Mark C.

Custar is back now Dick at least from Laguna locations

Laguna now sells a flameware body so you can get a 25# at Laguna/Aftosa location in Fl

My hoarding has paid off in spades so far. Out of Kingman feldspar after burning thru 3,000#s in  40 years now I'm using custar instead but have 1,000#s

Custar is back now Dick at least from Laguna locations

Always my key tool with plaster is the jiffy mixer -also drop the bucket hard a few times  to get the air bubble to rise to top  before pouring also is a good tip

If this is in the UK?  then we need to know more on what the electrical voltage is in the UK. Maybe some UK potters can chine in with this tec info

I bet they made some small hobby doll kilns and the like in the UK that ran on 120 like they did here

I'd go with the 325 unless it's really expensive compared to the other. The finer it is the easier it will enter the melt.

Laguna now sells a flameware body so you can get a 25# at Laguna/Aftosa location in Fl

Laguna now sells a flameware body so you can get a 25# at Laguna/Aftosa location in Fl

Laguna now sells a flameware body so you can get a 25# at Laguna/Aftosa location in Fl

So I am testing some new liner glazes today to look for one to replace my go to I have used for 40+ years. I opened my glaze book and found one TRJ emailed back in the day from this site, also wishing me a Merry Christmas . For those that do not recall him he was another professional full timer like me from Canada. After a few years of back and forth  emails we were going to meet at an upcoming NCECA but alas he got sick and passed away. His posts live on here just like mine will when I'm gone. He shared info freely as many do on this site. I mixed up his liner cone 10 reduction glaze  today and will test it in coming week. It was good today thinking about a man I never met and what may have been. Now I may be using his liner glaze on a zillon pots if I like it. Thanks  TOM akaTRJ
On that note I did meet another Potter last week at a Crafts Fair in Saint Louis and we did a mug exchange . I was there twofold to visit with my wifes sister who moved 1 hour south of STL  last year. Also we drove south 3 hours to see the eclipse which was fabulous with clear skies our second one in  the past 7 years. It was a joy to meet another potter from this site and share stories and ideas.I had my  coffee in his copper red mug this morning.Its a small planet really.

So I am testing some new liner glazes today to look for one to replace my go to I have used for 40+ years. I opened my glaze book and found one TRJ emailed back in the day from this site, also wishing me a Merry Christmas . For those that do not recall him he was another professional full timer like me from Canada. After a few years of back and forth  emails we were going to meet at an upcoming NCECA but alas he got sick and passed away. His posts live on here just like mine will when I'm gone. He shared info freely as many do on this site. I mixed up his liner cone 10 reduction glaze  today and will test it in coming week. It was good today thinking about a man I never met and what may have been. Now I may be using his liner glaze on a zillon pots if I like it. Thanks  TOM akaTRJ
On that note I did meet another Potter last week at a Crafts Fair in Saint Louis and we did a mug exchange . I was there twofold to visit with my wifes sister who moved 1 hour south of STL  last year. Also we drove south 3 hours to see the eclipse which was fabulous with clear skies our second one in  the past 7 years. It was a joy to meet another potter from this site and share stories and ideas.I had my  coffee in his copper red mug this morning.Its a small planet really.

I should add I put my large shallow porcelain sink  and water setup  with high ball valve pipe and hose setup in studio from a salvage yard in 1973.  The sink is shallow but large.That was 51 years ago. Lot of water thru the screens  since then.

I used 2 old fashion galvanized hoops with  brass screens for decades with two sticks over a bucket until I bought a Talisman. Now I have three if them hanging -bought two used from other hobbyists who sold out. I have one for white glazes and one for dark and one that just hangs. Many people buy one and find their set up cannot clean them well. The trick is a tall faucet in studio with a rubber or in my case silicone  hose as I can put a 5 gallon bucket in sing or spray out the sieve when done with it. Once you master the plumbing they work fine. in a small sink its to hard to clean them. I have been to NZ to the factory on the north Island in thge 90s and bought spare parts as well. I have about 30 years now in using them and never  looked back. Now the other day I was doing smaller than 1000 grams and used one of the tiny smaller Talisman  from Laguna clay baby sieves .These are made from PVC with stainless screen. I use an 80 mesh for all sieving as well no matter what the sieve.
The Talisman is made for large batches like 5 gallon buckets or larger. I do not consider it a hobby size deal as its to big.

I should add I put my large shallow porcelain sink  and water setup  with high ball valve pipe and hose setup in studio from a salvage yard in 1973.  The sink is shallow but large.That was 51 years ago. Lot of water thru the screens  since then.

When I was a student I used a metal lunchbox-still have it.easy to clean and when open it was easy to access

So I am testing some new liner glazes today to look for one to replace my go to I have used for 40+ years. I opened my glaze book and found one TRJ emailed back in the day from this site, also wishing me a Merry Christmas . For those that do not recall him he was another professional full timer like me from Canada. After a few years of back and forth  emails we were going to meet at an upcoming NCECA but alas he got sick and passed away. His posts live on here just like mine will when I'm gone. He shared info freely as many do on this site. I mixed up his liner cone 10 reduction glaze  today and will test it in coming week. It was good today thinking about a man I never met and what may have been. Now I may be using his liner glaze on a zillon pots if I like it. Thanks  TOM akaTRJ
On that note I did meet another Potter last week at a Crafts Fair in Saint Louis and we did a mug exchange . I was there twofold to visit with my wifes sister who moved 1 hour south of STL  last year. Also we drove south 3 hours to see the eclipse which was fabulous with clear skies our second one in  the past 7 years. It was a joy to meet another potter from this site and share stories and ideas.I had my  coffee in his copper red mug this morning.Its a small planet really.

I feel that whatever works for you with slip use that . If it works use it. I will add that in my clay body and calc class back in collage we tested all types of attachments (long before magic water ) and what was leaned that scoring and slip make for stronger bonds. It's a night and day difference  so score and slip . If you are not that you are making weaker bonds.

I feel that whatever works for you with slip use that . If it works use it. I will add that in my clay body and calc class back in collage we tested all types of attachments (long before magic water ) and what was leaned that scoring and slip make for stronger bonds. It's a night and day difference  so score and slip . If you are not that you are making weaker bonds.

So I am testing some new liner glazes today to look for one to replace my go to I have used for 40+ years. I opened my glaze book and found one TRJ emailed back in the day from this site, also wishing me a Merry Christmas . For those that do not recall him he was another professional full timer like me from Canada. After a few years of back and forth  emails we were going to meet at an upcoming NCECA but alas he got sick and passed away. His posts live on here just like mine will when I'm gone. He shared info freely as many do on this site. I mixed up his liner cone 10 reduction glaze  today and will test it in coming week. It was good today thinking about a man I never met and what may have been. Now I may be using his liner glaze on a zillon pots if I like it. Thanks  TOM akaTRJ
On that note I did meet another Potter last week at a Crafts Fair in Saint Louis and we did a mug exchange . I was there twofold to visit with my wifes sister who moved 1 hour south of STL  last year. Also we drove south 3 hours to see the eclipse which was fabulous with clear skies our second one in  the past 7 years. It was a joy to meet another potter from this site and share stories and ideas.I had my  coffee in his copper red mug this morning.Its a small planet really.

I feel that whatever works for you with slip use that . If it works use it. I will add that in my clay body and calc class back in collage we tested all types of attachments (long before magic water ) and what was leaned that scoring and slip make for stronger bonds. It's a night and day difference  so score and slip . If you are not that you are making weaker bonds.

I use the slip from my hands throwing medium and larger forms. I keep in in tall plastic open container with a piece of light plastic over it. If it gets thick we add  a splash of vinegar. Sometimes no vinegar for months.  Thgis slip is always teh same body we are working with and water is not added. I also collect from splash pan if needed quickly, gthge thicker stuff .Never bothered about magic-I learned ceramnics before those concepts where born and never needed them so never thought about doing them later. Now I will add we handle thousands of mugs every year in porcelain and getting the handles on same day is the norm with the clay all the same moisture content. Handles,  on then cover with loose light plastic sheets that night uncover and let dry. If any small cracks appear I use a thin wood stick to rub them out while loading them in bisque kiln. (pro tip I leaned from another potter in the 80s) then they never show up again. Also if you do this while loading that saves handling them another time which is all about time saving which is what am all about with clay.

More chimney (taller for sure to suck better).
That dampermaybe low as you said 5 bricks up from floor, How tall is that in inches? Low. if it was waist high the flame/heat expands out of the chamber and then gets reduced down and then expands again after the damper The damper that close has little expansion space which will slow draft down a s well. A taller stack may help this flaw.
I cannot tell how much flame expansion space you have?
The double expansion is spelled out well in a few books like Nils Lou  space age kilns.If I recall-its be awhile so I hope i have that right. I biult the double  expansion stack in my salt kiln and its works great with less taller chimneys .I have 7-8 feet brick and 8 feet of heavy stainless pipe
Read up on making cone pack making. Cones should face slightly away from each other so than do not fall on each other for better reading-good temp records count

Speaking of Books there is one being made now that is all about the place I learned the most in Ceramics. I wrote a piece for that books which is in the editing stages now.
It was called the Laundry 
In the 50's-60s it was a commercial Laundry. In the late 60s it was bought by the Humboldt State University and turned into a pot shop. It has floor drains (wood covered cement troughs that drain out). They added a kiln room off the back. The builing is one huge barrel arch roof. A really great pottery setup for teaching.
Back then my mentor Reese Bullen  (who started the Art Dept there) hired a new instructor to help him teach ceramics from Alfreds as a recent gradute Lou Marak -it was 1969. I came a few years later to that program.
They hired another Alfred grad the year I came as well  (1972). It was the heyday of ceramics for this school. It was after the war and it was ahuge open learningtyransition time in ceramics-from Volkus to Arneson clay was expanding. Thes e recenty Alfreds guys where on fire from leaning from the greats who taught and wrote at Alfreds. Rhodes and the like passed what they knew down to my teachers who passed that to us. It was a solid 5 years in immersion in all things clay and kilns for me.Many a teacher and potter came out the other side of that Laundry .
In my time I learned slip casting, low fire ,high fire , kiln firing, hand building ,slab work,clay and glaze formulation just to name a few. I Worked in work study program for years as kiln and glaze room tec.( Back then tec was not used) loading and firing kilns of all types.Salt to low fire electrics-with redution cone 10 gas as the standard .
The program slowly after many deacdes switched as did many programs to  around the country  in schools to sculture and making art-mostly low fire. This slowy in my view turned the ceramics program into a lesser one than the one I was in at that time. I have heard lots of feedback on this from students over the past 30 years
Now the University recently became Cal Poly Humboldt and humanities is at the botton of the pile now. They now have funding to build in massive science expansion 3 new parking structures and you gues it the Laundry will be scraped to put in a parking lot as Joni Mitchell once said in a song. The last 10 yeared ceramics professor retires this year (JUNE) and no one is fighting this stupid mistake. For me the university long ago lost the community support as they do not care about that.
Two of the old ceramic teachers is compiling this book on 50 years of the Laundry-its history and students. I am just one of those and one of the few that choose the production pottery route over teaching and also stayed local and am still producing . In my. time we once had over 20 full timers in this small area making funtional wares now its me. Last man standing full time. The laundry is a special place for me in my brain  as well as the people who shared what they knew way back in the early 70s with me. When folks  are buying and using my pottery they really are using pottery that came from my years at the Laundry and those who taught there at that time.
Ps this book is being complied and underwritten by a gallery In Davis Ca called the John Natsoulas Gallery. John is footing the bill
He has a press at gallery and has had a 30 year ceramic realationship with HSU ceramics and did a book on the UC Davis ceramics lab already
its a great thing he is doing for our local clay history-if you are ever in Davis Ca stop by that gallery its worth the trip-just look for the 15 foot  high ceramic cat you walk to enter the gallery. You cannot miss it.
https://www.natsoulas.com