Pres

Answer to this really depends on what and how your are joining the slabs. I have made flat panels of multiple slabs by simply starting from the top down. Put your pieces upside down and lay the lower pieces over top with magic water or slip between them, press lightly rubbing over the pieces as you put them together. This way the texture will have minimal softening. However, If you are assembling something standing, Join pieces with the same types of binder and then add in some thin coils on inside edges blended into the join. This technique can be used to build interesting freeform towers or containers that have much texture, but I always remember to leave "rest areas" of untextured slabs. All IMHO, best, Pres

I have found that clay that has frozen, may come out little wet when thawed on the outside. I cut the clay in 3rds flipping the outside slices inward and slam the block squarer then do the same with the top and bottom of the block. Clay that has been slop in the winter and freezes will become quite good when thawing on a board in a warm shop. I usually put the board over a bucket and let the water from the thawing slop drain to the bucket. Leave it sit covered with a plastic till next morning and it will be wedgeable. best, Pres

Basement or garage, I would store on some sort of rack. Keeps the boxes from rotting, and helps keep away some nasty bugs. best, Pres

@HoneyBee Pottery, if you are having trouble with the pictures, try this strand that is a tutorial on using win10 tools to size pictures for posting. best, Pres

Hi folks, not new question in the pool, so I will pose one. Recently we have had a lot of discussion of clay preparation, pugging, additives and other stuff. However, I don't remember very much about clay storage. I think it could be a good topic for discussion considering some folks have small amounts of clay to store at a time and others have tons to store. QotW: How do you store your clay? How much do you usually store at a time, where do you store it, and how much care does it need when using it after storage? Myself, I have a large kayak rack in front of the garage/shop. I built the kayak rack for our two 16 foot sea kayaks, and a 15 foot tandem recreational kayak. Under the kayak rack, I built a 2X6 high stand that is the width of a clay box, and 10 ft long. I can easily store 2000lb of clay outside under the kayaks with a large tarp tied down all around with access points in front to lift out the boxes. I usually slam a bag on the wedging table on all sides to wake it up, then use it. The next year, I start doing a little slice and slam because the clay has frozen and thawed several times. If into a third year do the same. best, Pres

There are ways, and then again tap centering the piece above would work if tapping higher. GG will work also with longer arms and bigger pillow area. All in the ingenuity and determination. I will never over look other techniques, and knowing how they work helps to figure new ways to use the GG if needed. best, Pres

I must have had a different class of students, they did listen well. I did teach 10-12, so a little more mature in most cases and class was 50 min. long. Knowing the basics even if you don't use them in life is useful. Glad to know you like the GG, it is a tool that I use often in almost everything I make excepting pieces that are too large for it. then I center by sight, feel, and concentric marked rings. best, Pres

Your handles have lost plasticity due to the drying you are doing. When your pots shrink, the pot shrinks more than the handle but the handle has already mostly dried. I would imagine the cracks are in the same place at the arch of the curve? Try putting the handles on right after trimming the pot, join them with slip or magic water, reinforce join, use you damp finger to pull/shape the handle and set aside for the next one. When done cover all with plastic over bat and then let dry. All IMHO best, Pres

Reconstituting bottled glazes was always a pain for me when teaching at the HS. Having to get the dried material out of the bottoms of the containers was pretty tough with the narrow neck of some jars. I often would have students clean out jars that I had used up, and save them. Then I would work on the dried out glazes. . . cut off the bottle just above the material inside, split down the side to the bottom and peal back the edges. Usually just doing this will pop out the dried glaze if that dry. If still wet cutting of the top makes the job easier to remove the caked material in the bottom once the wet stuff is drained. Back then I would use a ricer to mash up the old glaze, later would use the stick blender when I got one. I used to use gum arabic to add some body to the glaze, I also used some Epsom salts to the glaze from a container of saturated Epsom salts water. 1/2 to full teaspoon per pint, These methods were used in the early years of my teaching around 73- 76. I took over the ceramics classes in 74, and made a quick transition to powdered glazes from other manufacturers than the previous teacher used, as I was interested in moving the program to cone 6, and adding a wheel throwing component to the program. Hope you find some answers here, and a Hearty WELCOME to the forum! Best of luck to your continued work with the tiles. best, Pres

Hi folks, no new questions posed in the pool, so I will pose one that has been often asked around in the way of advice on the forum. Lately I have seen more interest in manipulating clay bodies or natural clays with additives and such. Some people have manipulated the clay bodies purchased with sand, and others use vinegar and other things to expand the plasticity of the clay body. QotW: Do you synthesize, formulate or modify the clay bodies for your use? I will have to say that I do very little with clay bodies happily buying clays that I have tested from my local (100 mi) Standard Ceramics. I have added grog to clay for throwing purposes, some granular manganese in some clays for speckling as I did with iron shavings, copper shavings and and granular rutile. I also would improve my slop clay with the addition of a1/2 cup of vinegar to one gallon of water for use when pugging and it would help after a week of storage. I am not comfy with mixing clays, as I did some in college for the courses, and found the dust and the mask and hoods and such pretty confining, along with the use of the Soldner tub type clay mixer combined with final pass through the Walker Pug mill with all of the safeties removed. best, Pres

I have done it, with mixed results. As @Babshas said the pots won't accept glaze. . .however there are workarounds. I heat the pots up first, one at a time, then dip and spray on the glazes. You have to handle the pots carefully as the glaze will not be as absorbed into the pot so it will rub off easily. All of my efforts have left some pots with more of a salt fired effect, or some with blotches of glaze and some thin areas. So it is a toss up. If these pieces are valuable to you. .. .don't! If you decide to do it alter your firing cycle for greenware as Babs has said also. best, Pres

Sorry to say, but I disagree with a hands off approach to teaching adults. Firstly, one needs to determine the skill level of the adult. If a beginner or novice to wheel throwing there are certain needs that I found very important other than the obvious hand positions and movements. There is the need to understand how much pressure is applied to the clay by either hand for centering and pulling. Interior hand and finger positions are difficult to see on smaller pieces, using a larger piece for demonstration and for hand positions lets 2-3 hands inside of the pot to help feel correct finger positions in relation to outside fingers. This also allows better understanding of the pressures needed in the beginning and end of a pull. More advanced students often could develop poor habits in arm positions (chicken winging), and finger positions relative to inside and outside of the pot. A coaching attitude at this point allows for further development and helps to correct the poor habits. It often will mean demonstrating the correct positions, and hands on to help the student to understand why one position is more effective than the other. All IMHO, best, Pres

Pictures are better. Looks like there is something going on with the touch up areas of your underglaze where it may be thicker. Too bad(I hate to say this) but looks like testing would have been your only way out. I know. . . . lots of us get in a hurry wanting to see the finished pieces, but here with all the pieces done. . ... .? At any rate try looking up the formula for the glaze. Post it here, maybe someone will have an idea. There are chemical reactions that cause purples, but certain conditions are usually needed for the kind of reactions you are getting. One is thicker underglaze coloring that may shiver or flake, interactions between the glaze and underglaze, and firing temps. best, Pres

Your image shows some pinholing towards the center, and some other anomalies I can't make out. Could you post a picture with less reflections in it? It may be that something in your transparent glaze interacted with the cobalt underglaze, not certain at this point. best, Pres

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

Over the years I have made several hollow pieces in my pots for one reason or another, The honey jars I make have hollow round or beehive shaped handles hollow inside, with a hole in the underside of the lid where the honey scoop stem is attached with an open end at the attachment point to the lid, Years ago I was making whistles hollow with open areas. At the same time I made rattles, clay balls dried or bisqued, placed inside of a thrown hollow form with a handle area trimmed for gluing a wooden dowel into. Many times I would put pin holes in pieces, but often not. I think in the long run it is about the joins and the dryness. If you have wet areas inside the void, the steam and the air expansion will stress join areas. I you make certain to have no wet areas and fire slowly your joins should not stress. All of course IMHO. best, Pres

Hi folks, @Kelly in AKrecently sent me a PM stating:Qotw- How about “Show us your...(pick one)... kiln, glazing station, throwing station.studio vibe, showroom, etc.” That could be fun. I don't have a recent picture of the shop, but will post one as soon as I finish other work. Lately I am working on the library shelving as we were delivered 40 shelves to stain and finish, and that is only the beginning. So QotW: What do working areas in your studio look like? Post a picture! Thanks for the question Kelly in AK! best, Pres

Used to tell students that there were 3 types of water in the pots, Mechanical, atmospheric. and chemical. One is the water that makes the clay pliable, second is the water in the air and the pot cannot dry more than the air around it, and the third is the water chemically inherent in the clay and glaze materials. All of these have to be mitigated before and during a successful firing. best, Pres

I moved this strand here so that it would be where most of the recent questions about new kilns and kiln firing is posted now. Sounds like you may have a calibration situation, and at the same time need help with the firing cycles @Amanda Hummes. @neilestrick who is very knowledgeable about kilns and firing will probably post in on this soon. Welcome to the forum, we hope you find many of your answers to questions here. Enjoy the journey! best, Pres

Hi folks, recently I have noticed a lot of articles out there about making ceramic tools out of other tools. Some examples are a recently posted salad tongs made into throwing tools and a motorized milk frother for drinks used to mix glazes. Of course I have posted on my own about using a motorized putty gun repurposed as a hand held extruder, and my favorite throwing tools made from a bamboo kitchen utensil set. I would like to know if any one has come up with more adapted/repurposed pottery tools using existing tools. QotW: What are your favorite repurposed/modified tools?

I agree with @Bill Kielbas two part epoxies have better adherence to all sorts of surfaces. best, Pres

Gosh folks, that wheel head looks like the one on my CXC, after twenty years of use. best, Pres

Looks like the area you want to join is uneven. You may consider using an epoxy putty to fill in the join between the two pieces and as @neilestricksuggested roughen up the top of the pedestal and the bottom of the vase to allow greater power to the epoxy join. best, Pres

Looking at your pieces, I am assuming that the coils are part of the square decoration in the slab. I wonder if the process might be easier if you carved the inset into the slab instead of adding the coils on. You could always make a wooden tool by drilling a hole in a piece of wood, then cutting the wood so that it cuts through part of the hole allowing you to crape clay away exposing a coil in the slab. Just a thought. best, Pres

Sounds like you may be having a problem with shrinkage in firing. Do you use any grog on the shelf when firing the horizontal coils? I used to use a salt shaker with larger holes to put down a surface of grog on my shelves when firing extruded tile trim pieces or other extrusions that had to lay flat for firing. As to the vertical coils, you are joining them to the slabs after assembly of the form? What if you mount them on the slabs before assembling the form? best, Pres