Callie Beller Diesel

I've been trying to figure out this design for at least two years, and think I have finally done it. A ceramic tea steeper with a stainless steel handle.  It works with any cup, or at least all of the cups I make. I plan to start making teapots that will also accommodate the steeper. 

I developed a new platter mold, and a new approach to illustrating koi fish. I'm pretty excited about these.

Size?  Small, around 50mm across.
They're - umm, not sure how the plural goes, but singularly they are a Diz.  Used to convert carded/combed fleece (wool) into roving!  I hope you all feel much happier for knowing that!?
You thread a small amount of fleece (straight from a carder or comb, through the hole, and then pull it through, then you can spin the roving into yarn.  The different size holes produce different size roving.

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.
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Threw myself a small textured bowl w/a center foot for lift. The interior is smooth. Haven't cleaned  off the burrs from the wire brush yet. This is for a pending raku  fire. 

While earning my BFA in ceramics I spent an inordinate amount of time and energy  deciding what to make, preceded by hours and hours of learning, practicing, researching, studying, observing, questioning, filling notebooks, building a library, shadowing mentors, haunting galleries/museums etc., doing small exhibits, more practicing, planning, drawing, designing, revising, redoing, thinking-thinking-thinking---I could go on.  
Detour through a 30 year not-art career and fast-forward to retirement and a decent home ceramics studio.  To answer the question: I spend about 5 minutes letting a thought come into my head as to what I might do with any given lump of clay.  Boom, done.  
 
 

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.
 

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.
 

I'm a wheel man myself, and i don't think I really started developing actual skill until I started planning ahead of time what i was going to make and how.  
I generally sketch at least rough dimensions and then set about throwing something to those dimensions and shape.  If I enjoy the way it looks, I will set my gauge and make a series of the same form.  My goal is always to throw 2 dozen of the same form, I feel like it not only gives me a nice amount of stock on that item, but it also really hones that form and sears it into the gray matter.  There is nothing like repetition to really explore yourself and a form.  People ask me often what they can do to get past a hump or get on to the next level and for me it's repeating a form, it's like performance enhancing drugs for wheel throwing.
So when do I decide?  I decide long before i sit down at the wheel.  
 

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.
 

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.
 

@Magnolia Mud Research
In  general we do not, much simpler.  So if you look at the typical  potters oxygen probe you will get an output between zero and let’s say 2 volts. The probes marketed to potters today are generalized by results (Fired work)  and the sheer Limit of a typical gas fire kiln utilizing primary and secondary air.
In the kiln above, the owner purchased a probe from Geil which can measure from  approximately 20.9%  to 1E-11 percent oxygen. Very similar to Atmos Engineering  probe (for industry). Generally these things use the Nernst equation %O2 = [Ref O2] x e (exp) (mv/(-0.02155xTemp. K) ) the output is generally logarithmic and correlates to partial gas pressures and therefore a related percentage oxygen content.
Of that 2 volts, the practical range potters experience are about 0 to 1 volt where 1 volt is near unachievable by ordinary kilns. Our 1 volt output corresponds to  let’s say .00001 - .00002% O2 content (temperature dependent) this small amount of oxygen or lack there of, results in a super heavy reducing atmosphere during ordinary reduction firings.
so for all the fancy stuff above we need to only report the output  (mv) and relate it to a chart that indicates its relative strength of reduction to a Potter with a gas kiln. Which generally simplifies to 0.7 v  is heavy reduction, 0.5v is medium and so on. So to answer your question, it’s really not converted to anything thermodynamically. Potters now know heavy reduction is X -volts, medium -Y, and neutral-Z so to speak
Take a look at the various charts below and it should make more sense with ultimately the simplest form you see there being a very popular potters form..
The plot is actually a spreadsheet we give them,  formatted so they can  easily creat their own  reduction profiles to follow and can easily install in the program for on screen display during their firing. Notice the R1.....R4 . So the goal here is to allow them to be programmers without having to do any meaningful programming. The X axis is time but dependent on their firing speed. The  demarcation temps are the O2 levels they have picked for their reduction schedule. Most simple schedules translate to: body reduction (heavy) from 1600 - 1700 degrees and some lesser reduction the balance of the way.
Most ordinary pottery kilns are powered and insulated such that at cone 10 they are lucky to maintain 100 degrees per hour in medium reduction anyway so this really ends up to limit their choice of reduction schedules toward the end of the firing. But having said all that, they can vary their schedule, formulate and glaze  and repeat once they discover the magic combination.
The PLC and touch screen allows them to store up to four of their favorites easily,  and does a whole bunch more as you can set alarm points, see your firing rate, get texts, monitor remotely on your phone or tablet, display on a TV as a lecture aid, record the entire firing and data etc..... 
So far we just help private entities  build these and license the software to them for nothing other than a commitment to give back to the community and promote any knowledge gained. It cannot be used commercially or resold commercially but is intended as a tool to help educate as well as develop new schedules, firings and glazes to be shared with the larger community. None of these  are automatic in anyway, they are simply monitors allowing the user to learn how to fire more readily. You would be amazed at the answers I get when I have to ask how fast do you want to fire?
so far so good actually. Anywhere that has had one the learning curve has accelerated greatly .
 

So I spent the last Month off and on to: 
Congratulations Dawn & Ray!
We Just finished the fourth Kiln monitor, interfacing with their Geil car kiln,  and made further improvements to the programming to help folks reduction fire more easily, repeatable, and hopefully share their results with everyone in the pottery community.
First reduction test run was designed to calibrate and hopefully allow schedules to be created that are effective and finish in about eight hours.   From an initial peek inside the kiln, All test tiles reduced everywhere as expected ……… they are on their way to creating cool stuff and sharing their results and new schedules / techniques. Next build I think we are gonna find a cool dressy enclosure though.
Generation  Four- Finished!
Pictures of some of the peek inside the kiln and other stuff below
 

So I spent the weekend making more of these, and I really like to make them.  I keep improving on the design which means I'm learning.  Learning makes me happy!  So anyway, was able to finally glaze fire some and I like the result.  Here's one from the batch

2 feet of snow... ya'll are crazy! 
Feels good to have something on the bench, life's been busy, wife sold her store, we opened a new one in a nearby small town and I've actually sold a few things there already, tried a booth at a local shop that rents booths but  it's not done much better than the rent. We had to practice like 30 hours for a gig at a friend's party, that was awesome, made people cry, felt good to nail it for a change.
Anyway, uggg, you don't throw for a while and for me anyway, let's just say the first few mugs will have carving around the bottoms, a couple might not make it due to thin bottoms, and I felt a bit rusty, lol. Sure does feel good to spin some mud though, nothin' like it.
 

I have been glazing and firing bowls all weekend, no surprise. 
But today I am making a few carafes for a company on the east coast to see if they'd like to do business with me.  Just a little commission gig to get some money flowing.  Supposedly 20 a month at 40 a piece, that's at least enough spending cash to buy more clay and feed my real addiction lol.  

Two down, 50 to go. 

Two down, 50 to go. 

Two down, 50 to go.