kristinanoel

@Dottie - if you are in Washington State, consider Clay Art Center in Tacoma as a resource. They are a FANTASTIC supplier, super knowledgable and friendly, and they have a new website with all of their products and clays. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

@liambesaw A million gold stars for the lazy susan idea - works PHENOMENALLY well! That and moving the gauge from 11:00 to 1:00 has solved my issue. I may play around with fixing it to the wheel platform somehow, but it's winning idea.

Thanks, will try repositioning (currently it's about 11:00, but I throw clockwise so I'll move it to 1:00 and see if that helps. I love the idea of a lazy suzan with a built in stop, will try that as well. And found this solution as well - high tech, but works! Courtesy of Peter Fisher:

Hi all - I recently purchased a throwing gauge and can already see how it will help with precision, but I'm having a practical issue with it that I'm hoping someone can help with: it's getting in the way of making work! As I understand it, I set the gauge to show the height and width of whatever I want to throw. If I'm doing something wide and shallow, like a plate, the actual centering/throwing process is ok, although your hand movements are somewhat restricted, but when I go to take the bat of the wheel, it's hard to do without upsetting the gauge. If I rotate it out of the

THIS IS BRILLIANT! Thanks for the great tip!

Has your clay been sitting around for a while? I've found that if the clay is older, it requires more wedging to evenly distribute the moisture level even if it's coming straight out of the bag. Without doing that, some spots are drier than others and that will throw off a seemingly-centered pull.

"you can go as fast as you like as long as your claybody doesn’t suffer any issues from incomplete burnout. " ha! Makes sense - also makes sense that the ranges to watch are between 300 - 600F for organics, ~1200F - 1750F for sulfides and inorganic carbons. I find it more helpful to think about what each segment is trying to do, less helpful to identify the "magic number", as you so cleverly put it! Thank you for your story. Sounds like you made some really good memories and a lot of good friends.

Thanks Bill! I'll always listen to an opinion. That's exactly why I posted. And Just to be clear - I'm not doubting the reliability or efficacy of the Bartlett program, I ask questions so that I can develop a better understanding of the reasons behind the choices. For example... that standard limit of 300F per hour - I reckon that's to smooth the transition for atmospheric or chemically bound water?

Thanks, Min - that was a great article! Because I do work with iron rich clays, I'm adding additional time for that organic carbon burn off between 300 - 600, and keeping the slower ramp for the inorganic. On the 1000F - 1100F quartz inversion slowdown - such a lot of conflicting information here. Most of the what I've read has included this slowdown phase in the bisque but not in the glaze, as in the example that Bill posted. My understanding was that the focus for the glaze firing is to achieve maturity for both clay and glaze in the ~1950F - 2190F range, hence the fast ramp to

Thanks for replying! More questions, if you're up for them? When I compare the two schedules, there are a couple of differences in the bisque thatI'd like to understand. The cone 5/6 schedules aren't materially different (slightly lower target for segment 1, faster for segment 2, and higher temp to end). For the bisque: In the initial temperature rise to 1000°, the auto schedule starts at a slow rate of 80°/hr to 250°, then includes a med ramp of 200°/hr to 1000. What's happening with the clay here? is there some reason this stage needs 6 hours rather than 3? Post q

Hi everyone - I've spent the last few hours combing through the forum to learn more about the factors to consider in setting up a firing schedule, I've come up with a plan and would love to hear feedback, and/or anywhere I've gotten the wrong end of the stick. I'm bisque firing to 04, glaze firing to 5 in an electric kiln with a bartlett controller. Any advice is welcome! 04 Firing Schedule Segment 1 Goal bring ware to even, pre-qartz inversion temperature target temp 1000° temp change

I have had the same issue as Min, and as I sometimes leave the exterior of pieces unglazed, I find that it IS a problem for me. I fire to cone 5. After it's fully dry, I wipe away anything visible (a couple of times, letting it dry in between) which sometimes works, but not always. When it doesn't it will fire with a dingy grey or yellow effect - kind of fine if there are no exterior decorations, but if I've used any kind of tape mask to add an iron stain or wash, I've got problems - a sharp line where the soluble materials were not able to emerge due to the tape. I've tried a 50/50

Hi Rebecca - I also spotted that post and am super interested in hearing about your results. Please post if/when you start experimenting. And if anyone else has tried something like this (especially if you have tips about what really, really won't work) I would love to know more. Seems like you could wedge some into clay and fire, especially if no glaze was required, but I'm not sure about what the best case/worst case scenarios even are. Thanks for bringing up this topic!

I know it's a drive from Ellensburg, but Clay Art Center in Tacoma makes some great stoneware bodies. Here's a link to some of the white/off white options (this is page 3 of 3, go back to see other CAC clays) http://www.clayartcenter.net/~clayar5/content/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=35_92_97&sort=20a&page=3

Hi Terah - what lucky kids, to have a ceramics studio in elementary school! That long soak may be the candling phase - keeping the kiln under 200F to make sure all of the ware is actually dry. This is probably especially useful if the kids are making thick or heavy sculptures that might take weeks to dry on their own. So the overnight candling, followed by full day of drying out before firing probably helps in making sure the work doesn't crack or explode during the actual firing.