate loosing about 1/3-1/2 the weight. They’re the pasta bowl kind that are kinda trendy right now. I sold out of them, so I don’t have one to measure exactly, but the largest size is probably somewhere between 12 and 14” wide, and about 3” deep. The ones I’m making are just a single dip with wax resist decoration, so touching up a void where the inside magnet is wouldn’t be onerous. I just don’t want to kill my wrists trying to fish a giant platter out of the glaze basin because the points slipped.

@Min I was looking at these ones from the Canadian Lee Valley site, because they have the hook attached. I was fighting with glaze tongs and some serving dishes in a glaze bath about a month ago, thinking there had to be a better way.

I definitely own pieces from people I have only met in glancing, or only know by reputation. When I went to NCECA a few years ago, I picked up a couple of small pieces by potters I’d only seen online, and there wasn’t really a chance to talk to either of them unfortunately. I don’t have parasocial relationships with them online either, so there’s no personal connection. I’m free to admire the work and enjoy it. On the flip side of that coin, I do own a piece from a person who’s work I admired, but found out after I bought it that I strongly dislike them personally. I have no idea what to do with it. I can’t use it without thinking of that person, I don’t want to give it to someone else because of how the creator present themselves, and I won’t donate it for the same reason. Smashing it is spiteful, and that’s not warranted. It’s in the back of my cupboard, and I see it when we’ve used almost every other mug.

A note about true white and ceramics: the clay body underneath the white glaze frequently affects the tint. Especially if you’re using any clay that isn’t a very white stoneware or a porcelain, white glazes will tint blue or yellow, depending on the opacifier used. If you’re sculpting with a beige/grey/red/speckled clay body, if you put a layer of white slip over your piece before the bisque, you’ll avoid the tinting.

As someone who’s been firing an analog kiln outdoors in the Canadian winter for the last few years, I can confirm that -9 is not enough to make a difference in your firing speed. I don’t start getting much slow down until about -25 or so, and even then, it’s only about a 15 minute difference. Since your elements are likely worn, you can still continue, but definitely include the cone packs this time, and make sure you’re checking the firing every 15 minutes for the last 2 hours or so. You want to be able to turn the kiln off yourself once the cones fall. If you fire overnight to avoid peak electricity rates, maybe start it about 2-3 hours later than you would normally, so you’re awake for the end.

@Min@GEP do either of you have recommendations on how much weight the magnet needs to be able to hold? The ratings on the lee valley website assume you’re just attaching it to a metal surface, but when there’s a second magnet involved, I assume there’s a difference.

As always, you can try it to see what happens in the name of curiosity and science, but Portland cement is going to be wildly impractical as a glaze material. The slaked lime hardens when added to water, which is going to, shall we say, present issues with keeping it in suspension. When a manufacturer lists unspecified “other compounds,” that usually means it’s something pretty important in the recipe, but they don’t want to tell you what it is. Those “other compounds” might not make any kind of difference in a glaze, or they might do all kinds of things.

@ThruTraffic some catholic priests used to wear an itchy shirt made of horsehair as penance, so they’d be forgiven for their sins. That’s the cole’s notes version, but enough for your own google search. Saying something is hair shirt is saying that it’s unnecessarily uncomfortable/painful/difficult.

For anyone who thinks that an earthy aesthetic is confined to a wood kiln, I just want to point them at this thread, and @Joseph Fireborn’s images. I have a piece of his, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear it came out of a wood kiln.

I’ve also seen a couple of experiments where a potter was using a zinc matte glaze that was quite fluid, and side firing her pieces on shells. The results were very reminiscent of bag wall pots from a week long wood firing.

I’ve seen @OldForgeCreations have some words about using dent pullers for this purpose. He’s stated that not all dent pullers are created equal, and that if you use a sub par one, they will detach.

Tagging @oldladyin this thread. She’s our resident single fire-er.

I disagree with this one. I’m not going to claim that all things are possible in all kilns, but there are ways to get vibrant colours in fuel burning reduction firings, and there are LOTS of examples of folks that make work in a cone 6 electric that have a more subtle, earthy palette. While it isn’t common, you can use scrap pallet wood simply as a fuel to get to any temperature you want, although it’s usually associated with things like ash built up over days. Remember that a lot of firing techniques evolved and continue to evolve because people use the materials that are most readily available. Like Min, I cannot access a gas kiln either. Mark however, pays far more for electricity than he does propane, so that’s a deciding factor in what he uses. I think everyone here is answering this question with their biases, based on how they fire themselves, and which glaze chemistry they prefer. Fuel firing vs electric has an effect on the kiln’s atmosphere, which in turn affects certain chemicals in the glaze. Which chemicals? It’s pretty situation dependant. Your kiln is a tool used to apply heat and atmosphere. That’s only 2 variables among many. I think the best way to help @kevinpleongis to first ask them some questions so we can advise them better. Kevin, what kind of work are you making, what temperature are you used to firing to, and how much experience do you have? How much work are you making, and do you anticipate that going up or down in the next 5 years-ish? Our answers will be different based on how you plan on using your kiln.

Know that despite how the tone of this might come across, I do sympathize with your ruined project. I mean none of this as shaming, only as information. You have a relatively wide piece compared to the thickness, no foot rim, a very thin cross section and you glazed only the inside and the top of the rim. You don’t state it, but I’m going to guess that the glaze layer was a comparable thickness to the cross section of the clay. That alone can be a solid recipe for dunting, even if you haven’t had previous problems with that glaze. That scenario can actually a way to set up a stress test for clay glaze compatibility. Add to that chunks of glass of unknown providence, which, as mentioned above has a VERY different COE than either your glaze or your clay, and fired it far past the maturation point of the glass. I’m not at all surprised these coasters pulled themselves apart with some authority. It is, and always will be my opinion that it is ill advised to combine chunks of “found” glass and ceramic material, ESPECIALLY in functional items. I have stronger words for people who teach this as a beginner project. I know lots of people do it, but it’s still a bad idea. You have unfortunately found a perfect storm example of why. I do concede in that other thread that there are some circumstances where combining clay and glass do work, or where cullet is included as a glaze ingredient. But to make it work properly requires a very strong technical understanding of the differences between clay, glaze and glass. I will forever disagree strongly with anyone who just melts glass into the bottom of a clay dish. If you want some nice coasters to be able to gift for Christmas, even the most technically broken glaze would be a better option than glass. This would be a lovely opportunity to go on glazy, and test out some of those fun, runny zinc glazes that make crystals. I saw today that Birdie Boone and Osa Atoe are working together on just such an example. You could get some really fun effects with none of the headaches of using glass. If you’ve never mixed a glaze before, this is a very simple recipe, and would be a good place to start. Some of the ingredients are a little more expensive, but you probably don’t need large quantities, so it’s still pretty affordable.

I think if you stick with pottery, you become patient. In my case, I learned patience out of spite. 0/10, do not recommend this method.

I find most of the “stupid” questions that I’ve encountered are more about feeling socially awkward and not knowing what to say at all, rather than anyone coming into my booth with half baked ideas. The time the one person was quietly browsing my booth and picked up a soup bowl an asked me what it was for. Turned out she’d tripped over her words and was more wondering what specific use she wanted to put it to in her life. We had a good chuckle over it, and chatted some. She bought the bowl, and decided to use it for dinner that night. So I’m never going to make fun of the weird questions. I find people’s curiosity to be a beautiful thing, and I think it should receive all the positive reinforcement possible. I love talking shop with other potters, and I love introducing new ideas to people who haven’t seen something before. If they like it, great, if not, that’s okay. I might not like whatever they’re into.

I’m not gonna diagnose anyone over the internet. But I’d lay good money the number of us that have ADHD of some flavour is pretty high. Hitting that flow state that @Juxtaposie Jendescribes is really, really good for us. I’d also bet good money that neuroplasticity changes brought on by hitting that flow state on the regular have had a very positive effect on my own mental health and resiliency. I’m 46 and can still lift more than I thought I could. Just this weekend, the elevator at the one day show I was at decided to crap out right at load out. I and the rest of the vendors had to pack our remaining stock and display down 31 steps to the main floor and our vehicles. I did not have assistance, but managed it in about 8 trips. I was expecting to be super sore the next day, but I didn’t particularly feel it. It surprised me, because I don’t do much in the way of structured exercise. I haven’t had a gym membership for a couple of years and I didn’t think just walking my dog counted. I will say that I’m glad I didn’t set up the mug tree with the cement base.

As far as doing the parts you don’t love goes: just because you don’t like doing a given task as much as you like throwing, doesn’t mean you won’t like that task at all. I find I like doing check ins on my finances to see how they’re going. I farm out the accounting, but do my own book keeping because I like seeing where I’m at. There are some tasks that you might dislike doing as part of a more mainstream job, but suddenly become a lot more interesting because you’re doing them for yourself.

This. They did so much work with plaster and concrete, much of which wasn’t re-figured out until recently. The likelihood of someone not working out a deflocculant seems very low.

Okay, I know this is off topic, but I gotta know which one(s). I did not have you pegged for a gamer! In the name of not derailing the thread entirely, I am also noticing sales returning to more normal levels this season. I think everyone’s feeling the interest rate increases, as well as the increases in all manner of goods across the board, and it’s making them choose luxury goods/gifts more carefully. The things I noticed were selling the most were all gifts under 50, and I went through an unusual number of ornaments and small dishies this year. I just finished my largest show of the year, and the general consensus among the vendors was that the landscape is changing after the last 2 years. A lot of people had to spend the money that they’d set aside for show fees on daily living expenses, so they had to choose the shows they started up doing again with more care. There were a lot of folks that went over pre-pandemic numbers to see which shows were actually profitable, and which ones they’d been doing just because they were looking at gross take, not net. I know a few potters that after doing the math, and decided it was more profitable to take on shipping work. Usually those folks had some solid digital marketing assets and practices in place, so it’s not a solution that works for everyone. But it’s something to consider. The ones that did this noted that you can charge for shipping on each item, and you don’t incur the shipping cost (except for bulk purchasing packing materials) until the item sells. With shows, you incur the cost of doing the show regardless of how much stock you sell. So that means if you’re trying to incorporate all your business costs into your COGS pricing, show expenses wind up being a variable rather than fixed percentage of the cost. If you’re selling a large volume of work, that percentage is more easily absorbed, but if you’re not producing at that volume for a wide variety of reasons, it’s something to be aware of when you’re compiling data.

Wax does take a few tries to get the hang of, but it’s worth doing. I used to do the sponge the feet clean thing, but found some glazes would leave residue, however much they were wiped. Not enough to make the piece stick, but enough to alter the colour of the clay body. Guilty parties usually included some sort of soluble flux that soaked right into the bisque, or iron saturates. A pair of glaze tongs is also worthwhile to have for smaller pieces. For me, that means anything that started as a 4 lb ball of clay or less, but it’ll depend on your grip strength. And +1 for what Jeff said about having assorted wide shallow containers for dipping pieces into. The dollar store usually has lots of good candidates.

Kiln setters, pin setters or stilts are these thingy’s. This is an image of a commercially made 3 point setter, but they can come in different arrangements, like a long bar that has numerous points along its length. That’s what Pres was talking about with a bar setter. You can also make them very simply yourself with some Kanthal wire and a handful of clay. They’re used to place pieces on that are glazed all over, usually at low fire temperatures. The commercial ones come in 2 temperature ratings, one for low fire and one for mid fire. The wire in the low fire ones will bend if fired too hot, so if you’re buying them, make sure you have the right ones. If you’re making them, you have to use Kanthal, not Nicrhome wire.

Is there room in your situation to allow for negotiation for more time on this deadline? If you’re dealing with a client, this could be your best option for delivering the quality of work you want to present. Clay is notoriously temperamental, and explaining that you think your client deserves the best possible work you can offer and that you’ll settle for nothing less for them may be a possibility. If this isn’t a culturally acceptable practice, feel free to disregard. If what I’m reading is correct: you have more versions of this sculpture that have not been glaze fired yet, and you want to be able to prevent similar warping in the next ones. If that assumption is the correct one, I’d put a pin setter of some kind underneath the sculpture at the points where you know it will sag so that it’s supported. The small pinpoints that are left from the setter can be buffed out easily. If you don’t have a suitable pin setter, you can make one out of wads of clay and lengths of Kanthal wire (the same as your kiln elements). If I don’t have my assumptions correct and you need to try and repair this exact piece and you cannot obtain more time, the solution is maybe a bit more risky. You have to not only push the end pieces down, but the middle dips in the piece also have to be raised from the surface. In addition to what Pres recommended about weighing down the end pieces with setters in a re-fire, you also need to build supports to re-elevate the middle parts. This may result in the piece sitting the way you want it to, but the piece may have more irregularities in it.