LinR

If someone comes along and falls in love with the pot and buys it that's great. But if it is an order or a gift it should be as good as you can make it. I think I see glaze runs on the dish and a little crawling on the side of the bowl. I'm wondering if your glaze is a bit too thick? Lin

First job will be to raise the vent panel on the roof of the kiln shed. Almost did it last week but put it off. On the weekend we had a doozy of a storm with heavy rain, hail and 90 k/hr winds which would have blown the panel off despite the dozen or so bricks weighing it down. I guess I'll procrastinate a bit longer. Lin

I agree that when using a chuck put a soft clay coil around the top of the chuck. I use 'chucks' which are anything in the house that will fit the neck of the pot. I don't have room to store bisqued chucks. Lin

From the Concise Oxford Dictionary ceramic, of the art of pottery. Hence - ics. (f. Gk.keramikos (keramos pottery) Lin

When you say that your pieces feel level when you are throwing have you tested this with a needle tool at the rim? Sometimes the pot can feel level but when a needle tool is held at the rim the unevenness can be detected. Lin

Some of the replies seem to want to put ceramics into a narrow box. A question about not properly firing. Pit fired work and raku leave the item very fragile. Neither would either of these techniques survive being outside. Are they then not ceramic? Does glazing a piece make it ceramic? What about terra sig. or firing to maturity with no other finish. Does applying gold leaf to a piece render it no longer ceramic? Ceramics is a huge field. That is what makes it so interesting. You never stop learning when you are involved in ceramics. Lets just enjoy all there is in this wonderful w

Are you sure your foam trimming bat is ok? I remember being at a workshop where the potters beside me was trimming on a foam bat that was completely wonky. She didn't believe it when the instructor told her that that was her problem. Get your foam bat spinning on the wheel. Possibly put a piece on it. Start the wheel turning then stand away from the wheel and you should be able to see if the bat is behaving as it should. Lin

My 7 cu ft gas kiln is in a metal garden shed. The sort you put together out of panels and a fair amount of swearing. We cut 2 ventilation holes at opposite sides of two of the the bottom panels. Then two of the roof panels are raised up at the side edge by about 4 inches. In the years that I have been using the kiln I have burnt through or rotted through the raised roof panels, and replaced that with sheet metal. I raise the panel on red bricks with red bricks weighing the panel down on top. This holds up most of the time but when we have had really strong gales the sheet metal will fly

Irenepots - I fire with gas so am no help with electric kiln details. Sorry. Lin

Do you have any broken pieces of shelf? I use small pieces of broken shelf to give me the height I need when the posts don't do it. Lin

My kiln does the same thing. I place 6-8 red bricks on the front edge of the lid. That seems to keep the lid mostly down.Lin

Shawnhar if you sawdust fire with pots that have been bisqued at the usual temps you loose the burnished surface, that is if you burnished them. We bisque fired our burnished pieces to 018 and then smoke fired and the low bisque retained the burnish. Lin

Marcia are you saying that one firing will do? In sawdust firing that I have had a chance to do previously we bisque fired to 018 first and then fired the pots in the sawdust kiln. If one firing is enough I would be able to do it in my own kiln. Lin

Thanks for everyone's answers. I am texturing using fine material and/or finely carved items, so not carving in the designs myself. The indentations are not deep. I think the mishima technique might work for some of the pieces. I was really wondering if there was a preference between adding the colour at leather hard or after bisquing. Lin

Thanks for that recommendation Hulk. I like the idea of charging the brush with water before picking up the underglaze. Lin