Pres

HI folks, nothing in the pool again. I have been loading the kiln today, and it reminded me of something that happened years ago that might make a good topic with a few laughs. Seems we may need a good laugh lately. So my newest contribution to the Question of the Week is:
QotW: What is the silliest thing you have done or seen done dealing with Ceramics? I was teaching Ceramics 1 at the HS, and someone asked me to come check out her small kiln. She said that the kiln setter was not working and that she had over fired her last load. I went to her house, the 6 cubic foot kiln was setting on the floor, and the lid was up on the kiln. It was obvious she had overfired, but had cleaned up pretty well as she used a shelf to protect the floor of the kiln. So I started checking out the setter to see what the problem might be. All seemed to be in order, but the drop tab would not swing down. I asked her if this was the first time firing, and she said no, that she had fired the kiln several times over the last few years. Hmmm. Did something happen to the kiln lately I asked. No, we had just finished cleaning up the area, and moved it back into place. I started looking around and noticed a handle on the floor near the kiln. Turns out they had left the dust pan on the floor, and as it was late at night they had placed one leg on the dust pan. Since she didn't have shelves other than the floor shelf she did not realize the kiln was not level.
 QotW: What is the silliest thing you have done or seen done dealing with Ceramics? 
 
best
Pres

"It took hold of me in the middle 90s..." 
Thought you were in early sixties (ba-bing).
Good question! Just wrapping up year two of retirement, hence, it resonates.
The importance of social activity/contact is highlighted by our current situation - it's an important part of sanity maintenance; have been missing trips to the gym, meeting new people out and about, and weekly brunch with friends.
Swimming and cycling are important sanity maintenance activities for me, also reading and projects.

Hi VS!
Grease may be more appropriate?
:|
Ahem, well, finding the source - could be a bearing, loose pulley, squeaky belt, something rubbing in the motor - might be a good first step. Does the wheel squeak the same when running in the other direction? If not, try looking at the motor brushes. Try crawling about, that is, listening from all possible angles, to pinpoint the source. If you have a few miles on your ears, try enlisting a young person (with undamaged hearing).
Lubrication may not be the solution; could be adjustment, replacing a part, etc. is required.
"Squeaky wheel gets the grease" Heh.
 

Mark C.  asked a question in the QotW pool this week, that is a different take:  What are other activities that influence your ceramic work or keep you mentally healthy other than daly directly. For me its other passions that are just like clay. I have to do them-what are yours.?
I have often mentioned my bowling, and my kayaking. This last several months has been tough on both. Bowling has been canceled until Fall, the leagues are done. Most bowling alleys are opening, every other alley. The largest population of bowlers is older, so it is doubtful if there will much in the way of tournaments or other larger bowling venues in my area. 
Kayaking, has been on hold, as last fall I purchased a new Mazda 3 hatchback, and will have to spend a bit to get a new rack to fit the car. strange to see a 16 ft. sea kayak on a Mazda 3, but that is what I have been carrying them on. Actually two of them when my wife or someone else is along. 
All in all these things are exercise, stress relief, and recreation.
So once again, 
QothW: What are other other activities that influence your ceramic work or keep you mentally healthy other than daly directly.
best,
Pres

Thanks for posting the my question 
As some of you know already besides clay I have a few other passions-one is diving with a camera the other is Tuna Fishing.
It took hold of me in the middle 90s (tuna fishing) and I have only missed one year since catching albacore tuna. Most is what we refer to as ( out front) our local Humboldt county waters or trailer the 23 foot whaler up to middle Oregon or as far south as Monterey. I have fished most ports in a 300 mile rage from home in past 25 years.
About three years ago some local filmmakers got a grant to make a film about the food grown or made or caught in whats know as Humboldt Nation ( I live in Humboldt County)
We produce some of the best foods on the planet here like Cypress Cheese as well as Beers and Breads. They filmed  interviews for a year and thought about one large film but realized it was to big so they made three films-the first two where shown at a grand opening last fall in our restored grand Eureka Theater. They where very well done and have been rebroadcast on local PBS station. Its big screen film. The third film on local tuna was completed last week and they released it a few days ago for free  due to Covid and the Theaters being closed here . Its on Vimeo
I will add My interview was 3 years ago and since that time Myself and crew supplied them with sport tuna video clips during the last two years -the shots taken with the Dophins and the tuna working bait where taken off my vessel Onokai as well as us catching tuna. We are the ones in the yellow bibs catching tuna.This was a few different trips. I'm the guy with fish on working the boat throttle back and reeling fish in as My friend Duncan McNeill gaffs the fish. My other Friend Yoshi  Uemura and Travis may also abroad shot video as well as caught fish.
My friend Dennis Rael (in film as well speaking about sport tuna) got me involved in this film (he fishes on my boat as well) He got the filmmakers  intrested into the sport Tuna part of this fishery story .I am known around here as a Tuna Head (I have whats known and Tuna Fever ,a really bad case of it) Its  been infecting me going on 26 years now.There is no known cure.
Now the ocean is really whats behind this passion and thats where I am most comfortable -either on it or under it. Tuna for me has spilled into making lots of ceramic tuna as well as My underwater photography has turned into making clay fish-mosty tropical as I know about most of the saltwater species now and fish are a huge passion for me . I have a library on fish species as well as cal and of course Tuna Books-I seem to only catch and eat Tuna mostly the days over other fish (a few Halibut as well) . Clay still runs deep but I need ocean time to maintain the studio time-its wrapped together for me as a lifestyle at this point. Clay Tuna and diving.
 
A foot note-this film is best viewed on large screen so if you can you can run it thru a Roku unit I'm told or I ran it thru a HDMI cable and adaptor and on to a large screen TV thru a laptop or iPad .
Just use the largest screen you access to. to have the best experience of the film. It was made for the Theater screen. They did great job with the editing and sound
Enjoy the film -Click on the food for thought Humboldt County photo when it comes up
https://vimeo.com/search/channel?q=Food+for+thought+humboldt    

Probably my normal job.  I am lucky enough to have a creative day job, I make teeth for people.  A lot of the movements and smoothness is the same just exaggerated with clay.  I'm also surrounded by old equipment and chemical containers and stuff like that, it really puts me into a weird container mindset.
My wife and I also love going thrifting and I draw a lot of inspiration from old junk we find when we are out doing that.

We're in stage 2 relaunch here in Alberta after some pretty harsh nationwide shutdowns. We're down to 220 active cases in the Calgary area, and we were a hotspot for a while there.  Things like restaurants, retail, aesthetic services, libraries and some museums and other things are open, but with capacity restrictions and rules about mask wearing, distancing and cleaning. Kids aren't going back to school until the fall, and daycares are only for essential service workers right now. There are supposed to be some summer camps and childcare available, but they'll probably fill up very quickly. We're still not supposed to engage in non-essential interprovincial travel like holidays, although we can travel for things like funerals.  The maximum gathering size does vary by province, but here they're 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors. Mask wear indoors is strongly recommended, and the government has been handing out free ones (the disposable surgical kind) at Tim Horton's drive through's because we're predictable that way. Compliance on the mask wearing thing seems to be 50-60% at a rough eyeball at the grocery store. Phase 2 just started last week, and they're watching for any increases before deciding when they're going to go to phase 3, which is all systems go. School systems are still trying to form official plans for the fall, but they won't be able to declare anything concrete until late August. The kids usually go back the first week after Labour Day.
My weekly farmers market starts up this weekend, and my first round is the weekend after. Even though the whole thing is outdoors in a very large area, they're still doing headcounts, and only letting a certain number of shoppers through at a time. All foot traffic is one way, and we all have to provide hand sanitizer or hand wash stations, even if we're not food vendors. Food vendors need to prepare samples in a commercial kitchen in advance, and have them in sealed cups. We have to restrict the number of people allowed in a booth and set up 6' markers so people can maintain distances.  All tables need plastic coverings so that they can be sanitized regularly, as well as any payment keypads. I plan on having bleach solution on hand to clean each piece in between people touching them, in addition to having sanitizer available for people to use before and after picking things up if they wish to do so.  My display will just be across the front of the tent to discourage people from crowding. I'll be wearing a fabric mask, as per provincial recommendations. We have to go through a check in every week to declare we haven't traveled or been sick, and are currently not experiencing any symptoms before we're allowed to set up. There's other rules for people from different households working together, but I'm usually by myself so I haven't checked those.

I have been working on a regular slab made butter dish. I made the mistake of making one as a request from a niece for Christmas last year. Others in the family saw it, and decided they needed one. So I instead of doing a one off, several times I came up with this set up.

I am using a thin piece of plastic between the form and the slab of clay, as it makes removal a breeze, and the plastic stretches into the corners of the form. I use rollers and stamps to decorate the slab pieces. The 2X4 is covered on one side with an extra layer of rubber backed felt to bring the form up to the correct width.
I recently had a custom stamp made of a design I created in Corel Draw that is uses my symbol/signature as a basis.
 I have still not fired any of these, but don't foresee any issues.
best,
Pres

Mea, throw your old form with and inner wall up. Cut out the center of the inner wall to drain to the bottom lip, but still holding the soap.
 
 
best,
Pres

Mea, throw your old form with and inner wall up. Cut out the center of the inner wall to drain to the bottom lip, but still holding the soap.
 
 
best,
Pres

Welp, it turns out my self-draining soap dish doesn’t work. The bars of soap also slide off onto the floor! Back to the drawing board. 

I can relate to that story very well right now.

Pres I have had about 100 requests over the decades on these handbuilt butterdishes. You want to get into that business? if so I'll send them your way if and when art shows open again in the next decade.. I always turn down handbuilding  projects or any custom work these days. 

I have been working on a regular slab made butter dish. I made the mistake of making one as a request from a niece for Christmas last year. Others in the family saw it, and decided they needed one. So I instead of doing a one off, several times I came up with this set up.

I am using a thin piece of plastic between the form and the slab of clay, as it makes removal a breeze, and the plastic stretches into the corners of the form. I use rollers and stamps to decorate the slab pieces. The 2X4 is covered on one side with an extra layer of rubber backed felt to bring the form up to the correct width.
I recently had a custom stamp made of a design I created in Corel Draw that is uses my symbol/signature as a basis.
 I have still not fired any of these, but don't foresee any issues.
best,
Pres

I have been working on a regular slab made butter dish. I made the mistake of making one as a request from a niece for Christmas last year. Others in the family saw it, and decided they needed one. So I instead of doing a one off, several times I came up with this set up.

I am using a thin piece of plastic between the form and the slab of clay, as it makes removal a breeze, and the plastic stretches into the corners of the form. I use rollers and stamps to decorate the slab pieces. The 2X4 is covered on one side with an extra layer of rubber backed felt to bring the form up to the correct width.
I recently had a custom stamp made of a design I created in Corel Draw that is uses my symbol/signature as a basis.
 I have still not fired any of these, but don't foresee any issues.
best,
Pres

I have been working on a regular slab made butter dish. I made the mistake of making one as a request from a niece for Christmas last year. Others in the family saw it, and decided they needed one. So I instead of doing a one off, several times I came up with this set up.

I am using a thin piece of plastic between the form and the slab of clay, as it makes removal a breeze, and the plastic stretches into the corners of the form. I use rollers and stamps to decorate the slab pieces. The 2X4 is covered on one side with an extra layer of rubber backed felt to bring the form up to the correct width.
I recently had a custom stamp made of a design I created in Corel Draw that is uses my symbol/signature as a basis.
 I have still not fired any of these, but don't foresee any issues.
best,
Pres

Cute!  And nice jig

This is a personal project for my house. I recently switched to using bar soap and bar shampoo, in an effort to reduce my plastic bottle consumption. I was using a soap dish I had made years ago, but soon discovered that it was not well-suited for an environment as wet as a shower. I made myself a new soap dish that is designed to shed excess water onto the shower floor. This concept is not original to me, I've seen photos of other handmade pottery self-draining soap dishes. But mine is the first wheel-thrown version that I've seen.

My county will still be in phase 1 of reopening for a few more weeks, even though the rest of my state (MD) is moving into phase 2. My county (plus one other) is where most of the cases in my state are. I am still staying home except for really important things. Businesses here have adapted and complied very well, so going out feels safe, but only because things are so restricted. For example, I needed some car maintenance last week, the shop was by appointment only and they were only taking one customer per hour. I was the only customer in the shop, and was still asked to stay six feet away from the employees. He disinfected a pen for me before I used it. 
I went for a long walk through my neighborhood including a popular park this weekend, and every single person was wearing a mask. We are not required to wear them for outdoor exercise, but most people do anyways. I’m grateful for that. 
I am troubled about all the huge protests that took place this week in DC. Not because of the meaning of the protests, the spirit of them is long overdue. But because we will either end up in lockdown for longer than we would have been, or we will discover that we didn’t need to cancel all the summer festivals. 
As for the pottery business, I am still making, and planning some more “free home delivery” events for the summer. And I am conceding that I need to (gasp) do some online selling too, which I am planning to do on a very limited basis. 

With a variety of arms with which to centre your pots. On the wheelhead, and at any point on way up the pot plus chucks, you'd be surprised at time saved.
Friend throwingg and trimming for a fulltime buysy potter scoffed at using a GG until she was out trimmed by yong upstart:-))) she changed and outtrimmed the young squirt..... but can still outtap centre anyone around!
I, ve trimmed darned fine wonky pots with gg, just saying.
Still tap for just a few pots..too lazy to get up and attach the grip

I was trimming some lids today, on the GG. Came to one that needed some diameter correction to fit into the canister. As I was already using the GG, I shifted off the lid, grabbed a plastic plumbing pipe reducer, and centered it with the GG, dampened the reducer, centered the lid and trimmed the edge without the pads causing me to move when I went by them. Lid trimmed well.
 
 
best,
Pres 

Marcia and I are similar. We like to see folks excell and innovate  so as long as it’s not bizarre we have fun with learning new things or watching each other try new ideas or just create something that ends up suitable when finished. (Both are severely critical of our own work) For the most part when either of us are in a slump we like to see that excitement and enthusiasm again when engaged in a successful project. In Marcias defense, I like to fix everything and make Mechanical / electrical things better so I am sure she gets tired of me never buyIng something new. Besides that  old Admiral refrigerator has lots of life left in it!

Let's see, these are the things that I hear about the most:
There's too many pots in the house
Too many orange buckets outside
Driveway is full of clay
Tracking clay in the house
Can't have the windows to the carport open when firing
When are you gonna sell all these things?
 
For the most part I try to do everything once the kids and wife to go sleep, that gives me 4 hours of solid me time either in the shed making pots, or editing videos, designing, silk screening, etc etc etc. But since they're asleep, they don't ever complain about the time I spend out there... Unless it's the weekend lol, because I try to be out there every weekend all weekend.

Wayne and I got together when I was halfway through art school for pottery, so he knew it was part of the package. He tried one afternoon to center a bit of clay on the wheel and decided it was NOT his thing, but that it didn’t need to be. 
 
He has been my biggest source of emotional support the whole time. He made sure I got my pottery wheel at a time it wasn’t the most financially sound move ever and I told him not to. When we moved into our current house, my birthday present was him stripping the carpet out of a basement bedroom and scraping the floor so I could have a studio space. He gets me out of my head when I’m overthinking myself into anxiety. I truly have one of the best ones. 

This thread has brought up another interesting comparison that I don't doubt has been covered before.  The teaching/shared workspace environment and the solo studio.  Whether the solo studio is a production potter or someone like me who is something else, the focus and requirements just are not the same.   I can confidently say I've never needed to tap center and others can cry heresy.  I guess both are true.
The GG is the simplest, most durable, effective tool for the job.  IMO (as always)