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@Babs, can you share your flatbread recipe? May we see the plate after you finished your lunch? Curious what the rest of it looks like.

Maybe there's a hidden agenda from the school district.

I use this stuff from Spain. I think the peppers are smoked as they are being dried. More flavour than regular paprika. @Callie Beller Diesel, if you toss 1 or 2 ice cubes in the food processor just before it's done it makes the hummus creamier.

Lunch today, 4 days to sprout the seeds in a mason jar on the kitchen counter, (clover, alfalfa, radish & mustard), hummus and hard cooked egg on ww crackers. Corner of the bowl in the background is one of my dinner bowls. Hummus recipe is just by eyeball, chickpeas, lemon juice, olive oil, sesame oil (I’m out of tahini), garlic, salt, smoked paprika and an ice cube in the food processor.

My day to bake bread. Old school long fermentation but not sourdough. I'm trying to make my yeast last as long as possible, all the stores here are sold out. Will have to start some sourdough starter. Bowl is about 15 years old, it's a second. I had left it as bisque for quite a while, outside kiln area, and when I went to glaze it there was a small mud wasp nest inside it. Got rid of the wasp nest and I thought I had it cleaned well enough but I guess not, there was iron in the mud the nest was made from. Little bit of straw coloured glaze inside the bottom of the bowl.

@LeeU, are the bears by you out of hibernation already or did they never go into it?

Mark...last seen in an ocean going clay kayak off the coast of California. Coverage on evening news at 6.

Simple hand building project if anyone is looking for something different to try for a change of pace. My soft slab (olive) boat, it's an easy project, would be good for kids to make too. Turn it into a viking ship or ? I don't have any glazed right now but a couple bisqued ones in the last image. Supplies needed: Soft clay Rolling pin 1 1/4 - 2 1/2” diameter dowel wrapped in newspaper (or long thin rolling pin, diameter isn’t critical) Pony roller or piece of plastic Cornstarch (optional) Supports if you use soft clay 1 - Template is 19” overall length, 4 1/4” wide. Each side measures 15 1/2”. Soft slab, cut out the pattern. Don’t worry about getting the ends exactly as I have them, you can just use one gentle curve from the point to the opposite side. If you want texture on the outside of the boat do it now. 2 - On the long edges use a pony roller and soften the edge. If you don’t have a pony roller just use a piece of thin plastic, hold it taunt and run your finger along the edge. (2a) 2a- Flip the piece over, if you want texture on the inside do it now. Soften the long edges on this side too. 3 - Cover up the ends and lightly dust the clay with cornstarch. Since my clay is very wet I don’t like to use a pounce, I just load a brush with cornstarch and tap the brush over, but not touching, the clay. 4 - Lift the slab and lay it cornstarch side down over the dowel wrapped in newsprint. 5 - Press the clay around the dowel then flatten the bottom with a small rolling pin or pony roller. The dowel I use is a bit narrow so I lift one end up while doing this so I don’t crush the long edges of the slab. 6 - Moisten the ends with just a few drops of water if you are using soft clay. If you use firmer clay then use a tiny bit of slip. Bring the long edges together at the ends of the slab and pinch the lower edges together. I keep a slight overlap so I can fold the overlap over and work it in with a rib so the boat doesn’t leak. 7 - Roll the top pointed ends into spirals, covering the join. One ends rolls to the left, the other to the right. Transfer the boat to a drying board. 8 - Straighten out the rim, flute the edges if you like. I use bendable hair rollers to support the sides while drying. Clay coils would work too. I’ve found with my clay I need to dry these slowly or they lift up in the centre. You could also put a small weight in the centre to help prevent it lifting. Would love to see some other projects here! (Sorry but I can't get the numbers to show up on the images, read left to right 1-8)

Work in progress, mugs for a soda firing that is postponed. Flashing slip sprayed on then bisqued then underglazed, complete with pencil lines and wax resist over the underglaze brushwork so kind of messy looking. Getting boxed up today and put away until who knows when to be fired.

Thought I'ld start a thread for people to post links to some of their favourite or recommended online free videos. So many of us stuck at home now I thought it would be a good resource to help pass the time. I'll start it off with an exhibition of wood fired pots from Britain's Svend Bayer. Just came out today, it will be his last exhibition. It includes a section of Svend Bayer working, firing and talking about his work. Beautiful pots.

Alice, this from wikiHow seems to describe how to use kindle fire pretty well. Anybody with kids at home Amazon audible has all their kids books for free streaming.

When I said "you see throngs of people wearing masks" I wasn't referring to you specifically but to what is being broadcast on tv news shows about people wearing masks. Yup, agreed. Edit: I think we are all on the same page, it's just a difference in semantics. N95respirator or N95surgical mask versus the non rated surgical or procedure mask.

I think part of the problem is you see throngs of people wearing surgical masks so some people assume these are okay for use as a respirator. Bottom line is to have the Niosh labelling on the box or respirator of N95. https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/prevention/ppe/surgical_mask.html

For healthcare professionals from the CDC on Personal Protective Equipment in regards to Covid19: What is an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR)? An N95 FFR is a type of respirator which removes particles from the air that are breathed through it. These respirators filter out at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) particles. N95 FFRs are capable of filtering out all types of particles, including bacteria and viruses.

Much of the commercial kiln wash is made up of what is cheapest, ie silica and kaolin and little of what makes a good kiln wash expensive which would be the alumina hydrate. If you do decide to start using kiln wash then try making your own wash. 50% alumina hydrate, 25% calcined kaolin and 25% kaolin.

@terribleterra5@yahoo.com, I'ld repost your free kilns in the Community Marketplace on this forum here, it's a better suited section for them than this part.

My local ceramic supply place is about 25 minutes away but what I save in driving time I more than pay for with their high prices. I buy clay locally plus all the less expensive dry materials like epk, talc, silica etc. Whenever possible I order from one of the US suppliers and have it shipped to a dropbox just into WA state then it's an hours drive from me. I go to Seattle or Tacoma a couple times a year to shop there for heavy expensive stuff like frits, usually tie it in with a camping trip. Driving thru Seattle, groan, that has to be one of the worst places that I've ever driven too! I get behind a big truck and use the expressway through to the exit for Seattle Pottery Supply and stay the heck away from the outer lanes or I land up doing some unplanned sightseeing.

Might want to think about your kiln wash too. If Bmix is plucking I'm thinking your kiln wash might need a re-coat. Do you make your own kiln wash (which recipe?) or use commercial stuff?

Hi Amanda and welcome to the forum Alumina hydrate is not known for being difficult to remove, it just dusts right off. I'm wondering if you're getting a bit of glaze on it, where are you using it, on lid galleries or ? Also, you're 100% sure it's alumina hydrate and not something else?

Slow bisque schedule probably isn't slow enough. With dark clays containing high amounts of carbons to burn out the firing really needs to slow down between 1290F through to 1650F, this is the range in which the inorganic carbons burn out. If you go through this range too quickly there will be pockets of carbons that haven't burned out; the clay walls will begin to seal over from the fluxes in the clay and the trapped gasses cannot escape therefore the clay bloats. Bloats might (probably) won't be visible after the bisque fire but the walls of the pot will be sufficiently sealed off to prevent gasses escaping during the final part of the bisque and then again during the glaze fire. Keep the peeps full open until you've passed through 1650F, don't bisque stacked pots inside each other, they need room around them to allow the gasses to fully escape. The other temperature range to not go too fast through is between 300-600F when the organic carbons burn off, 200F/hour through this range should be fine. If you have a digital kiln then program your own bisque schedule, if you use a manual kiln then have a look at the colour of the light inside the kiln to make a rough guesstimate as to what the temperature will be.

I'm not going for a realistic finish, I'll be spraying a flashing slip (not blue) and I hope to get some orange/rust colours on part of them. There are actually 3 clusters of shells in the picture above, I usually mount them on driftwood with some other porcelain shells, tube worms, urchins etc but for these I made the rocks big enough that they should be okay as stand alone little sculptures. 2 of my market venues are very close to the ocean, things like these tend to do okay there. @liambesaw, those molds for your coffee pots?

It's been quiet on this workbench thread so I thought I'ld show my mussels. ^10 porcelain, heading for a soda firing if they make it through drying without cracking.

Around the house or for ceramic equipment etc between my husband and myself we don’t ever hire anyone to do anything. It just goes against the grain to think of hiring someone to do work that we can do ourselves. I think it started when we lived in a very remote place where materials had to get either flown or barged in. if you needed something done you either did it yourself or chances were it didn’t get done. Same with making do with what you have, adapting scrap materials whenever possible to repurpose into something else.