Rae Reich

Guess you’ll have to modify your replacement rap to remind customers that your work is always one of a kind. Probably the most mutually satisfactory solution is to let them choose a similarly priced item. Our choices in handmade wares is personal/idiosyncratic.

The suggestion of grog and/or sand indicates a coarse material, not fine. For what it’s worth, I think you need to make the walls of coil-built pots fairly thick to hold up to the pressure and handling you need to do while it’s still malleable. 3/8” to 1/2”

You could make the pot with a bottom, then cut it out carefully with a needle tool and leave it in place for the drying and firing - fire on a layer of silica sand. Tap it out after firing. That could work for unglazed ware, as your pot seems to be. Cut it out with a little margin for shrinkage.

Great stories, guys! Here in the city a gas kiln needs the same permit as a gas barbecue - none. Even so, I invited the local fire station over when I was firing my big old fire-breathing catenary and also to a raku firing (even got some sales). They appreciate knowing what’s going on and how to respond to concerned citizen calls. And they love fire, too., and appreciate when we treat it with respect.

Wow, @Hyn Patty! So much good information/experience! Glad you’re here

@oldlady, Hi! If you’re trying to apply a solid color all over even a medium size pot you’ll blow through those little jars pretty quick, but if the object is a graduated ombré effect there’s nothing better and uses much less glaze or stain. I used mostly stains mixed with a bit of clear or white base glaze. Also good if you don’t want brushmarks or to disturb underglaze. @RuthB, you’ll also need a fine screen to run your glazes/stains through to minimize clogging.

What they ^ said. Although I have a pancake compressor for the spray gun, I prefer to use the little compressor you can get with the Paasch for airbrush. Also get the tiny tip-cleaning needles and figure out how to label them (I use little tags of different colored tape or string, which also helps to locate them on my bench). Lots of fun to be had. Do lots of experiments and take notes.

Maybe solid vegetable shortening? You could spread it more thickly without disturbing the surface and it might not absorb as thoroughly as oil. Wax seems the better choice. Roll the pot, half at a time, in a shallow vessel of melted wax and buff. A thin, quick coat would be best, I think, so you don’t have to scrape a lot of excess to reveal the clay. Wax will, of course, take longer to degrade , but if you don’t coat the inside or bottom it shouldn’t take much longer. Interested in hearing how your various tests come out.

Judging by the foot, it’s a smooth white clay fired to temperature, with a black (cobalt/manganese) lava-type glaze. It’s not that Raku is poisonous itself - although there could be release of some glaze elements with cooking/heating - but firing to such low temperatures leaves the clay still porous and it will absorb food and liquids that you can’t really wash or clean out. Storage of dry tea leaves might be all right, except that porous clay will not be air tight. Raku tea bowls are intended to be used only for plain tea, no milk, lemon or sugar. I think the absorbed tea from use is considered proper aging (never wash with soap!).

Think you may be our pioneer in this very interesting field! Looking forward to anything you share.

Looking at the photo again, I think maybe the drying/shrinkage problem is because of the design. The center portion is the weakest, that is, the least reinforced by surrounding structure. If you could change your design in that center section to have slightly thicker walls it might have a stabilizing effect during forming and drying. Alternatively, you could make the form symmetrical when cast - with two ‘legs’ sticking up as well as two down - then cut off the upper ‘legs’ after drying. This would equalize the tension on the center section while drying.

If the fabric printing surface could be set on a ventilated platform, a fine screen or punched metal, the drying could be made more uniform. I would suggest completely restricting drafts and temperature changes to dry slowly and evenly.

That seems odd to me. 2 and 7 look to have more belly - is it the height of the slender ones, do you think?

2 and 7 for me

Whatta great idea for those small bits! More details on grid material and longevity???

To avoid any possibility of copyright infringement???

That's great for those kinds of lids, but twisting threaded lids open and closed enough times to smooth gives me carpal tunnel just thinking about

Bravo! Much better suited to the media than crunchy clay-to-clay solutions!

Oh, very nice, @liambesaw! I've always had a fondness for those old oil cans - you get the nostalgia vote

More thoughts: lots of pickling and canning going on these days. If you have room to make large vats and crocks, there's a market. I have an old, cast peanut butter crock and it's clear that it was glaze fired upside down on its unglazed rim, leaving glaze on the gallery. Sets could be fired nested upside down. And growlers for the home brewers.

I wonder if the organizations that produce fairs and festivals would consider putting their fairs online - they will be losing revenue for their causes, too.

I'm thinking that it would be wise to plan for a year without shows. Maybe next summer. In the meantime, online shopping appeals to many customers, possibly potters can create online co-ops to get away from etsy distractions. Also, in the short term, consider marketing hand sanitizer bottles - if you know a sewist, see about selling masks and bottles together. Right now, Nurseries are open (because they sell food plants) so think about placing wares there - vases, planters, wall art, garden themed mugs and platters. Stay safe.

@Callie Beller Diesel, more details on the mug lids? I love the "Dalmatian" mug!

@Mark C., is the Seafoam Satin Matte on the bottom shelf of the last photo? A nice addition to your palette.

I've been told it isn't really snow until you have to shovel it