irenepots

I bought a Speedball a few years ago because they were the cheapest and I'd used them where I took lessons. But my wheel slowed down with over 2 pounds weight when I centered down and as suggested, I checked the belt, and it wasn't centered. Speedball diagnosed that I needed a new wheelhead assembly (not sure that's the proper term), and sent me one free, but it didn't solve the problem. I don't throw bigger than 2 pounds usually so it's not a big problem but I suspect it also doesn't rotate as fast as better wheels. I don't know how important that is. However I don't recommend the pedal. It doesn't change speed smoothly and also the cable is on the wrong side of the pedal, which just seems to be bad engineering to me. I wouldn't buy another one. It's a difficult decision to make when you don't have a chance to try the wheels and are essentially flying blind buying an expensive and important item. Good luck!

Hey Pyewackette, I reuse plastic bags from the vegetable aisle, and I find they're great - softer and easier to manipulate than grocery bags but not as flimsy as dry cleaner bags. When one gets a hole I put a piece of tape on it. I also cut them open to use flat. Be sure however that they're not the compostable bags like Trader Joe's uses. Those do break down great in the compost pile I use them with a little newspaper in the bottom for my compostable stuff. But clay dries out quickly in them. I'm sure they'd be useful in some ways but not for very slow clay drying. Good luck!

Neil, what size kiln do you consider to be small?

After I posted, I checked out the firing schedule too. I thought the time difference would be greater. I've been pretty lucky lately avoiding pinholes and it may not be worth the risk for just those 2 hours. Thanks for your thoughts Min.

Ah thanks for doing that Pres, it does make more sense for it to be here.

Hi Roberta! Thanks for your input. I'm trying to get up my nerve to try it.

I always use the slow bisque program on my L&L kiln, but I'm coming up to a deadline and would like to try a fast bisque instead. I fire dark brown, white and speckled light brown clays. What's your experience been with using a fast bisque cycle? Do you recommend it or not? I appreciate your input, thanks in advance.

A while ago I sent a question to Technical at Standard Ceramic about their 630 clay and what they meant by something in its online description. Here's their answer. Hope it helps "We would recommend using 630 Stoneware if you plan on making bakeware or any product that might be exposed to heat regularly. The mullite "enhances thermal capabilities," which means that it will better withstand the repetitive heating/cooling that bakeware is exposed to".

I like cornstarch too. I apply it to the slab then invert in on the mold.

Congratulations! How wonderful that you have a built-in retail shelf to display and sell your wares. It's so satisfying to be able to do for a living what you love. Keep up the good work and enjoy!

Babs, I get it. It's a mystery. Just to clarify, I did stop the first firing and let it cool overnight to about 200 degrees before I restarted it. There were 4 different types of clay in the kiln, including some reclaim. Most were probably from the same bisque load, and I brush glaze, and as usual I used a wide variety of glazes. I generally don't have any crawling in my firings. I can't think of anything else relevant, except maybe that the top shelf ended up a little cooler and most of the crawling was on that shelf. Well actually I only added a new cone to the top shelf, so the bottom cone might not have been as accurate as the top, but we're only talking a few degrees here I think. And the pots looked unfired before I started the second firing, that's what surprises me. I hope these clues help. I look forward to your next thoughts.

As ever, thank you all for your input and suggestions.

My glazes are all purchased, mostly Amaco and Mayco. Maybe gerstley is what activated the crawling in the firing mishap, and it happened to be a perfect storm, especially for those 2 pieces. I'm grateful the issue wasn't more widespread and that most of the load came out fine.

I wish I had noted that temperature, but I forget what it was. If the glazes had started to melt would I have seen that when I opened it before I started the refiring? I added a new cone, so I had the lid up but the glazes looked then like they did when I started the firing. At what temp do the glazes actually start to look different? Your suggestion makes perfect sense and I'll do that if it happens again. Hopefully I won't need to. Thanks!

Yes Babs, other than my mistake everything was exactly the same. There were a couple test tiles of a new glaze on the bottom shelf but they were fine. What is glaze SG?

I started a glaze load to cone 5, but mistakenly entered the slow bisque program instead of slow glaze. Seven hours later I noticed the temperature was much lower than it should have been, checked the program and discovered my mistake. I shut down the firing and restarted it the next morning, after adding a new witness cone on the top shelf. Everything looked ok, and this time I entered the right program. The temperature in the kiln was about 200 degrees when this firing started. When I opened the cooled kiln after the firing there were a couple pots on the top shelf that had suffered what seems to be extreme crawling. One seemed to have flung its glaze off and onto a neighboring pot. Some other pots also crawled but to a lesser extent. The top shelf cone read cone 5 and the bottom one a bit hotter than that, tho that cone was the one from the previous firing. Different clay bodies and glazes were involved but nothing new. What could have happened? You can see how the glaze pooled in the mug. Pics below. Thanks!

Thanks for the link.

I have 10 or so 9-11" slab built plates ready to bisque but have never had more than a couple in the kiln at once before and I'm wondering how best to place these. A couple have rims, most don't, and they're all white clay so hopefully not much worry about impurities like with dark. Stack 2 rim to rim? Bottom to bottom? Can I lean them up against the kiln sides, not touching the coils? Stack inside eachother? While I'm asking, I've been bisquing mugs and bowls rim to rim but I see other potters stacking them. Are there pros and cons to each way? I did a search here but didn't come up with anything. Thank you for the benefit of your experience!

Ah, tho I consider my wire shelves to be metal, they actually are wire and not solid shelves. That's why they have screening on them, so small drying items can't slip thru the slots. Thanks again for sharing your excellent system! Yes, wire, not metal.

On another thread around here someone told how they reconstitute their clay and dry it on fabric placed on shelves. I've been doing that and it works great. I keep my throwing water and add the dried trimmings to it, (usually within a couple days), let it sit and then pour and siphon off the excess water as it separates upward. I have a piece of an old sheet laid on my metal shelf, which also has window screening on it, and I drop blobs of clay onto it. I find blobs of about 1/2 to 3/4 cup dry out more uniformly than one big sheet does. I check them a couple times a day, flip them once, and when they're ready bag, wedge and reuse them. Sometimes I mix scraps, (all my clays are ^4-6) and other times I do them separately. A great big thank you to whoever it was that presented this idea. It's so much easier than what I was doing before.

Actually I was trying that yesterday. Also a white dishpan had some promise. Also tried the dishpan inside the bin and it was pretty good. Thanks! Nice to know it works for someone else. I'll experiment some more. Irene

Wow that's a lot of information! Thank you all for your thoughtful inputs and information and sharing your experiences. It's a lot to consider. I'm going to look into online courses on photographing pottery , and check out Snapseed and the box tutorial, which looks pretty great, and also investigate the white light cubes. Thanks for the links as well. Most of the items I make are medium bowls, mugs and small plates so I don't need a big setup. You've given me a lot to go on and here I go......Thanks again! Irene

I'm not sure this is the place to ask this question, but I'm looking for advice about buying a lightbox for taking pictures of my pots. I've found some inexpensive ones online ($40-60 or so), and am wondering if anyone has used this sort of setup and what you think of it. It's also a case of not knowing what I don't know, since I have no experience with lightboxes or taking photos of my work except for my own reference. I haven't found any reviews specifically mentioning shiny glazed pottery pics. I hope it's appropriate to seek advice about specific brands on this forum. I'll include a couple links. Thank you for any input. https://smile.amazon.com/Foldable-Professional-Photography-Equipment-Adjustable/dp/B094VSWCR6/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2JL7MCNCCY1XW&keywords=glendan+photo+studio+light+box%2C16"x12&qid=1647966609&sprefix=glendan%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-5 https://smile.amazon.com/Glendan-Portable-Professional-Backdrops-Photography/dp/B099Q291KP/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2JL7MCNCCY1XW&keywords=glendan+photo+studio+light+box%2C16"x12&qid=1647966609&sprefix=glendan%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFOWFRBWVlRM1JTS1QmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA0NTUwNzgxMlIyRDlTMUhYWTc2JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0NjI0MTAyWjZRTUExUVJSV05DJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ== https://smile.amazon.com/Finnhomy-Professional-Portable-Photography-Shooting/dp/B06XXD5P2L/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2JL7MCNCCY1XW&keywords=glendan+photo+studio+light+box%2C16"x12&qid=1647966609&sprefix=glendan%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-6

I hope these pictures help. I leave the plug in all the time, and it seems to fit very snugly, doesn't move around. Unfortunately the plug can't be unscrewed and examined. I'll be doing a glaze load in a few days hopefully and I'll check to see if the cord is hot anywhere else in addition to the plug. Would you agree that if I have to replace the cord I might as well have it hardwired? It's an L&L kiln by the way. Thank you all for your input(s).

My kiln isn't hard-wired and when I checked the plug at its wall socket after my last bisque firing I found it was surprisingly hot to the touch. It is pushed all the way into the socket. I've never noticed it being this hot before, but I also don't regularly check it so I don't know how long it's been heating up like this. It was almost too hot to touch. My bisques run about 14 hours. I've heard it's best to hardwire a kiln and I'm thinking it might be time to do that. Could the age of the kiln affect the way the wire heats? It's on its own circuit, and the wire is a replacement I got from the kiln company some time ago when the original cord's sheathing broke away from the plug. This wire is stiffer than the original was. I tried to search this topic before posting but couldn't find anything, maybe because I used the wrong search terms.? Thanks in advance for your expertise and knowledge.