Callie Beller Diesel

Also, Babs already mentioned this, but a lady who used to contribute regularly here, Chris Campbell, is extremely well known for her amazing coloured clay work. Here is a link to her website page where she talks about some how-to's, including percentages she uses for some specific stains. http://www.ccpottery.com/colored-clay-lessons--chris/how-to-color-clay-with.html

So Mason 6020 is a pretty soft pink. 6% in a recipe is a good starting point, but I'd maybe make some small tests at 5, 10 and 15% to pinpoint the intensity and hue you want before committing to a larger batch. In terms of firing temperature, I wouldn't go into cone 10 range, but I can vouch that it works just fine at cone 6 in oxidation.

In the name of having everything properly connected, I hired an electrician to do the work in my panel, but I dug the trench and assembled the conduit for the line. I haven’t had to replace any components yet, but I have no problems working on an unplugged kiln. Take pictures before you disassemble anything, and make sure you put things in order as you take them apart so you can put them back the same way.

That’s my usual turnaround in a 7 cu ft kiln. No issues so far.

If you just need to remove wax, it’s typical just to put it in your next bisque.

Zinc is a flux, and an odd one to use at cone ten. It melts early and stays fluid for a wider temperature range, so it’s more usual at cone 6, in very fluid glazes, or in crystalline glazes. In the quantity it’s in and without running it through glaze calc software, it’s probably there to give some kind of visual effect involving running or fluidity. Maybe to clear bubbles? Where did you find this glaze and what is it supposed to do?

The cake decorating thing sounds a lot classier than the old sock cornstarch pounce I was taught to use.

If you go through the rest of her feed, she uses a fair bit of mother of pearl in the rest of her work, so I think it’s a reasonable assumption. Mother of pearl can be very difficult to photograph accurately with a phone, and optimal light conditions are needed. While I do know of some accounts that use a dslr to take their Instagram photos, it adds steps and isn’t typical. Or we could all do something whacky and ask her, rather than guess about it amongst ourselves. I messaged her on Instagram to see if she’d be willing to clarify about the optical effect.

This persons’ work keeps coming across my desktop for some reason. I believe she is known to work with commercial glazes, so I have to second Liam’s idea about this being a reddish glaze with a layer of mother of pearl. @glazenerdThe texture isn’t a glaze run: this artist does a lot of heavily applied slip underneath the glaze.

If you need to dissolve residue, you need some acetone. It’s in nail polish remover in smaller quantities, but you can get it uncut from places that sell auto body supplies. Canadian Tire has it for sure, and I think you can also get it at Home Depot in the paint section.

Anything orange oil based, like goo gone will work too.

Oh wow, it’s been a minute since I asked this one! In the name of updating everyone on what happened, I fired the mother of pearl to 017 and it worked great. I found I had to really mind my application thickness, because it will drip and run and make a yucky haze if you put too much on. I bought a couple of sable brushes that are dedicated for the use and cleaned them with olive oil. This one is definitely a pine oil base, and I had to use it outside because I don’t have Liam’s fancy fume hood.

This will definitely get you in the right ballpark. You may find you have to fine tune things and do a more accurate measure on things you want to explore more, but if you’re doing line blends for colour, it works great.

I am a basement dweller, although I do have walls. I’m not sure how it would work with one big open room, but I think if you aren’t able to frame and hang drywall, even just hanging some plastic sheets to designate your studio area could be a thing. I second what everyone said about keeping everything clean, and want to add that having a strict “studio shoes” policy keeps the dust out of the rest of the house. Your studio shoes don’t ever leave the studio, and you don’t ever go into the studio without putting them on first. Even to get your phone charger! I know this can be difficult, especially because I have to haul my pots outside to the kiln. But it’s important.

While I think it’s worthwhile to be aware of trends, colour is something I find too difficult to generate fast enough to change every season. I’ll introduce one or two things a year and test them with the public in order to stay fresh, for sure. Having properly tested glazes that I know how to use successfully every 3-4 months isn’t workable for me currently.

The flipping can also be seen at the 14 minute mark. That is a genius piece of equipment.

Some wax resist stuff I’ve been messing around with.

It’s been a while, but my biggest mishap was knocking over about 8 5 lb jars with lids, which was my entire day’s efforts at the time. Just to put the icing on the cake, the instructor I respected the most and who happened to take a very dim view of swearing, came into the room just as I screeched out a creatively embellished F bomb at the top of my lungs. (He was very gracious, and told me I needed to go home and have one drink. Just one.) It was not my most shining moment ever. I have broken more and larger things since, but that one made me cringe the hardest.

I can get a serious case of blank page syndrome when faced with a large block of clay and no other directives. I need to have some choices made ahead of time, and I like most things to be planned out before I head to the studio. I need to narrow the possibilities down, which is why I work within a functional framework. I come at it from a “This is my job” angle. In the early part of the year, I schedule play and design time, to work out new ideas and keep things fresh. There’s not a lot of sales in January and February, and I’m flush off of Christmas, so I have the space to noodle a bit. I think about the feedback I received over the year, and if I’ve noticed I’ve received a lot of requests for an item, I’ll make the effort to design one I like. If I had requests for larger items, I’ll play around with them at that point, because I have the space to do things like throw a large bisque mold, or glaze test, or try a new material or technique. The middle of the year is about testing those new designs in the market, and seeing who likes what and how well it sells and at what price point. There are adjustments made, but at that point it’s more about perfecting existing designs, or starting to make more of it, making work for ongoing markets and stockpiling the proven items for Christmas. Christmas planning starts in June, and and my cutoff for trying to work out anything new is the start of September. At that point my focus shifts from “what am I making?” to “how much do I have to make?” That last part is all based on numbers from last year at the same shows, plus who needs what for retail outlets and any online sales. Creativity gets put on hold for a couple of months, other than idea gathering and sketching. In a lot of ways I find the production time freeing, because I have a list and can just crank. Seeing a huge pile of stuff you’ve made at the end of the day is very satisfying. But at the end I’m glad for the rest, and the time to noodle.

Does the Little Loafers not work for handbuilding?

Oh man! That sounds like an amazing experience Mark. Have fun!

I haven’t done a lot of wood firing, but I was always taught that soft wood released its energy hot and fast, sort of like sugars or simple carbs, and hardwood was a slower more even energy release, more like proteins. Thoughts?

Mine’s outside in a tin garden shed, and I get a pretty wide temperature swing. The coldest I’ve fired in is -25/30 -ish C, and if it took much more than half an hour to finish than in summertime, I didn’t notice. And before anyone cracks any jokes, summertime averages are 25 C on the plus side.

You're all going to hate me. I pay .068 per kilowatt hour. Or I did in September. I have a variable rate. It goes up in the winter, but I'd have to go digging for other bills.

For me, I wouldn't sell anything repaired, but I make dishes. If it's going to last for a long time, it can't start out damaged. I have turned some glaze mistakes into planters, but it was an error that only I would have thought of as an error, and I don't make a habit of it. That said, there are some that work in a much more decorative vein who have capitalized on breaks, and incorporated them into the piece, making it more effective. I'm thinking of Mariko Paterson, who makes a lot of really involved, detailed work. She had some platters crack while in process, so she wound up filling them with hot pink epoxy and glitter, which assisted the subject matter of the piece. Since it was never intended for food use, in this instance something like that worked.