Min

@Laura Loo, JoReid hasn't been logged on the forum since May, you could try send them a PM (it will show up in their email), more likely to see that. Click on their name then the little envelope when their page comes up and follow the prompts. Welcome to the forum!

Too many puddles on the west coast already!

There seems to be a fair few people lately asking about kiln wash. I'm going to pin this thread so it should be easy to find going forward. If you have a recipe and care to share it I thought a thread just dealing with kiln wash would be a good idea.This is what I have been using for about the past 20 years (electric kiln), mixed with enough water to make a runny yoghurt consistency, applied with small roller or house painting brush to high alumina shelves. Measured by weight. alumina hydrate 50 calcined epk 25 (aka glomax) epk 25

Your welcome! They work well and don't cost much.

Top is slab built from 2 pieces and joined at the sides, base is thrown. I did try throwing as 1 piece but wasn't too keen on how the ridges looked in the cone part. A little to loose for what I was aiming for. I can get crisper lines using slabs and a texture mat.

I'm not a coffee drinker but the design totally makes sense. I wonder why it's not more widely know about? (or maybe it is?)

I looked up the Bonavita dripper with the open/close on the bottom, that's clever.

Working on coffee pour overs, needs some cleaning up when it's a bit firmer. Not sure about making more of these, super time consuming. I've made a donut for it to sit on while firing for support.

I like the generous fullness of the bowl on 6 but with the base of 2 or 7 to give it more height. 2 pouring spouts for aesthetic reasons?

Mea, have you tried increasing the height of the sides next to the spout? The hand-built ones I've seen have a much higher rim at the front that stops the soap from sliding out.

Shhh, they might hear you!

309 here, 346 with taxes.

It's much denser and stiffer than wet suit material and only about 2-3 millimetres thick. For tall narrow forms I use a chuck. I don't make just one of an item at a time so setting a chuck to center takes a couple minutes at most but then I'm good to go to trim multiple pots. Just another tool in the tool box, use whatever works for you.

I re-read this thread and couldn't find anyone arguing against the Giffin Grip. Advocating learning to trim without one and then making their own decision whether to use one or not in their own studio seems sensible and was brought up a couple times. BTW there are alternatives to clay wads, wet wheel head or the Giffin Grip for securing the pot down. I use a neoprene disc on the wheelhead, it gets a swipe with a damp sponge and then I put the pot down. It works so well that often I have to "burp" the neoprene to get the pot to release. It costs less than $10- and I've been using the same one for about 30 years. For pots with uneven rims (like my avatar) I use a chum or chuck. What works for me might not work for you but I'm sure you could say that about many of the practices we use while making pots. I'm glad you find your Giffin Grip useful, I've never felt the need for one even though I make a lot of pots.

I'm going to suggest a topic that came up in a tongue in cheek roundabout way on this thread. What do the partners / families of potters have to put up with? Half the house being taken over with clay stuff, family becoming unpaid conscripted help, sounding board....?

I do remember that thread Tom, it's what made me question what the info on the cone charts says. The blurb with the charts is reading the opposite of what the Orton Booklet is, hopefully they will change the oversight. I emailed them, will update my post if they change anything.

Seems we are shifting between Celsius and Fahrenheit a fair bit so I'm adding Links to Orton Cone Charts in both to save people looking them up who might not be fluent in both. If anyone needs it there is some really good information regarding the behaviour of cones and how the rate of temperature increase during the final 1 1/2 - 2 hours of the firing effects the final cone, also on the links below. Orton Cone Chart in Fahrenheit Orton Cone Chart in Celsius edit: There seems to be an error in the information regarding small cones in the above information to the right of the charts. "Typically, small cones will deform 7-10 degrees C earlier than a self-supporting cone, so the temperature values for a self-supporting cone can be used to determine an equivalent small cone temperature by subtracting 7-10 degrees C (or 12-18 degrees F)." This contradicts what it says in the Orton Cone Firing Booklet: "While not recommended, Orton Small Cones can also be used on the kiln shelf in place of larger cones. Because they are smaller, higher temperatures and more heat are required for them to bend (see page 19). When used in this way, the Small Cones require mounting in cone holders or plaques."

Maybe some micrometeorites too. https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/new-study-hunts-for-rain-gutter-micrometeorites/

Just throwing out a random thing I came across the other day. There is a fellow here that runs a private teaching studio, obviously not able to teach / hold classes right now. He's renting his wheels out, 125 a month, includes a really basic selection of tools (sponge, pin tool, chamois, wood knife and a couple ribs). I don't know if this would backfire, maybe some people would go out and buy their own wheels after having one at home and he might loose students. Anyone renting one of his wheels and wanting to fire pots made while using it can pay to fire them at his studio sometime in the future but has to use his cone 6 clay.

I thought that might be the case. Just a heads up about broad firing range claybodies, what is mature at the top of the firing range can't also be mature at the lower end of the range. A clay rated to go to cone 10 for example won't be mature at cone 6. I get that you want to extend the life of your elements but I'ld run some absorption tests on the clay to ensure that it won't leak at cone 7/8. If you haven't already done this there are directions on how to do this about 2/3rds the way down this page.

Would not recommend using a glaze with 40% barium carb, especially for functional work. https://digitalfire.com/4sight/hazards/ceramic_hazard_barium_in_materials_and_fired_glazes_26.html @ImogenB, not sure I'm following you when you say "I am firing to cone 8 to help the longevity of my kiln elements, my clay vitrifies from cone 6." I'm guessing this a clay that is advertised as having a wide firing range?