Mark C.

liambesaw you need a biggger shed

My studio is small and the electric slab roller is 30 inchs wide at rollers and another 1 foot for the mechanics. its about 7 feet long as well. I cut into the sill to get it flatter to fit my small space.I use the table all time in glazing and forming stuff. It was an adjustment but in the long run I'm vdery happyt to have it. The table is formica so its a joy to clean up.My answer is yes I can afford it space wise even thought its use is not very often.I wonder why I did not get this sooner in my career ???My rolling pins and shims hardly ever get used anymore-now thats something that is never used taking up space now.

Yes they have wimpy cord and restrains-of course it very quiet when it cannot run-wisper quiet I bet. I used a few of thoise doing some demos a few years ago-great for talking over.

Whats the brand?

The public always needs help with what the heck is it for items.

My thought is the sponge leans against the side at an angle so air hits just about everywhere. It may be extra work for not. I have seen them with shark teeth on sides -as well as the bottom cut out on bottom-both things are unnecessary . Our sponges to not drip are get loose. I had a Japanese potter send me oine from Japan with the bottom cut out an a panda bear on the side. Now that was time consuming. I put put holes in about 1/2 my extruded soap dishes-holes take extra time to clean up.-just a thought. As you know these sell better with one demo sponge in them on of them.

Whats the purpose of the side holes in the sponge holders?-it has to be decorative ?

You meanDxtruded soap dishes thrown -butterdishes -spongeholders and mugs

Today it extruded soap dishes sponge holders-butterdishes and mugs. Short day

Min I got tired of salt pigs taking so long-I worked on a copper pipe to cut my opening like a hole cutter. I like an oval opening but since yours are round this will go easier for you. I ovaled the larger copper pipe fitting and then ground the inside down to a point with a Dremel tool . You could do this with platic pipe or fittings(these vary in size) Just find the size you want and sand or grind the edge to a point and t=now you have a fast punch. It works great then sponge smooth. Saves tons of time.

They have made a few improvements in the past 50 years with wheels. The Fred flintsone model is impossible to get parts for now.

I think good music matters most when throwing .I know that is a little out of the box but for me its true.A nice large light gathering window in front of me keeps me chipper as well The other smaller things are speed control and a good throwing seat. The speed control needs to work well. (The pedals on the shimpos at the time weren't nearly as sensitive.) I think Callie thats an understatement as all those old Shimpo's have teriable speed control .The foot pedal on the ring drives seem really outdated-even back in the day.Sure thay are cute but thats about it. All 5 of my wheels spin only one way-never thrown the other way. No reason to.

Brass hole punch set works wonders-1/4- 3/8- 1/2 -3/4 inch They used to have wood handles now I think they are all brass pipe with plastic cap or you get them from Chinese art supply and they are very cheaply made-make sure the hole bottom is flush with planter bottom. I always did 3 holes evenly spaced. No pots made yet in 2019 but I ma firing a electric clean up bisque right now.I have a small gas kiln load to do in a week to clean it all out.

That strange as I was just going thru my 2011 tax papers to shred (8 years back) to make room for the new 2018 papers I'm working on now. One was a letter from Warren about the bowl he sent me as a trade (I paid shipping cost)I put it with bowl today-same day I read this thread.I had not heard the news-small world.

I tend to work thru a new item by making some 1st and using them. Next batch I improve them and so on-usually I get to what I think is the best in term of functionality and weight and form and function by the 3rd go round.Then I make many hundreds in my line. I can change the form over time like my tumblers which used to flare at the lip more 10 years ago now they are almost straight -just a little for your lip. I have added a few forms over the years if I'm asked a hundred times about it. Thats how I came back to making french butterdishes (butterballs for some) I was doing southwest desert shows and got asked for a decade about them before caving and offering them.I did make them in the 90os but they had yet to catch on then so I stopped . I tend to standardize forms with the same metric measurements so lids will always fit bottoms if I need more-I have done this since the early 80s before that every lid was a different size to fit that particular bottom.I was green out of school and it was learned skill that made life easier but requires some discipline . I also from the start weighed all clay to have standard forms-I can do this without a scaling all the pieces but cutting the pug in so many pieces. It saves lots of time as well. The trick is cutting one handle off your cut off wire and you can drag it thru the pug on end and pull the wire out at bottom of cut.Its the little tricks really that save energy and time. also no need to make clay balls the wheel will round them out in a second unless the clay is over about 6#s then a ball shape will aide you. In terms of exact forms like Pres. said above -on a batter bowl or what I call a whip bowl. I make mine with extra thick beefy handle and a pour spout and sell them with wire whips included. I have yet to break a handle on one. I make a handled whip pitcher with sprout that has a small handle on side that holds the small whip-cute as a bug but its my least favorite form due to the fragile side handle. I was recruited to make them buy a gallery in Mendocino and they sold very well for 18 years until the closed two years ago. I have about 50 more whips and when they run out I'm done making them as I know folks break off the side handles. I tend to like strong forms that last. I make thousands of sponge holders and they are a bit fragile but I know they work very well(we use two ourselves ) I do not like them to thick even though they would last longer and hold up to falls better.Its form weight function trade off.My sponge bottom keeps then from moving on counters.

I had very long hair until the early 80s-Being raised in turbulent times(60's)We set out to change the world-my part is with clay.I have had a beard since 18-only have shaved twice in my life.Not much of a hippy since 81-more a worker bee-my midwestern parents work drive kicked in as I grew up. My Long Beach years where 53-71 minus almost one year in Nashua New Hampshire when I was 15 (ran away with a girl-long story but I have a New Hampshire soc security number from my 1st job working for 6 months in a cemetery .Brutal outside labor job from frozen to beyond humid.That climate is like a rath much of the year.

Rae I see the drug ads with pottery as a hobby thats mainstream these days.I'm going to pass on any comment as I was taught to be quiet if you had nothing nice to say.I do not believe in magic so that must be it. I was introduced to clay in high school-well sort of. Back in my day we had a dress code and it was not to have long hair or sideburns extended. Well that did not fly with me so I spent lots of time in the deans office in late 11th grade discussing hair length and side burns-Thinking back on this its just insane. sort story now- My mother was in the teaching system and suggested I check out the continuation school taught at the Business and technology junior collage campus-I did and I finished high school early there(my 12th grade) as you could work as much as you wanted. Here they had a small clay studio that was used during the day sessions when I was there. Since I was not a troubled discipline problem (b average all thru school)I could work in there with a friend. Hence I was exposed to clay then. My friend suggested we take some private night lessons taught by a potter in nearby Seal Beach at the same time so we did.My family was mostly all teachers and art was a common theme in our home.Before graduating I was taking flying lessons and stopped after soloing and spent my savings on a wheel and was throwing at home. I moved to the Northern part of the state (from Long Beach)to go to Junior collage to study forestry and art then on to Humboldt state to finish my art degree. I landed at the JC in the right time as they where building kilns as it was new school. I knew how to throw and learned kiln building-went on the HSU and learned glaze making and ALL other aspects of ceramics from recent Alfred graduates who where all new hires and very much on fire to teach what they learned from the greats.I was at the right places at the right times it turned out. Went full time in 1976 the year of graduating from there. I never left my area of education (still a sleepy spot in this busy state)I bought some property in 73 and started building kilns while in school-still here 45 years later. I caught the clay bug without realizing it-never viewed this as a job or thought of it as work or a living until late 30s. I went thru some very tough $ years first 10 years then it slowly took off. The rest is history. Looking back you could say growing long hair and side burns got me into clay. PS: they dropped the dress code two years after I graduated .

I cannot wait until ghost is gone in all customers memories-Its been a sore spot with unrealistic pottery talk in my booth for decades.The romance of pottery-ya right-getting dirty-living heavy things- sure it romantic Johnny we have a different take on that.I cannot count the comments on that move years ago but they are now very much fading.

Here's that last load that came out last week.This is the kiln load in above post It was a loose load -what I call a year end clean up fire. Now its a everyday selling pots at my pottery booth and dropping pots off at my 9 outlets in this county. Xmas is go time in my world. The 25th is time to put my feet up. Then its stock up the outlets for the slow winter months.

Pres its like this every other week on Glaze day and sometimes every week if I took a few weeks and just threw without firing. Its my last fire of this year, only thing left is sell the pots myself and take them to my outlets every week. It go time in my business until the 25th then its as Mea says time to put my feet up -right now I'm waiting for a cortisone shot in my thumb.Seems all this clay work can mess with your body -who knew as one person said recently?