Pres

Any way we look at it the future is coming fast, and it is cheaper to send a piece of software over the internet than to mail a package of parts. bbest, Pres

3-D printing is already an accepted manufacturing technique. Parts for equipment currently in use may be printed to replace old parts. The idea that someday you will pay a price for a piece of software to enter into your printer to make a new home decoration, machine part or such is not that far off. As with photography taking someone like Ansel Adams to raise the craft to an art form, it may take someone to raise 3D printing to an art form. best, Pres

Hi folks, once again no new questions in the pool, so I will pose a question that seems appropriate for the times even though I believe it to have been discussed in the forums in one way or another. . . . . . . QotW: Do you draw a line in the sand about technology when it comes to your studio or anything Ceramic? This idea of technology involved in the arts seems to be ongoing whether you are a photographer, graphic artist, animator, painter, sculptor or potter. Much of these and many more forms of art and craft have been hit by the tech bug in one way or another. Photography has gone digital, and yet we see a renaissance of film photography going on. Graphic art and design has gone almost completely to digital, even though concept work may still be done with paper and pencil. Technology is not something that we can hold back it appears, and I would not want to. However, there is a polarization involved with technology, there are those that fear that the use of technology is not true to the art or craft it is used in. I have personally seen people's lack of understanding and prejudices cloud their opinions almost appearing to be on a Witch hunt when it comes to something new as when I introduced a course in Digital animation and music with a fellow Music teacher at my high school. Oh well. Some may assume that I bought my kiln years ago with out a setter and fire by heat color and cone packs that I do so out of fear of losing control, not at all. When I purchased my kiln Orton kiln setters were the top of tech for the day. I wanted to be able to fire up and down, with a cone setter this is awkward, but not difficult, but I figured learning to do it without the setter would be good for me. My kilns at school had setters on them, and I used them constantly changing cones up or down to match what was firing or what I saw happening in the kiln. I was always very aware of "zones" where things would work better whether firing reds, or greens or colors with iron or chromium. Time gives you a lot of insights. Even though I have often thought of adding a controller, wonder now if it is worth it on this 35 year old kiln. I also insisted on adding a slab roller, extruders, and other pieces of equipment when working in the HS studio, going to digital glaze calculation as soon as possible, doing spreadsheets for glaze formulas and anything to make my job easier. I have not gotten into 3-D ceramic printing, and doubt if I ever will, just as I have not done a lot of casting; I am more of a hands in the mud kind of guy. I also like the idea of wedging the clay, throwing on the wheel as exercise that is good for my arthritis. So I will ask of all of you: QotW: Do you draw a line in the sand about technology when it comes to your studio or anything Ceramic? I think it is obvious I don't draw a line just prefer to work the way I do. best, Pres QotW: Do you draw a line in the sand about technology when it comes to your studio or anything Ceramic?

Eye sight is still good, but my tendency to fall asleep, or miss an alarm is becoming more possible. Watching a kiln constantly is tedious and exhausting. I have pretty well timed firing length to make things easier, but then replacing elements, varied packings and changes in my electric from the city are factors that make constant monitoring necessary. We all deal with it so pot on! best, Pres

@Bill Kielb, you may not realize that I fire without any controllers or setters. My L&L was ordered without them in the 80's. I have fired almost entirely with heat color and cone packs. However, am considering a controller to make life easier as I get older. best, Pres

I have always had a tendency to leave top two plugs out, when bisquing. The glaze load gets the top two out until 1200F. , Then I put them in. I have had problems in the past with poor color and found that the plugs out helped get crisper brighter colors. Firing down slightly also gave me a little more depth and crystallization. Some of this may have been because of waxing bottoms. best, Pres

ONce again there are no new suggestions for questions. I have noticed that there seems to be concern about doing shows with the Covid situation, and up till this point I have tried to stay away from Covid when asking questions, and will continue to do so. So ignoring Covid (if possible) if you do retail shows, what are you most comfortable with in the way of shows? I started out years ago, by joining the local Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, Blair County. I was a founding member, and therefore a party involved with by laws, activities and meetings. We decided to jury within the chapter, and that any member wishing to be in a local Guild sponsored would need to be juried in the chapter. I was one of the first juried in, and later became a juror. We did a show at Christmas time for a few years, then I did some local shows in the Summers, mostly finding it a waste of time as they were too small to draw a proper crowd, a beginning but expensive. At the same time as this was happening the Penn State festival was having changes and their local artist groups were complaining about lack of local artists being represented. This brought about a separate jurying that allowed work in person after slides to be judged for the local division. In the beginning the locals were located in one area, then over the years spread over the entire 400+ slots. This was a large show, and I did it for about 7 years. I loved doing the show, even though it was a lot of work, and I met a lot of local people. My wife helped me at the booth, and at times a friend of ours. I often would have to return home during the day to unload a kiln and make certain I had stock. After 7 years my wife was pretty burned out, as was I trying to teach in the Spring and throw pots at night to get up 10K of stock for the show. This was rough on family and our social lives to the point that when another venue opened up for shorter hours and better return I took it and became a college professor for the next 5 years teaching night and Summer classes. If I were to return to doing shows, at my age it would be local, small booth set up with easy to sell items with a few show pieces. No large booth, no orders, what you see is what you get sort of thing. Just to keep busy, but then again, a good display in a retail area would do as much good I think. QotW: if you do retail shows, what are you most comfortable with in the way of shows? best, Pres

@Callie Beller Diesel(last Dresden. . . still finishing, sad about Murphy, scary) Working with boxes can be really addictive, I did a run of potpourri burners in the 80's, tower with a ball shaped box on top, lid was carved with pierced decoration to allow the potpourri fumes to escape from the votive candle burning in the chimney base. So many variations of the same form can create some really neat pots. best, Pres

@Callie Beller DieselI really like the box form with the resist design. . . .works really well on the dark clay with the snowy glaze. I love making the boxes, and when I was doing them I could sell as many boxes as I could mugs. Time involved is about the same, but the finished effect looks more valuable for lots of people. I would display them with bath beads or salts, paper clips or other things. They work really well in bathrooms when you have toothbrush holders, soap dishes and other things for the bathroom. Some people even talked about using them for salt as salt pigs were not lidded. As far as cold, snow, ice, and all that comes with it. . .these aged bones are not up to it . keep it! best. pres

@liambesawSpiral wedging was one of the techniques I taught when teaching, along with cut and slam, and the rams head. Spiral takes the least energy when wedging the most clay. . . .very efficient. I have read some good descriptions in books, but videos help the most, or a teacher than does demo, hand on hand, and then critiques as you wedge. Tough to do otherwise. best, Pres

Hi folks, Once again there are not new questions in the QotW pool, so I will pose one I was thinking about when wedging clay. Everyone has a "go to" point or comfort zone, for wedging, throwing, rolling out slabs, and other things. Myself I figure over 15# is work when wedging. When it comes to throwing, 25# is my limit, but then I don't often do that, only for large jars and vases. I usually limit my throwing off the hump to 15# as that will easily get me a good hour or two of throwing for stems or chalice bowls. Most recently I have been running some experimental ideas on chalices, so use about 8# of clay. When rolling out slabs I limit my clay to about 8# as I don't have a slab roller, but use a 25 inch maple one. Some people run their limits because of their kiln sizes, or their own physical limits. While others will find work arounds for their dreams, as in an extra kiln section, combination throwing and handbuilding, or making modular pieces to assemble later. Putting this together in a QotW: What is your go to" point or "comfort zone" when dealing with clay weights or sizes for your work? best, Pres

I make mine with separate drain platter. I have given several sets at Christmas time, and found many people use them for all sorts of fruit on a counter or table, others for rinsing berries and grapes or other small fruit. I hadn't ever considered suing them as a steamer on the stove in a lidded pot, but will consider it next time we do mussels. I put an inside swirl line using a small rounded wooden tool to make a nice groove from bottom to top, then put a series of holes following the swirl line getting larger as they move toward the rim. I also flair the rim as in most of my bowls so that it is easy to lift them without a handle. best, Pres

Hi folks, sorry this is late, but I have been having trouble coming up with a new question for the QotW. . . . imagine that! However, lately I have seen the strands that refer to measuring sizes, using a variety of ideas, so I decided to ask: What form of measurement do you use when making pieces, and what sort of preplanning do you do? My own measuring process depends on the type of work I am doing. I have often said that I throw off the hump when making much of what i do in the way of chalices, small jars and lids. I really did not go into much more than the throwing, saying that I use measurements like tennis ball, base ball, golf ball, or softball for measurement. These I form on the top of the hump, by my hands and using the shapes as equivalent to weights. When I first started throwing off the hump, I found that weighing out balls of size, and matching that size when throwing was a good way to go. Tennis ball was approximately 1lb depending on clay wetness. When throwing larger pieces, I have some charts from various potters that list sizes that are now annotated by me for my sizes and throwing style. If throwing several large pieces that have to match, I use either calipers or a pointer device. Rarely do I use a ruler when measuring, unless for height. However, when making small jars I have a board that has several measurements marked as straight lines with end marks for setting up calipers. I also use plumbing parts for chucks to trim lids with that makes it really easy to get the same size diameter. When it comes to handbuilding, I start with a sketch. Then I use sketch proportions to help me figure sizes of base, and height, but the rest is more jigsaw puzzle assembly. Usually no more measurements than the base size, and the approximate height, both measured by ruler as sort of a bounding box. Once again, QotW: What form of measurement do you use when making pieces, and what sort of preplanning do you do? best, Pres

Yeah, well I have both. best, Pres

@SorceryI can only imagine what that would do to my cholesterol problems! best, Pres

@Mark C.I understand your concerns. Surgery 6 years ago on the rt thumb left me with a dead joint in that thumb and limited movement. Surgery that works out that way is not a solution for me. I still have quite a bit of grip as most potters do, and my wrists do not seem to be majorly affected by the arthritis. However the last joints on my fingers all seem to be getting knobby. I believe that part of that is the way I have thrown for years hooking the last joint of the lft hand fingers to pull the clay on the inside. They naturally have a hooked position even at rest, and only straighten out if forced. I will resist any surgery as long as I can. Everyone's health concerns are different, and with progressive arthritis you have to make your own choices. best, Pres

Went to a orthopedic surgeon last week. My biggest concern was some cysts that have appeared on the lt wrist, and the rt second finger knuckle. X-rays of both hands have revealed areas of arthritis on second joints of fingers. In the end the Dr. asked about my pain, I answered that there was discomfort, not pain, and that I would work in the clay when things got sore and it would go away. He said that when it got bad to let him know and he could fix it. How I asked? "fuse the joints causing the pain. I said Why would I do that, as I got up to leave! best, Pres

@JohnnyKThat is not a little pat on your back, take a bow! Major applause! best, Pres

Hi folks, there has not been a new question occuring in the QotW pool so I will bring forth a new one. I have been getting back into the shop of late as I have started bowling again and time is limited. However, I was assembling chalices, both pouring and regular, for communion sets, and found them going together very well, with the use of the a slight change in plumbing chuck on the GG. My original chuck had a taller rise of @10". I decided I did not need that height for the stem to fit into when trimming them, so I cut off 4" to make the pipe section 6" tall. Much more stable, and easier to use. Still have longer 8" section if needed. Big improvement with a little tweaking has made trimming the stems easier, and thus the whole assembly process is easier. My pat on the back! So what have you done of late, small or large that you can say "Well Done" or as a QotW: What have you done of late that makes you think "Done well" or pat yourself on the back? best, Pres

@Callie Beller Dieselrecently queried in the QotW pool: I think we need a thread on all the intrepid studio pets out there! How many dogs out there are eating dried trimmings? Any cats insisting on “collaborating” while the clay is wet, or on photo day? I really haven't had any pets in the shop, so I can't attest to the animals getting into the shop. Ohh wait, there was one incident several years ago. We have a garage that I have claimed as my shop. It is brick, and had an old door, that sometimes in the weather would blow open. I had it happen one winter, and did not notice it, probably for a few days. I did hear something one night late, sounded outside, but didn't see anything from the front bedroom window, sounded like quite a cat fight. I did notice the open garage door, later, and closed it. As winter is pretty well too cold for the brick garage, it was Spring before I was in there again. Shop had an odd sickly sweet odor that I recognized from previous experience. . . searched for a while to find the source. . . a large dead rat that look like it had been pretty much torn apart by more than one cat, but I don't know how many were involved. Yep only animal situation in the shop, took a while to clean it all out, but no more rats since. so once again, How many dogs out there are eating dried trimmings? Any cats insisting on “collaborating” while the clay is wet, or on photo day? best, Pres

Of course if it is battery votive, no problem. best, Pres

@Callie Beller Diesel, Years ago, probably in the early 80's, I bought a set of cookie cutters themed on the 12 days of Christmas. They were high quality vinyl/plastic and had ribbed decoration to decorate details in the cookies. A little alteration in them made them perfect for slab Christmas ornaments. We only stained them, and added a nice red or green bow to them and gave them to the support staff at the HS for all their service as Christmas gifts. Much appreciated, and I still hang some on our tree. Wish I could find the set, as it got lost in moving years back. best, Pres

Great video source, best, Pres

Hi folks, no new questions in the question pool, so I will pose one for you hand builders. QotW: When slab building, do you use a form , work from a template, or from scratch? I used to teach all ages of children during my career, either HS when in the regular year, or middle school and elementary in Summers and after regular school hours. During this time I taught using slump molds, hump molds, rock forms, and other ways of creating pottery over a form with a slab. I also taught my HS students to do front, side and top projections to base measurements on to create geometric forms like fairy houses and other things. I never taught my favorite way of constructing with slabs which was to do a planning sketch of what I wanted to build and then roll out a few slabs and start working to create the sketch. These usually ended up quite detailed, and at the same time took hours, but as a side project when teaching the kids, it got them to be a little more innovative in their own forms. Once again, I will ask When slab building, do you use a form , work from a template, or from scratch? best, Pres