Pres

I have been throwing chalice stems for many years, and have found a few skills that make it easier to throw a long narrow stem. In the case of a stem bottle with a bellied out bottom with a long neck, I would start by throwing a tall narrow cylinder with thicker walls than normal. Then I use a curved throwing stick to belly out the bottom 3rd to the shape for the final vase. then I use the thumb first finger webs to collar the stem narrower (faster speed) , when I cannot get narrower because of corkscrewing I use a long narrow throwing stick to pull the stem thinner and to remove the corkscrewing (slower speed). I don't allow the corkscrew to get extreme. I finish the shaping with a wooden spoon shaped rib and slow speed. best, Pres

I moved this post here from the ICAN area so that @Christy Ann would get more traffic, and it would be more searchable. best, Pres

Hi folks, I have been working in the studio of late finishing up some pieces for next years communion sets, and doing some cremation urns for relatives. One of the jobs always on the finished glaze ware is to handle them feeling for sharp spots, rough edges etc. I have come to always use a diamond disc now on the bottom of the pieces to make them super smooth. As my pieces now are mostly footed except for mugs, the bottoms are glazed with clean foot rings. I also break the foot ring line with 3 cuts from a 1" pipe so that water will drain in the dishwasher. The final work on any pot is the feeling and the grinding! QotW: What are the steps you take after glaze firing with each finished piece? best, Pres

Hi all, I have to chuckle a bit over this discussion, as it has never happened to me in the past, because I always used cone packs firing the kiln to the drop of the cones. At school I used sitter with the mini cones then bars. Always kept the cones for glazing on a glaze ware shelf, and kept the cones for bisque on a greenware Unfired ware) shelf. In the last two years, I have noticed several times that I had set the kiln to ^06 for a glaze firing, or ^6 for a bisque as I am now using a kiln controller with a touch screen that uses a scroll of cone numbers. . . if not careful, easy to do. Thank goodness I always double check everything before turning the kiln on or even once again after starting it up. @Lainer, welcome to the forum. You will find that we are a pretty patient group, and happy to be of help. After all, the journey here is long and often has chuckles or hiccups!! best, Pres

Years ago, I had problems throwing tea cups and bowls off of the hump. After considerable frustration trying to fill an order for 2000 vessels I found a video of a Asian gentleman throwing off the hump. He separated a ball on the hump, and pulled a platter/pancake outward, then using both hands opposite sides-fingers underneath the platter he curled it up to make a cylinder. then continued to pull as normally we do. So looking in Hamer, I found a section about the clay particles and it showed a correct alignment that went from the flat bottom to curving in the corner to become the wall. Made sense to me and now all of my chalice bowls are thrown that way as were all of the honey jars I used to make and the lids for the honey jars. best, Pres

Hi folks, cooler here finally in Central Pa, the heat last week was unbearable in the shop a few days. I was talking to someone the other day who is a local plumber replacing fittings, installing hot water heaters etc.; he used to work for a large construction company installing pipe, water heaters all plumbing needed in large buildings. Got me to wondering about folks that do pottery. Do most of you work in clay as self employed, or do some of you work for a larger company doing ceramics related income, and maybe pot on your own? My personal background was teaching art as you know, and mostly Ceramics. Working weekends and nights as a hobbyist. QotW: As a potter, are you a hobbyist, self employed, or do you work for a larger ceramics company as a potter or support person? best, Pres

Less shadows with better lighting, easier to see work flawed or not! LED's really are unbeatable. best, Pres

plumbing to gather heat off the kiln for the hottub in winter! Seriously though, I would love to have windows if there is any view. My garage has one window looking onto the deck.so sad. best, Pres

My garage heater is a wall unit with fan! Pres

I have come to the conclusion that deep shelving is not as good as narrow shelving, free standing between the kiln area and the work area. Good spray booth, well delineated areas for each phase of work flow. Drain in floor for easy washing, with raised grid areas for wheel and other items that create messes. best, Pres

Hi folks, You know as you get older, sometimes you wonder. . . what if! You have probably done it at times, and if you had a chance done things differently. . I know I would, especially when laying out a studio. Over the years, I have done studio layouts three times. Once for home, twice for school, and one of those was from the ground up, and one as you go. Crazy, but the the school ground up was not ceramics, but a combined ceramics and Jewelry and Metalcraft with Art I and Painting all in the same room! It was a large room and a shared room with another Art teacher. We tried to lay it out with everything in its place, built in cabinets, workbench tables, torch area, kiln area, spray booth, enameling kiln and burnout kiln area and lots of storage. Yeah, a mess, especially once the budget cuts went in, and then when the class sizes were enlarged and then more periods of Ceramics and Jewelry and Metalcraft emerged! A mess that eventually pushed Ceramics into a little basement room with workbench tables the kiln in a corner with no ducting, and two motorized kick wheel and an Amaco two speed! About 4 years of politicking got me the bigger room and some budget for furniture and more storage. QotW: Given a new 15 X 20 space for a studio, what would be your first 5 things to do to it? best, Pres

Lots of sturdy metal shelving with ware boards. Bags or bins full of materials works well. Actually, I had students bring in boxes to size I thought they would need, along with plastic garbage bag and a margarine container for slip/magic water. Many student would bring in a plastic bin from home with a lid. These naturally worked as good storage for work in progress. best, Pres

@Elmoclayman, Lucky you! During my teaching career I had to do the room redo twice. Most times without a full equipment redo, but more furniture and other storage. In the first set up, we had locker storage under workbench tables with Maple tops. These lasted through the next move to another room. Most other storage was built in wooden cabinets that were more for a multipurpose art studio. Then I went to a large small basement room that had lunch tables for about 4 years. Next door was a storage room used for junk that was twice the size of the small room. Careful politicking with principals and superintendents got me that room also along with a budget for storage and tables. Ended up with a mix of larger cabinets and smaller lockers under the tables and large shelving against the back wall from a popular discount store that had an outlet in town. Drying cabinets were purchased along with wet cabinet. I built some wooden storage with dowels for kiln furniture, and did other improvements. A few things that I salvaged from the dissolution of the Shop classes included a band saw, drill press, and a belt/disc sander. We also purchased stools without backs that had a comfortable seat, and stools for potters wheels that had a small angled seat with a back support that gave good adjustable seating on the wheel. We had six when I retired. best, Pres

When firing my thrown plates for Communion sets, I have the best luck if the pieces are packed tight in the middle, next shelf just above the top of the plates below. I also have a tendency to leave them until completely cool. Not good to get in a rush with plates or platters. best, Pres

Going through the clay charts at Standard Ceramics lately, and thinking back to all of the interesting thoughts and discussions I have heard over the years. Wife says: Oooh! that's a pretty color why not that one? Hubby: stains everything, absorption is too high. . . glazes wont fit it. Wife: Aww you could do it. Hubby, Not interested! Wife: Oh. So how do you decide on a clay body, is it price, or fired characteristics, or working characteristics, or even just because you always use it, or is it word from others passed along? QotW: When buying clay bodies, what characteristics do you look for in the clay? Especially when buying a new body you have never used before. best, Pres

What cone/firing range are you aiming for with these? best, Pres

I used to have a Bailey extruder at the HS. It was mounted on a tripod mount with two wheels, used it with students for years. Later on I found out that Bailey had only designed that for the power extruder, as the manual extruder was deemed to be dangerous to use, falling over on the operator. We continued to use it until I retired. best, Pres

Hi folks, getting ready to mix up some more glazes for a glaze load. While doing this it occurred to me that some people don't weigh out their glazes, but use a volume method. I have never used a volume method for glazes, but know of some potters who do. However, I have some formulas that are by volume as in Magic Water, and some stain recipes. QotW: Weight or volume, which is your preference when mixing glazes? best, Pres

Years ago when I started up an adult class at the HS, I went through trying to figure the cost of a student's pieces. I started by weighing one of my pieces that was a demo glaze fired. Figured in the shrinkage of the clay, then the amount of wet clay that would be. Priced that then added a price for glazes and a price for firing. Broke this down to a price per pound. Price went up over the years, only the tuition price remained the same. 6 Saturdays, 9-12, $60. In the last year I ran two classes on Saturday as everyone knew I was retiring. We bought a lot of equipment with that tuition money over the years. 4 wheels, Griffin Grip, Bailey wall extruder, narrow standing work benches for glazing, potters stools for the wheels, and much more. Helped al lot with my budget restraints. best, Pres

As a Moderator, I am letting the Forum community know that there is an App out there for doing much of the organizational work for arranging classes, firing the kiln and measuring what is fired. Just do a google search and it may be yours at a price. Listing such is against the Terms of Use for the forum. Thank you for your patience. best, Pres

If I remember correctly there is a video somewhere of making a Vertical slab roller also, best, Pres

I have always tried to limit my number of clays so that I don't have to deal with mixed bodies. One clay is dark another white and that makes it easier. However sometimes trimmings do mix when I get lazy. However, both clays fire the same, and have the same characteristics but different colors. Occasionally you will see a dark streak or light one running in the body as I only hand wedge reclaim. When teaching, I had the Walker for pugging, but we never had more than one clay at a time in the studio . . . good old SC 200, or SC 112. They played well together, but I only bought one or the other each year. best, Pres

Lately I have been using the stencils, stamps and branches etc directly on the slab after rolling, actually embedding into the slab a design. In the slab piece here, I used a large slab, decorated completely then cut to slabs for use so the design went around the piece. After bisque, cobalt and iron stains were used under the glaze, Glazing was completed using dipping, pouring and atomizing layers of opaque, and transparent glazes to build up the surface. best, Pres

I have used stencils, and weeds, flowers, branches, artificial plastic greens and stems for spraying with the atomizer in the beginning and then the air gun. I don't worry about over spray as it is about building an image slowly. then I use the same stains and glazes with a brush to bring in more detail to select areas to bring up images that were not there before. Then I use the same to add movement lines and such on the pieces. best, Pres

Suppose for a minute that I am wishing to contract you to make a specific line of ware for me. I am offering a decent piece price or wage, that will allow you to really get ahead financially. At the same time you, being a skeptical intelligent person, have reservations and decide you had better investigate. QotW: How would you make certain a deal is straight forward and the real deal before going into business with another entity? Food for thought is all it is. A few years back, I got into a good deal, but it fell through when my contact in the deal divorced from my nephew. . . . way things go! best, Pres