irenepots
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Posts posted by irenepots
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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!
- Rae Reich, Roberta12 and Pyewackette
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On 11/19/2022 at 12:19 PM, neilestrick said:
Far more glaze issues come from firing too fast vs firing too slow. Speeding up a bisque can prevent the burnout of organics, and speeding up a glaze firing can prevent good melt. If you were to speed up a firing, the final 200F degrees should still be kept slow to ensure good burnout and good melt, but below that you can really do whatever your clay can handle. I don't think crystobalite is an issue with most commercial bodies. I never slow down during quartz inversion and never have any issues with any of the stoneware and porcelain bodies we use in my studio. In an electric kiln, speeding up the firing will not save you much, if anything, in terms of firing costs. Yes, the firing will be shorter, but the elements will be using more electricity to fire faster. Plus the cost per pot of firing is really very low in most cases. Unless you have a small kiln, cooling times are where the real slowdown happens. Saving an hour in my big kiln won't make enough of a difference in the total cycle time to matter, because cooling can take 30+ hours.
Neil, what size kiln do you consider to be small?
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8 hours ago, Min said:
There is 2 hours difference between the two, is it worth the risk for deadline work to try it now if you 100% need the work not to have issues? Step 4 and 7 are an hour faster with a fast bisque. I only use fast bisque (different kiln, same schedule) with white and porcelain clays with no issues. It's the speckled and dark clay that if you are going to have issues with that might be of concern.
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.
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9 hours ago, Pres said:
I moved this strand here as I believe it will get more traffic, and searches for Fast Firing will be readily met.
As far as my own experience with fast firing during my HS days and personally there is one major factor of which the potter needs to be certain. Make certain the ware is completely dry before ramping up the firing.
best,
Pres
Ah thanks for doing that Pres, it does make more sense for it to be here.
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10 hours ago, Roberta12 said:
@irenepots Like you I usually use the slow bisque program, but I have used fast bisque at times (deadlines!) and I have noticed no difference as far as glazing. That includes porcelain, dark brown clay and speckled clay. That is simply my experience.
r.
Hi Roberta! Thanks for your input. I'm trying to get up my nerve to try it.
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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.
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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.
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22 hours ago, Callie Beller Diesel said:
I do mine on wire shelves, not metal shelves. The idea is lots of surface exposure for water to evaporate from.
(And you’re welcome. Glad it helped!)
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.
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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.
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On 2/18/2022 at 3:53 PM, Mark C. said:
Is the plug a molded plug and cannot be taken apart? Or is it the kind with 4 screws on one of the flats and you can take it apart and see if the wires are cooked?
More info is needed-plug should NOT get toasty-it can also be the plug was not plugged in enough and this alone coild be the issue.Ant loose plug prongs or wire within the plug can make for excess heat and issues.
On 2/18/2022 at 4:23 PM, Rockhopper said:Does the plug fit snugly into the outlet ? It could be that the outlet is wearing out, and it is no longer gripping the blades tight enough, which can cause arcing inside the outlet.
21 hours ago, neilestrick said:If the heat is at the outlet, and the cord is cooler where it connects to the kiln, I would replace the plug and outlet. Also inspect the wires in the cord and the and wall, and replace them if they show signs of having overheated. If the cord is hot where it connects to the kiln, then replace the cord.
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).
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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.
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10 hours ago, LeeU said:
great stuff-very useful-won't warp & doesn't soak up moisture
Thanks Lee, that's good news and I'll be getting some soon.
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10 hours ago, Hulk said:
Hi Irene!
I have several pieces of the 1/4" that I use for wedging clay - one each for dark, red, buff, and white clays - leftover from tile projects around the house. I'm just setting the board on the workbench, the end up against a scrap piece of wood tacked to the wall. It wipes off easily, and then can be stored out o' the way as well.
We scored both sides with a razor knife, then snapped it over a straight edge for a fairly clean cut; I haven't used the heavier board.
For reclaim, I'm using two inch thick slabs of pottery plaster (cast in a cake pan), which will absorb a lot of water; propped up on 1x1" sticks, five sides are exposed to air for evaporation, which helps a bit as well...
That's just what I was hoping to hear Hulk. I'll definitely get the lighter and cheaper 1/4" then, one for each of the 3 clays I use. Thank you!
I've been reclayming on a plaster slab as well, which is in a lidded bin that I use as a damp box also. But I can see having 5 exposed sides would be even better. Does pottery plaster in bags have a use by date? When I used mine again I couldn't get it to set, tho I tried several times. I thought I had read somewhere that it doesn't age well in the bag. Is that true? I had the bag in plastic as well. Do I just need to get a fresh bag?
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I'm thinking about buying some hardie backer board and have a couple questions I hope someone can answer before I do that. First of all, can you really score and snap it? It comes in 1/4" and 1/2" and it's hard to imagine the 1/2" would snap, but I've never used the stuff so who knows? Also, does it warp with use? If so, would I be better off with the 1/2" ? I plan to use it for wedging and also for reclaiming (or as I like to say, reclayming). Sorry, couldn't help myself there. All suggestions
gratefully accepted. Thanks!
Irene
in cold and, for the moment, sunny NJ
Buying a pottery wheel
in Equipment Use and Repair
Posted
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!