Pres

I don't know how many times I stressed to students that throwing a bowl by starting with a cylinder style open up with a flat bottom was just a dish! Maybe I am a stubborn purist, but a bowl has a rounded inside, a smooth curve from one edge to the other through the bottom. In the long run they got the idea, and admitted they worked much better than a flat bottom. best, Pres

Hi folks, once again nothing new on the QotW pool. So I will put forward the following: When do you decide? You are getting ready to throw, and the wheel being as immediate as it is as compared to hand building, when do you decide what to make? My own experience has changed the time for this decision over the years. When still young and learning to throw in college, I had set parameters in Ceramics 1, throw a 9 inch cylinder with 3# of clay. This allowed me to continue on and keep pots, but then what to make of a cylinder. . . .naturally MUGS. Ceramics 2 came around, and I started doing vases, casseroles and other things, never really thinking about weights or size, just what I thought would work. After undergrad, I started throwing and demonstrating as part of my teaching job, and it was about doing what I could do well, cylinders for pitchers or vases, or other things of size to impress the students, and demonstrate technique. Grad work came with time for post grad credits for permanent teachers certification. Here again things were pretty open, other than doing different genres, raku, salt firing, reduction firing, and a required variety of forms. When I started throwing at home, I just made, if I sat down with a large piece of clay 20# or so, it became a large lidded jar or vase. Then I became more interested in repetition, bought a scale and started throwing in repetition, trying to repeat a form in variations. So the gist here is that in the beginning I was forced into a decision, then later just sat down and what ever came to mind I made, later as I became more interested in functional forms I started weighing out with the intention of making a series of chalice, patens, honey jars or whatever. The decision time is more deliberate and often from need of stock rather than the fun of throwing. I know that there are others out there that take need to the extreme also, knowing that if they have to have 100 of something, that is what they throw. Not their decision, but more of a business decision. So for the QotW: When do you decide what you will make when starting to work? I have spoken about mostly wheel, but those of you that handbuild, is it with a sketch, just an idea, or just playing around? Wheel throwers, is it the day before, from need, an idea, before weighing out clay, or some other time? best, Pres

Bill, in answer to your query, when I said lots of variation, with different efforts, this took years with gestation time in between, thinking about what would work better. The last one are better, and once you understand the process, and can throw consistently these little thing off the hump, making 20 at a shot is not difficult or majorly time consuming. They certainly have sold well. best, Pres

Hulk recently asked in the QotW pool: What (in a functional piece) elicits "I love this" for you? Babs replied in the same pool: Its feel in my hand . Its "balance" when in use. How it looks to my eye. How it fits in my cupboard. And Its functionality Not taking time to prioritize but bottom one is essential but then.... I really don't know as I could improve on her answer, other than to add. . . I often try to improve on the functionality of pieces. As an example my honey jars with the built in honey spoon is an adaptation to keep bugs out of the honey when outside on the deck or elsewhere. I went through several variations before I came up with one that worked well, and was not too great of a time addition to the project. In the end when dealing with this I have to ask was the improvement worth the effort? Asking once again: What (in a functional piece) elicits "I love this" for you? best, Pres

Hulk recently posted in the QotW pool: Still curious what mentor/mentee experiences others have had with regard to throwing? Hulk adds to this question by stating: I started at the local JC Ceramic lab, where short demonstration introduces skills required for upcoming assignments, then practice. From there, anyone struggling and/or having questions and/or asking for help would get some one on one or small group. I as (still am) ok with that. I have/am learning by practice, making mistakes, and observing others. Isn't it interesting what we see when observing others - particularly what we didn't see earlier? ...aha! For myself (Pres), even though I thoroughly believe that learning to throw is much like learning how to ride a bike; I believe that good practice can be taught, reinforced, and improved upon with the aid of an experienced teacher. First to cover my beginning statement, much of life depends on what is referred to as a priori knowledge that is pre existing knowledge to help learn something. However, riding a bike is something that you really don't have a lot of pre learning to help you out. Much the same when working on the wheel. The coordination of using the foot pedal, you can relate to the gas pedal on the car as it makes things go faster. but how do you learn the right pressure to move the clay, to center it, to brace yourself for greater strength/pressure on the clay, or how to gauge the thickness of the walls or the depth of the floor? All of this must be learned by viewing others, practice, practice and. .. . well you get the idea. In the beginning a good demonstrator/ teacher is paramount to understanding the steps in the process, the general body positions, the positions of the arms, hands and finger, and the speed appropriate for the stage of the throwing at hand. Only practice will really allow you to approximate the steps demonstrated and end up successfully. My last sentence of the opening paragraph states that a good teacher observing can make good improvement on what is already learned. I have seen many adults taking an adult ceramics class that I taught in the Winters at the HS where I taught, and where I still help out. Many of these folks are art teachers, or had ceramics in HS, college or both. All too many times they have developed weak habits when throwing, that as an experienced thrower I can help them to correct, improve upon and by doing so allow them to throw larger amounts of clay with greater confidence and experiment with forms they would have never been able to accomplish before even though the desire was there. So to return to the original question from Hulk: What mentor/mentee experiences have others had with regard to throwing? best, Pres

Hi folks, once again it seems the pool of questions is dried up with nothing new offered. Again, I will try to offer a question of interest: How do you prefer to organize your tools for your work areas? I have several work set ups, that I use in the studio. My wedging table does multiple duty and has a few plastic trays that are attached to the front for tools, like the wire cutters and a putty knife for scraping. I also have a shelf underneath that the banding wheel and scale store on. I have a flip down cover that fits tightly over the original surface that is made of plywood to wedge the white clay on, the darker clays on the original concrete surface. I also have two containers stored underneath of magic water. . . one lighter, one darker. I also have a tray near the wall where the table is attached with a brush, and round dowel like rib, and tooth brushes for joining handles and pieces to pots. For throwing, I have a CXC with a stand up square wooden trimming guard that stands in front of the wheel on end. This allows me to set a kitchen wire basket with partitions to hold numerous ribs, stamps and other tools. I also keep a bucket on the wheel tray, and a few most often used tools. When I start trimming, I remove the top kitchen basket, and remove the CXC splash guard to slide the trimming tray in place. On the right of the trimming tray is a magnetic strip where I hand may trimming tools not in use. I also have cabinet next to the wheel with several drawers I can open and retrieve tools or stamping materials as needed. There are many of you out there producing many more pots than I, and have excellent organization skills to set up your work areas. . pass these ideas along! So I will ask once again. . . How do you prefer to organize your tools for your work areas? best, Pres

Marcia, the amount of depth in number one is amazing along with the ever so significant use of the leaf motif with the blue green. . . very stunning! Number 2 continues to emphasize the great body of knowledge you have amassed with fuming and soluble salts. . . . when does the book come out? best, Pres

I would be working too hard with a cart like that, as I had to move 2K from the street to under the kayaks that are covered with a heavy tarp. I load up a horizontal cart, and in 30 minutes had it all moved and stacked on the 12X4 palette I had built to keep them off the concrete. best, Pres

Used to place old bath towels wet in the Walker, for the Summer months as it got no use. Saved having to clean out completely before going home for the Summer. Also would put towels in the top of all the Brute garbage cans with sealed lids on. Clay in the Fall was always so fat when coming out of the buckets it allowed time for the new clay boxes to age a bit. best, Pres

Add to the list a good convertible horizontal/vertical hand truck, especially if your clay in dropped by palette in your front driveway and you have gates too narrow for a skid lift! best, Pres

Used to use an old fridge outside to keep pots in for trimming. I could keep them for a week or so in the fridge section with occasional spraying. I also could keep smaller pieces, mugs, small bowls, chalice pieces, in the freezer section for 2 months before to dry to trim. Got rid of the fridge a few years ago as it was just to ugly and space consuming outside. Now I just cover with plastic and trim the next day or so. bet, Pres

Hi folks, ONCE AGAIN, no new suggestions in the question pool. I will fall back on something touched on a while back, but maybe mentioned in a different way: What tool or piece of equipment non related to Ceramics would you recommend? All of you have probably heard me brag about my re-purposed electric caulk gun, and the use of plastic plumbing parts for trimming chucks, or using bamboo kitchen utensils to make wooden ribs, or stick blenders for mixing glazes in the commercial ceramic sprayer. I will not go through these again. However, I would recommend that anyone getting into ceramics not waste their time on cheap shelving, as it can only lead to disaster when a shelf collapses from weight, or tips over for some reason. Years ago I purchased a few commercial grade shelving units from a big box store that would hold over 2k lb. in weight. This holds most of my dry glaze and clay materials without the worry of tipping or collapsing. The other advantage of shelving for these heavy bags is to keep it off the floor to stay dry, and to save on my body when moving them around or filling bins etc. . That also brings me to another tie with the shelving. a good steady metal cart that allows you to move a bin under the bag, and cut the bag on the shelf to fill the bin. Have a good day folks, and think about What tool or piece of equipment non related to Ceramics would you recommend? best, Pres

Denice, I also recycle my clay. First because I live in the city, and would not know or want to dump clay anywhere. Second because I believe it is a resource, and try to use it. Happy to know someone out there has the patience for coil pottery, and uses colored clays to enhance it. best, Pres

Since there was no recent QotW in the question pool, I will once again pose a question: What process do you use with the clay you use, including glazing and firing range? I have used several different clays over the last several decades, starting with a wide firing range clay that I fired to ^6, didn't work out too well as it never seemed to be mature. Then I went to a clay similar to the one I used in the HS, a ^5-6 clay that was quite nice, very throwable, good for handbuilding, and speckled, however mine did not speckle. This was so that I could not be accused of using school clay(watch your back). After I retired, I did use the speckled version, but stopped using it as I became concerned of the manganese in mortars, and I was getting a little bored with the clay. Next I started using a hazelnut brown and a white that both were ^5-6. I found the hazelnut great to throw with, but glazes turned out darker. Then started to glaze both with a white glaze before spraying on colored glazes over top. I find that this has allowed me to get the color to accent the textures I stamp/incise into the pot before shaping. It still seems to be a learning process as now I believe the white glazes underneath leaches color out of the sprays on top, last batch I use the white glaze only on the inside and down an inch of the white clay pieces . Added as an edit: Whooops, guess I do need to say that most of what I do is wheel thrown, with some going to slab construction with wheel thrown components. Most of the ware is functional, unless it gets big enough to be considered super functional. Stoneware clay is what I use, as I prefer the feel over the buttery feel of porcelain, but that too may change. The step in that direction would be to find a porcelain at ^6 that I can like. Asking one more time. .. . . . What process do you use with the clay you use, including glazing and firing range? best, Pres

At least it was a good time to clean out the shop! best, Pres

It makes me wonder about so much that I used to take for granted when teaching. Think I have told the story here before about finding radioactive materials in our copper enamels back in the 70's. Wonder what amount of precaution was taken back then for mining, and refining these materials for packaging and use? Look back to the different things that later were found to be harmful. . . Fiesta ware??!! I think almost everyone had a set of that, or some pieces in the 60's, I know my parents had the green set. best, Pres

Time to stock up?? best, Pres

Recently, Min posted by way of @preeta : @preeta brought something up that I've been pondering for years. In this thread she asks "i wonder are potters now going to treat cobalt blue like blood diamonds? Whole ‘nother Subject." I realize as potters there's a strong probability that the cobalt we use is from the DRC and child labour plus health and safety concerns is a very valid concern in the mining practices there. We are not the reason for the mining, battery market seems to be the big driver now, but how do we feel about using cobalt or for that matter do we look into the mining practices of any of the materials we use? Cadmium inclusion stains to my knowledge are only being made in China and India, now why is that? (rhetorical question) For myself, even though I have been aware of the problem, I believe that much of the fix may be as much a problem for potters as the cure is for the children. Conditions in 20% or more of the mining operations use child labor in horrendous circumstances. However, as the demand for cobalt becomes more and more prevalent for car batteries, and other smaller modern batteries, the demand will climb, as will the need for more efficient methods of mining. This will mean mechanization, and other cost saving measures that will probably remove children from the equation. That said, it is rather certain by all predictors that the cost of cobalt will go up, and the welfare of the children will be in further jeopardy with this source of income. I will continue to buy cobalt, hoping that my suppliers buy from the 80%, but at the same time I use very little cobalt carbonate in my glazes, and no cobalt oxide. Asking in another manner, How will you treat the use of cobalt in your work? best, Pres

Chilly recently posted in the QotW pool: How far back/deep do you feel compelled to go in your pursuit of pottery (or insert another craft/art here)? As I am not what you would call a purist, I do not mix my own paints, or inks, but use limited palettes that are expanded greatly by my skill of mixing color, when using watercolor or acrylics. As an art teacher, it was what I used, and knew. As an art teacher also, over the years I became pretty acquainted with ceramics, and became most inclined to continue work with it. However, I have never been interested in pursuing the digging of my own clay, let alone the refinement of it. In the long run, I do what I did lately, bought clay! As far as glazes, I started out using studio glazes from my college classes. We were given a Nelson text to purchase, read, understand, but at no point in undergrad did we actually mix glazes. When starting to teach ceramics, as the teacher before me had used commercial glazes, I continued. However, he used ^06 clays and glazes, which I did not like to work with. He also used the crappiest of the Amaco white clays on hand. Yuch! When I started teaching all of the Ceramics classes as he was too busy with the other classes he taught, I moved everything to ^6. I started with powdered glazes, large lots, then as I became more secure, following grad classes, started mixing some from books, then started modifying these, and moved slowly into mixing all of the studio glazes. I really am not interested in mixing my own clays, as I really don't have the room for this type of studio, and I am also content with what I am and do. best, Pres

Oh MY! Questions in the question bank, glad to know folks are getting tired of me presenting my questions! LeeU recently posed the following: What is your most unapologetic, shamelessly proud, pat-yourself-on-the-back accomplishment of any type in your ceramics life (a terrific piece, a great sale, a sharp business strategy, a fine friend made, a good deed done, a land traveled, a discovery---etc. etc.)? Wow! that is a mouthful, but a thoughtful question. I can't say that there has been any one thing that stands out for me. There have been times I have won awards at a local juried show, or even been shown in a State wide juried show. There have also been the times when I had thrown very large forms, even for most of the other students around me at PSU. Then there was being elected chapter president for the Blair County Guild of Craftsmen, or more recently elected to the board of the Potters Council by members. All of these, are of note, but in the long run do not last very long. One of my most recent pats on the back came in the form of a letter from the church next door. Last year one of the church members, an older woman, requested that I make a pair of chalices and a long french loaf paten for the church in memory of her daughter that had passed recently. I told her I would be happy to do it, but that it would take me probably a year as I was in the middle of orders and would be into Winter when I could not get things done. She accepted that, and had been patient. Order delivered not too long ago, she was very pleased. The church letter came a week later stating that the Communion set had been used blessed and used for the congregation communion. The letter stated that they were so blessed to have such a great talent in their midst! If they only knew how so little of it was talent, but more trial and error, and making the paten 3 times! But I still pat myself on the back. . . softly! best, Pres

Liam Getting behind on documentation is one of my worst bads! Seems like there is never enough time. best, Pres

Table vase from recent firing. This one used a white glaze on the entire piece inside and out. As compared to the one before you can see how the white glaze bleaches browns on the SS 630

Liambesaw recently posted in the QotW pool: Which "newbie question" has most confused/confounded you? Oh to remember the days as a teacher, and hear so many questions, and so many frustrated students. There were times that I would give a simple answer to many question, be a Yes, or a No. Other times I would often be required to give a step by step demonstration that would answer many of the questions that needed answering, and after 20 or so demonstrations of the same process or idea, would leave little need for questions, as they had been answered. Then there were times when in the middle of a project the student would ask for where to go from here, and I would give them three alternative answers to the question. They would ask why I couldn't give one, simple answer was that if I only gave one, when the project was done with so many single answers on my part the concept for the project would be mine. However, There were questions that really had no answer that would satisfy the student. Why can't you just show me how to throw well enough that I can do it. Tell me how much pressure to apply? Should I use my thumb and fingers like you do? How do I know the difference in the thicknesses when I can't see them, but only feel them? How do you expect me to learn something by closing my eyes, I have to see? I could go on, but most of you have been on at least one side of this coin and many of you on both sides. For me, pottery especially the wheel, is sensual, it is like learning how to pet a cat or dog, touch a lover, or enjoy feeling a piece of fine sculpture, it is in the touch, the sense of it, without the eyes. To teach this is impossible, to learn this is as individual as of each us. It cannot be taught, only learned, guided, and learned some more. At the same time the clay shapes us as much we shape it. Early on, we may aspire to large pieces or grandiose ideas. Do we have the strength even if we have the skill. . . .no. So as we learn we build muscle, potters have muscles in places that many don't, the wrists, the forearms, the edges of the palms, and other places. At the same time we have learned to judge thicknesses and weights both visually and tactfully, and often using both senses together. Easy answers? NO! Hard learned skills, and answers, with often individually different understanding of the clay? So the next time you are confounded think back to the day when you may of asked that newbie question. Again, QotW: Which "newbie question" has most confused/confounded you?