Pres

When I was part of the Anazazi Research Group we were suppose to make brushes out of Yucca type plants.   You  had to chew on it to get the fine strings you needed.  The first yucca they decided to try was aloe vera,   I am allergic to aloe vera so I was excused from making a brush.   I tried using one that someone else had made,   Didn't go well,  I think something like a Century plant would work better.   Denice

Yes I have made my own over 30 +years-I have deer  hair (and have some elk to try) but most are made from skunk tails. These are cut off road kills and aired out for a year outside hanging. Then I use bamboo from our property-which is cut and dried in the right lengths. I wrap the hairs tight with a string around them and the end is covered in waterproof epoxy and the string is put thru the center and forms a loop on top to hang brush. I have also just expoxeyed the hairs in without the thru string and still use a string loop in small hole glued in tio for hanging as they dry best hanging. I have shown thse in photos before here. These brushes have lasted many decades of heavy use. The skunk hair is course and very durable. Deer hair is finer. I use them on glaze days -at least 6 of them for underglazing.

Hi folks, sorry things are late for this weeks QotW, but I have been self quarantined for much of the Christmas holiday, things are negative now.
I know that some of you out there make your own tools, and some feel it is time consuming using the time saved with purchased items to make more pots. However, there are some of you that make your own tools, whether it be ribs, throwing sticks, dies or other things. I do wonder though how many of you make your own brushes? In the past (college days) I had access to deer hair, and some other animal hairs as I hunted and knew folks that trapped and had some other types of hair. I began experimenting with rolling the ends in paraffin, and wiring to a stick. Simple brushes, but interesting how course hair and fine hair would give me different effects, They were fun for in-glaze brush work with accents of dark stains or glazes. Their biggest attraction was the uncontrollability as compared to a commercial brush. Yet after a while, it seemed there was little time to make new, and they did not hold up well especially when dealing with some course glazes or stains. 
QotW: Have you ever experimented with making you own brushes? Please elaborate on how you did it.
 
best,
Pres 

Hi Beccap, welcome to the Forum.
My guess would be that harmful exposure would be accompanied by some coughing - and other symptoms/indications; however, lower level/chronic exposure over time definitely creeps up stealthily, see CDC articles here: Crystalline Silica | NIOSH | CDC
As for your questions, they are (my opinion) good questions, which you might pose to your health care provider at next opportunity. Meanwhile, keep up the good practices.

I don't think you have been working in a dusty atmosphere long enough to do much damage.    When I started taking ceramic classes in the early 1970's  no one wore masks or gloves and the professors never talked about them and silicosis.  The studio was in a old football stadium from the early 1900s,  no windows,  no heat or air conditioning.   When clay was being mixed you couldn't even see there was so much dust.   Huge gas kilns were fired right next doors to the throwing room.   Most students weren't there eight hours a day like clay workers,  I am 71 and still here and don't have any lung problems and have been around other silicosis situations.   I worked as a dental technician for 6 year,  had exposure to different kinds of dust.   I live in Kansas wind and dust storms quite common.  I take all of the precautions in my studio now and have for years once I found out it was a problem.   You could have a doctor check things like your breathing capacity.  I have Multiple Sclerosis because of bad genes,  I always felt bad that everyone had to slow down for me.   Now that everyone is in there 70's they all have health problems and they are just as slow as I am.  You can't live your life in fear of what might happen,  you don't know  long your life will be.  We had a young friend killed a couple of years ago walking into work.  He was on his cellphone the guy who ran over him was on his cellphone.    You never know.     Denice

Try staining the emblem, wiping off high area. . .  . . do not wipe off the rest of the pot, but make certain has been dampened before the staining and wipe. Then glaze. The additional water in the emblem should cut the absorption of the glaze to some degree allowing the stain to show through revealing the emblem.
 
best,
Pres

Try staining the emblem, wiping off high area. . .  . . do not wipe off the rest of the pot, but make certain has been dampened before the staining and wipe. Then glaze. The additional water in the emblem should cut the absorption of the glaze to some degree allowing the stain to show through revealing the emblem.
 
best,
Pres

Put a resist on the emblem so glaze doesn't cover it. Or carefully wipe glaze  off after glazing.
Or get an on glaze decal made up.
Good luck.

I think it's just not the right glaze for that situation. You either need to do a wipeback to expose the texture better, or use a glaze that is more fluid/breaks better. I'm also not a big fan of having texture like that on the eating surface. It's going to be difficult to clean unless it fills completely with glaze.

I learned how much I really liked working with clay when I took a Learning Exchange class at my local ceramics supplier/studio at the behest of one of my remodeling clients who was still doing slip-casting classes for young 4-H members at the fine old age of 87. In that wheel-throwing class, which ran one night a week for 6 weeks plus all the studio time you could fit in when the store was open, we were only expected to produce 4 pieces of pottery. I made 20. I guess I liked it so much that I went on to take Ceramics I, II, and Raku at a local junior college. My professor was a young 30 or 40 something with fiery red hair that fit her personality. Her name was Ianna Frisby (toss that one around) and she was encouraging enough to prompt me to open my own little studio where I'm happy to produce all kinds of functional ware that I sell to help pay for the habit!

A little ceramics in 7th grade and 9th grade, like one or two projects, but then I didn't touch clay until my junior year of college. I jumped headfirst into it though, and made up for lost time. I was a math major before going into art, so it was a difficult transition in some ways. From my bio on my web page:
I was very concerned about my future, as there aren't a lot of jobs for potters (shocking, I know), and was even more troubled about the mental health of my parents, who were already reeling from my decision to abandon my actuarial ambitions. After several long conversations with my ceramics professor during which he tried to ease my fears about earning potential and financial stability, he finally said the words that would seal the deal:

"If you are passionate about it, you'll make it work. Boom."

Okay, he didn't say 'Boom',  but I definitely heard it in my head and felt it in my soul.
And here we are now. He was right. His name was Dick Luster, and he was one of the most influential people I've ever had in my life. He died a couple of years ago, and I was surprised at how hard it hit me, considering that we hand't talked for a number of years (cause life and distance and all those excuses). I hadn't really given him enough credit for the path my life has taken.

Hi folks, as all of you know, I was a HS art teacher for 36 years, taught a lot of Ceramics classes over the years, and saw a lot of students.  Just thinking back I remember my first experience with clay out of HS, as most of those were the standard pinch pot or coil piece and in Elementary school.  My HS experiences had all been flatwork, and one of the reasons I believed that an Art Education major should have a variety of media in their training, at not just an exposure level, but some level of proficiency. Looking back, I remember the first exposure I had to 3D media, and ceramics. . . it was an exploratory course of 3D media including ceramic. I made a ceramic box that ended up being a door stop. The teacher in the class was Stanley Zuchowski, who taught Ceramics at the little State College in northern PA.
QotW: What was your first exposure to Ceramics at more than a primary level, and who was the teacher that introduced you to Ceramics as a viable art medium?
I know this is a broad question, but I'm really looking for your best memories of Ceramics and of those people that influenced, motivated, and inspired you!
 
best,
Pres

(Can we talk about sustainability please)
Sure  lets talk ,I have made a living from clay for about 50 years give or take.I have had some time to consider it.
You talk about classes which really compared to say a toilet or tile manufacture are about 1/16 of a  drop in a bucket compared to the use of materials and cumbustion gas output of all the classes in. the world. I have strong feeling on keeping beginner pots-I think it should be, throw them back on the plaster table for a long spell  of time until one gains the skills but that's never going to happen as humans feel it's precious once made and want to keep the cracked dog bowl thats warped and 1 inch thick with crawed glaze.
I consider it part of an industrial process. Its hard on mother earth ,any way you want to feel good about it its a fact. The electric or gas kiln is not great for earth but for that matter either are humans on this scale of population we are at now. 
Pottery making in all but a commercail level is small time compared to the commercial ceramic world.
Is ceramics stainable ? Well are humans stainable on this planet? We all have thoughts on that point I'm sure.
Just for some prospective we have been at war most of our existance even though most of us  on this planet despise war we are currenty still at war on this planet . Still at war in 2023 is that sustainable ? as it seems its been going on as long as we could pick up a club, so one could say thats as sustainable as we humans are.
Mining materials and processing them and and shipping them and then making clay from them-its a ton of energy and its not yet a mug or a plate.Far from that.
I think of sustainibiliy as a loop and like say paper-trees =paper= recycle for more paper=growing more trees for more paper. Trees help the earth.It can be a loop and go on forever depending on the amout of paper we humans consume as the population grows.As you know at some point its no longer a loop as the use of paper gets to be more than we can recycle and grow.But for now its a loop
Ceramics is not even close to a loop
Now waste thats easy to curb. Clay is clay as long as its not fired. completely recycleable for the most part. The issue is those palstic bags that keep clay moist,all plastic is bad news ,real bad news. The cardboard boxes all can be boxed aagin recycled. One you fire its going to last close to forever so some thought shold be made about that. In teaching most do not consider that. Never had a teacher even talk about it in my days in collage.
Have I ever thought ceramics as a sustainable loop no as its not for me. 
All we can do is be more efficient with our processes in ceramics.
 

I put 4 top of the line Baileys in the Ceramics Studio at the HS I taught at over 25 years ago. They are still running well, and I still demonstrate on them from time to time. I still center about twenty # when throwing off the hump, and haven't had any torque lag in any of them. I got them with removable splash pans as @Minsays except for one that is with a fixed pan and drain. It is mostly used for smaller work and trimming even though the motor is the 1hp as all of the others are.
 
best,
Pres

I was also pretty lucky with my high school's art program.  My clay work was all slab and coil,  we only had one wheel and the teacher would pick one boy to use it in each class.   The  other art classes worked with acrylic for jewelry,  yarn for large hanging rugs, weaving and  metal  enameling.   We also made large wood sculptures.  The school also had a drawing and painting classes.  When I  was 18,  I worked as a dental lab technician,  everyone who made teeth were artistic.   If you looked in the lab during the lunch hour you would find half of the lab workers  making rings and pendants.   Had all of the  waxing, casting and grinding equipment all you had to supply was the silver or gold.  College had larger equipment and space,  you could create larger sculptural work.   I learned to weld in sculpture class,  my teacher said I laid a good weld line but I never really liked welding.  I would peel off to different arts for a while but always came back to clay,  it made me  feel good.     Denice

See the above info from @PeterH. This is what I was remembering.

There was in the past a post asking exactly this. No expert in searching in these forums but s.one else may.
 

Maybe this one?
 

I was fortunate enough in high school to have a class that used the weilding/ ceramics lab in a city collage setting. They had a few wheels and a electric kiln that was not being used so a few of us learned from the teacher what he know of low fire pottery (he was the weilding guy mostly). That went into a private night class in Seal Beach Cal. two nights a week using 5 wheels all different in rotation . I bought a brent wheel during this operiod in later high school days toi work at home. I was taking flying lessons at that same time and got my instrument hood training behind me and was solo and decieded mid flight school that taking my friends flying was really not a goal I wanted . At that time what I wanted to do was fly a glider at places like torry pines off the cliffs into the pacific but then you had to have a motor pilots license (now you can get just a glider license ) back then you need a full blown motor pilot license . I had about 18 hoiurs in behind the wheel at the point when I just thought for wanting to fly a glider it felt ridiculous as an outcome to have to get a 40 hour power pilots license . I just dove into clay instead never looked back. I have sence been is gliders as a passenger and feel I made the right choice. I never wanted to fly passengers  in power planes. From that last year in high school where I was exposed to clay I transferred to the other end of this state (cal) and took Juior collage classes in clay and 4 quarters later tarnfered to Houmboldt state and took another 4 years worth of clay classes. I knew how to thro from High school so building kiln s and galze calc and all the rest is what I sponged up from recent Alfred  grads who where new hires at collage and my instructors. Right trime right place is my story and also dumb luck

Some people find it helps to dip pots in water very briefly before glazing if the body is grogged. Theory is the water expels any tiny air pockets cause by the grog so when the pot is dipped in glaze there isn’t trapped  air which in turn can cause pinholes in the glaze firing. If the body is burnished with a rib after trimming this is reduced.

Garage (where one of three bays* is the "Studio") outlets protected by GFCI, per code.
There are several extinguishers out there, however, they aren't mounted, thanks for the reminder!
It's easy enough to forget where they are; so, in plain sight and the "same place they have always been" could help.
There wasn't a smoke detector out there, nor was there one within twenty feet of the kitchen's ovens and range.
There are now.
Combo unit - smoke detector and CO detector - are available these days.
I didn't know (or forgot) CO is slightly "lighter" than air. Apparently is does mix well, so CO detector near the floor maybe not so bad; any road, the water heater is out there, also various flammables, a car and truck, so.
Before switching the wheel on, one may already be in the habit of checking the foot pedal position (particularly if one has already vroomed a mess, heh).
Consider also, tuck hair, jewelry, clothing - any and all anywhere near the wheel head - securely away.
Double check the torch is off and put away securely, each time.
Check ground on all the circuits.
Keep your feet dry.
Look both ways afore stepping off the curb! ...look again ...and again...
 
*Looking to make time to get the wall up this Winter!

WOW! After reading all this, I just checked my little library of about 40 books and found a copy of Clay and Glazes for the Potter...I guess I'll have to take a look and see what it's all about. It was given to me by an acquaintance who was into clay for awhile but drifted away from clay and turned to glass and fabrics...lucky me!

I used to run a Ceramics for Adults on Saturdays in the months of January and February. This really was not a class in that I did not have a series of set lessons. I would always start the first day with a 5X7 questionnaire card, asking basic contact info, experience levels, followed by questions about what they wanted to accomplish or do in the class. This always followed an introduction to the studio and equipment that included slab rollers, extruders, potters wheels, banding wheels etc. The first session I also introduced/demonstrated throwing a cylinder on the wheel. Following sessions would include construction with slabs, extrusion, and other coils where the demonstrations would include pieces they had mentioned in their questionnaires. The last session (6th) would be on glazing and they would glaze their pieces for glaze firings. They requested in the last years an extra day where they could see everyone's finished work. This class worked out very well, but in the end I guess you could call it an open studio. It earned enough money to help keep up equipment and add 4 wheels to the mix along with an extra extruder and several other pieces of furniture and tools.

I was looking around in the shop the other day, and noticed that the GFCI on my outlets was popped. Checked around and could not find the cause, but the circuit was working fine. Made me wonder how many folks have GFCI's, and then I wondered how many of you have fire extinguishers in your shop areas? I have both.  Got the fire extinguisher after a little grinding fire while sharpening some trimming tools. Easy to put out, just an oily rag, but a ceramic canister with lid was nearby. However, could have been worse so in came a fire extinguisher.
QotW: Do you have a fire extinguisher or a GFCI protector in your shop areas?
 
best,
Pres 

Of course I'm not an institution or a art center , just a production potter slowing down a bit. Safety is 1st always is a good rule to live by