Mark C.

(Does anyone here actually use the cheap silicon carbide shelves) These are actually the recrystalized silicone carbide-not true silicon carbide as they all once where. All made in China but still rock hard They still are much harder then a old school silicon carbide shelve The process is much different and thats why they are so hard. The only way you can cut them is a wet diamond saw and they still are one tough nut to cut. Does not matter if they have the slit or not they are recystalized which means they where made in a nitrogen rich enviroment (no oxegen at all)fired in electric arc furnce about cone 25-30 if I recall. They are hard and brittle at the same time. They lay waste to diamond saws I have 4 of them-I do not use them in loads anymore-Except the top the load in my salt kiln to protect from fallouts-they all warp at cone 10 temps Yes I know of some crack failures taking doewn the load-stilt the crack as it can open anytime. Let us know how the cutting goes???? I have a wet diamond saw (MK Brand) and I like my blade so I only cut soft stuff like high fire bricks a high fire tile

(That said, ending up with a sweet interior curve is one of big challenges - if not The challenge - in learning bowls, eh? ) This is the most truth about bowls learning to have that curve without a weird flat spot or a hump in center- or a flat spot in curve somewhere ,the outer curve and inner curve should be exactly the same. Our learning lesson in 1973 was throw 30 cereal bowls and trim 30 cereal bowls- after that you start to get it for me it took a few more years to get it Bowls are my favorite to throw

Well this was my 1st post on this site back in Jan.2012 I was hoping to find a potter with this issue I could get advice from-seems I have given advice to many since then. since then I have recovered well -it took about 6 months to get to be able to throw small stuff again Wrist is working now but not pain free. It was for about 6-7 years now it's slowly getting less happy. This surgery was 3 bones taken out of right wrist. Now my left thumb is slowing failing-I had a sterriod shot in the joint 2 years ago with great results It was good for over 1 year, zero issues now it drifed into a bad place. My wife has the same issue in the same left thumb. Last Wednesday we made a 13 hour roadd trip down and back to a top hand surgeon -same lady that gave us steriod shots a few yaers ago. After a full work up with 3 xray views each of our thumbs she gave us the news both of our thumbs are bone on bone with no margins between them. My wifes in worse on one side mine is worse on the other side-mine has some narly bone spurs- and is a bit worse off -she outlined the 3 surgical procedures for this condition-they all remove the trapezium bone None sound great but all sound like they make you pain free. We are for now going with the steriod shots when needed for pain-hopefuuy this will buy us some more years before the knife. The recovery is a solid 3-4 months I centrer pushing up on part of my palm which is under the thumb and is super painful and she said that I could still push on that part of palm after the surgery. Basically the 3 types (all remove that bone) are the anchovy surgery--more old school where they take part of a wrist tendion and roll it up like a spit ball and pack it into the missing bone space. I knew about this back in 2012 when They thought my thumb was toast before figuring out my wrist was toast. I will not have this done-I know of issues down the road with that technique that are not good when the tendon wears out the other two are similar -one is they take part of a tendion and hook it between your index finger and thumb and use stainless screws to attach it. This can work well but you can reject the foreign objects as I know someone who then had to have the screws taken out. the 3rd is the same as the second but instead the screws are a slowly desolvable material that bone filles in as it goes away and that is her technique. Shje has 5 years of doing it behind here-not as long as I would like. My wrist surgeon moved last year from San Francisco to be the top person at Yale in this field. I have another top hand surgeon to see before any surgery in the future for a secon opinion-I can say the x-rays told me my thumb is on borrowed time. Seems like a life with clay is hard on the hands- Next life I may choose to be a car salesmen -just point at a few showroom models now and then. Go into small rooms and make up stories on how the deal is oh so good for you . Maybe I need to learn how to tie a tie before I leave this life.

I do not throw bowls from cylinders-never have-of couse ZI do not think about oit after 45 years of production work. I do not teach bowls I throw them. I'll pay attendtion next time i'm throwing -it will be a few weeks .I am resting my left thumb after a steriod shot (last Wensday near SF) in bone on bone joint ,for two weeks

Slump molds are easier to use as you can walk away from them and the clay shrinks away and does not crack-I can see why you like hump molds as you are working on the outside surface more than the inside. I try to put all texture or whatever on the slump mold and avoid all hump molds -just is easier to to monitor as much after clay is in them. It depends on what you ae wanting to do witgh inner or outer surfaces

I have 10 Pottery in Australia Magazines mid 80s Nice full color mag with lots of photos & 24 New Zealand Potter magazines from the 80's as well Many how to articles on building extruders etc kilns etc I'll ship them in a flat rate large box for $20-just pay for the postage works out to .58 cents a magazine They need a good home. All in very good condition

Is this a butterdish ?

I only ship out on Mondays or Tuesdays depending on my weekends

Its all a bad idea clay is cheap -go buy the right clay (cone 5-6) and start over pots are not precious especially in the green state Yes you can do it but the glaze fit and weeping and fitting right and vitracation is all screwed up why bother Think of it like buying tires-they where out of my size so I bought some smaller ones can I cut them so they fit my rims? how much air pressure will they hold -can I drive at freeway speeds on them-well the answer is maybe but then again would it not be better to go get the right size tires ???? This question comes up over and over again here and the best answer is start over. all other options are less than optimum results

Business is picking up at all 6 food outlets as well-just took in 6 boxes of pots to two of my bagel shops The reason they want my stuff is all about a large customer base built for many many decades. Its also about the pieces they use daily and want more if broken. You know your favorite cup deal-its really big in this world.

I have gotten lots of 1-2 and 3-4 mug orders all over the country -they come in near daly now-its starting to wear on me-I usually take some mugs (once I know what size they want -as i make 5 sizes) and put them on a white piece of paper and label the paper with numbers-send them a photo and they pick from there. (my colors are all differen).Little did I know this would be new thing?mugs to Montana -mugs to Utah etc ect I'm close to turning this over to one of my gallierys as they do online heavy right now. I'm not a ones twosy potter-I can do it for a limited time as it takes to much time. In the course of a year I get these orders but never in this volume of a daily request like now-they all seem to wonder how to pay and how it all works its taking time away from what I need to be doing. Yesterday I dropped off pots to all 4 of my super markets as they are moving product steady now as business is picking up My best selling Gallery now can acomadate 3 customers in her store at a time now.-last month she sold about 1k of pottery-not terrible considering she was closed except for curbside pickup and online

Prep-Your lid is loose sitting on top?? no hinge?

I use a variety of products magic water is not one of them bisque fix-it is thick but can be thinned-I seem to use this the most-this stuff leaves a white line Marks ware repair-Axner-the most fluid of menders-this stuff leaves a darker line-I use this when I want very little material as its thin Aztex high fire mender -you make it thick or thin-this stuff leave less of a mark-I like this product ans use it some as well after the repair is dried i always glaze with my black thick runny under glaze that flows and covers the seems then a rutile riunny glaze over that. otherwise the repair will show The other thing you could do is use wood glue and let dry and galze it up-works much of the time as well

I think plaster is worse-just put a bucket of plaster down the drain and its done-but wait if you really want troble tray premixed cement it makes clay look like drain cleaner.