Pres

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077583GZD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I use these.  I can fill them with whatever underglaze I choose.  I do a lot of drawing on both greenware and bisque with them.
 
Roberta

Another approach to consider is incising the lines, filling them with underglaze, then wiping away the excess. The drawing is different because you’re drawing into the clay instead of on it, but this technique can produce very fine, crisp lines. Lorna Meaden’s work comes to mind. The technique has its own learning curve, you’ll find yourself now looking for the perfect incising tool, haha! 
Underglaze applied using fine tipped applicators, like @Roberta12 mentions, are the best thing I’ve seen for no frills unencumbered drawing of fine lines. Underglazes are generally predictable and won’t run or bleed. The tools clog easily, so you need a straight pin or fine wire for a stopper when not in use. 

On leather hard clay, wax all over.  Draw through the wax with a needle tool or your favorite tool.  Apply the under glaze and wipe off the excess.  Lin

Yesterday I was at a local apple orchard, that is a neat place in our area. It has a great weekend luncheon menu, with a great apple chicken salad, and quiche which my wife loves. It also has a variety of food items nick knacks and other things along with the work of a potter. Looking at her work, I got to thinking about how many of us pour, dip, spray, splatter, or squirt bottle our glazes on as opposed to the brushing on of glazes either in large strokes or intricate patterns. I love to dip glazes now, over top of stained textures with overlapping sloppy drips that I spray multiple layers of other glazes over to build up the surface. My parents were hobby folks in the day, and would painstakingly brush each hand, sleeve, and smile of the Santa Mugs, or the pitchers and vases that they hand decorated. Of course they were cast bisqueware, and it was relaxing and gratifying when they came out looking exactly how they expected. For me, that amount of hours for one piece is tiresome and boring, but we still have and treasure those pieces they made so many years ago at Hickam AFB.
QotW: Are you Dipper, Pourer, Sprayer, sponger, squirter, or Brusher? Please elaborate, include pictures if you can.
 
best,
Pres

Sounds like a good plan. It’s a big beautiful piece! Worthy of a little more caution than normal. I’m hesitant to offer straight up advice, not knowing all the particulars, but I will suggest applying your flashing slip thin. Mostly because the piece will be dry and you want to avoid issues of fit/shrinkage, but also because a thin layer is sufficient and won’t hide the texture. 

A well fitting liner glaze is usually always used inside soda, salt and wood firings for all functional pots. Wouldn't want to drink out of mug without a glaze inside it. If the liner glaze has a significant fit difference from what lands up on the outside of the pot then the pot can dunt / crack.
If you glaze the entire pot and then it's hit with the soda it can very well cause excessive running of the glaze due to the extra fluxing of the sodium. If you just glaze the top of the pot and leave a lot of room for it to run it should be fine. It depends on how much soda the pot is hit with.
Nope, flashing slips don't all look the same. I used a few on the vase below. The lighter orange one has titanium in it, the red doesn't. 

 
 

Yep, talk to speedball. However, the thing with wheels is that the parts that would need to be replaced- electronics, belts, motors, most bearings, etc., are not specific to wheels. They are standard parts that can be found elsewhere.

Yesterday I was at a local apple orchard, that is a neat place in our area. It has a great weekend luncheon menu, with a great apple chicken salad, and quiche which my wife loves. It also has a variety of food items nick knacks and other things along with the work of a potter. Looking at her work, I got to thinking about how many of us pour, dip, spray, splatter, or squirt bottle our glazes on as opposed to the brushing on of glazes either in large strokes or intricate patterns. I love to dip glazes now, over top of stained textures with overlapping sloppy drips that I spray multiple layers of other glazes over to build up the surface. My parents were hobby folks in the day, and would painstakingly brush each hand, sleeve, and smile of the Santa Mugs, or the pitchers and vases that they hand decorated. Of course they were cast bisqueware, and it was relaxing and gratifying when they came out looking exactly how they expected. For me, that amount of hours for one piece is tiresome and boring, but we still have and treasure those pieces they made so many years ago at Hickam AFB.
QotW: Are you Dipper, Pourer, Sprayer, sponger, squirter, or Brusher? Please elaborate, include pictures if you can.
 
best,
Pres

95% dipper 5% sprayer.   Most of my spraying is with an underglaze followed by a clear overglaze. This is on sculpture pieces that have a whole lot of other things going on and then masked with wax resist.  Spraying and dipping give a much more even and smoother coat than brushing.

I have a thrift store blender in. shop for this-works like charm 

I have also found that a small coffee grinder works pretty well.

I use a stick blender with a plastic cover seal, wait until the dust settles, and will be fine.
 
best,
Pres

I am just forming a slab rolled from M340 and placing it inside a plastic tray/platter coated in Pam.  As the clay starts to dry the cracks form on the rim, even if I cover the clay with plastic I still get cracks. The clay is still moist enough that I can remove it and wedge it.
Just made a couple of slump molds with #1 Pottery Plaster and will try with this in a few day to see if it will dry more even.
 

I missed the question about plaster the first time I read the question. Like Min suggests a "pottery plaster" is your best bet. #1 Pottery is United States Gypsum (USG) pottery plaster. Georgia Pacific (GP) also makes a pottery plaster, K60. They're the same thing so either works for your application. (For many years #1 was only available in 100lbs. bags so I switched, to K60, when my back told me to do so.)
Seeing that you are posting from CA I went to the Plainsmen website and looked up M340. It looks like they made some changes to the clay body, recently, so that MAY explain some of your problems. Plasticity can sometimes be a fickle thing so testing different making methods is really your only solution. The website comment, "You should have few problems drying smaller pieces but care and attention are necessary when making larger pieces" kind of jumps out at me. 
If it seems like an endless process perhaps another clay body might be worth trying?
Good luck
 

Finally got the mold slump mold made and a platter from it finished. It worked well and I can finally get to make more of these platters.
 

I learning to throw in college sitting down.  When I got my own wheel, and had a little back pain, I thought, hmmm, maybe i could do this standing up.  We had a sturdy little table built with 2 x 4's and 2" lumber on top, and we set the wheel up on it, and I never looked back.  I did experiment a bit with standing a bit higher, and ended up standing about 1.5" higher on some 2 x 12's stuck together side by side.
I have a different wheel now, a Pacifica, and I bought the leg extensions, so can change the height if needed,  I am okay standing most of the day at this point, but I do not throw pots all day and am moving around quite a bit doing other things as well.  

Another thought here of help is to become friends with the folks in the Federal Programs offices. I had several of these taking the adult ceramics classes over the years including the director. Also  had an assistant principal take the class, along with secretaries of upper administrators. When someone experiences ceramics on a learning level, and learns how to work with the potters wheel, glazes, helps to load a kiln and unload it. .. things become real and relevant.
 
best,
Pres

Over the years as a teacher, I have noticed several benefits to a wide range of students. There are those that take ceramics to fill a schedule, yet find that they are seduced by the feel of the clay in their hands, or the ability to visualize and create in 3 dimensions with a material that is lasting and quite durable. There are students with poor health or debilitating diseases that are unable to write for long or do other things, but the simple manipulation of the clay, and the drive to create something with such a malleable material strengthens the muscles in the hands and the arms allowing the student to write longer without tiring, and to do other things never done before. Then there are students that fill the schedule with something they underestimate, and end up finding connections to architecture and engineering, chemistry and physics, or even sculpture and fine arts or even the study of history and civilization  as influenced by ceramics. Long gone are the days of the ugly ash tray, or the misshapen mug as new art teachers have backgrounds that cover the years of the revivals in the 60's through the nineties.
However, getting an administrator to spring money for a kiln is difficult. I started with an old box shaped kiln and ended up in the end with two large L& L's with setters. Start small, work out a proposal, write up the unit for ceramics or even a proposal for a whole class. Check with NCECA for resources on classes and curriculum ideas. Peruse the internet for examples of exemplary practices in grade school ceramics. Don't give up, keep diligent. Over time you can win them over, but it takes constant harping to do it, Not every day , but at least once or twice a year.
 
best,
Pres

I don't throw, but stand when hand-building.  I use the highest table at the community centre, and often work on top of boxes to raise my work, and my benches in my greenhouse (studio) are high too.
I fidget, and am short in the body, and find sitting for most tasks is not comfortable.  I did evening classes working with glass - fusing, copper foiling, leading and was the only one in the class who stood for 3-4 hours.  
The only stuff I do sitting is textile based - spinning, sewing, knitting, although for spindle spinning it's easier to stand, same for weaving.
I think it's important to be at the right height, and comfortablewhatever you're doing.,

If you do want to give standing while throwing a go a less expensive way to go than the Brent extension legs is to use legs from an old table. My mum's old sewing table had solid wood legs, I repurposed them to be my wheel extension legs. (I use a Bailey which has the pipe legs like the Brent) If you can find an old table with solid legs at a thrift store or wherever that fit inside the pipe legs then remove them from the table, figure out the height you want then drill a hole through both leg and wheel leg and bolt them together. Since my Bailey is like Brent wheels and there isn't room to sit the foot pedal next to the wheel and use a hand to control it we added a piece of redi-rod to the side of the foot pedal then screwed a knob on top.
 

Another thought here of help is to become friends with the folks in the Federal Programs offices. I had several of these taking the adult ceramics classes over the years including the director. Also  had an assistant principal take the class, along with secretaries of upper administrators. When someone experiences ceramics on a learning level, and learns how to work with the potters wheel, glazes, helps to load a kiln and unload it. .. things become real and relevant.
 
best,
Pres

Not a rub it was darn hard clay work that got me here-

Over the years as a teacher, I have noticed several benefits to a wide range of students. There are those that take ceramics to fill a schedule, yet find that they are seduced by the feel of the clay in their hands, or the ability to visualize and create in 3 dimensions with a material that is lasting and quite durable. There are students with poor health or debilitating diseases that are unable to write for long or do other things, but the simple manipulation of the clay, and the drive to create something with such a malleable material strengthens the muscles in the hands and the arms allowing the student to write longer without tiring, and to do other things never done before. Then there are students that fill the schedule with something they underestimate, and end up finding connections to architecture and engineering, chemistry and physics, or even sculpture and fine arts or even the study of history and civilization  as influenced by ceramics. Long gone are the days of the ugly ash tray, or the misshapen mug as new art teachers have backgrounds that cover the years of the revivals in the 60's through the nineties.
However, getting an administrator to spring money for a kiln is difficult. I started with an old box shaped kiln and ended up in the end with two large L& L's with setters. Start small, work out a proposal, write up the unit for ceramics or even a proposal for a whole class. Check with NCECA for resources on classes and curriculum ideas. Peruse the internet for examples of exemplary practices in grade school ceramics. Don't give up, keep diligent. Over time you can win them over, but it takes constant harping to do it, Not every day , but at least once or twice a year.
 
best,
Pres

I use something similar to the "squirrel mixer" it mixes well, and works the stuff off the bottom. I don't have any glazes that hard pan.
 
best,
Pres

Over the years as a teacher, I have noticed several benefits to a wide range of students. There are those that take ceramics to fill a schedule, yet find that they are seduced by the feel of the clay in their hands, or the ability to visualize and create in 3 dimensions with a material that is lasting and quite durable. There are students with poor health or debilitating diseases that are unable to write for long or do other things, but the simple manipulation of the clay, and the drive to create something with such a malleable material strengthens the muscles in the hands and the arms allowing the student to write longer without tiring, and to do other things never done before. Then there are students that fill the schedule with something they underestimate, and end up finding connections to architecture and engineering, chemistry and physics, or even sculpture and fine arts or even the study of history and civilization  as influenced by ceramics. Long gone are the days of the ugly ash tray, or the misshapen mug as new art teachers have backgrounds that cover the years of the revivals in the 60's through the nineties.
However, getting an administrator to spring money for a kiln is difficult. I started with an old box shaped kiln and ended up in the end with two large L& L's with setters. Start small, work out a proposal, write up the unit for ceramics or even a proposal for a whole class. Check with NCECA for resources on classes and curriculum ideas. Peruse the internet for examples of exemplary practices in grade school ceramics. Don't give up, keep diligent. Over time you can win them over, but it takes constant harping to do it, Not every day , but at least once or twice a year.
 
best,
Pres