Hulk

Hi Bas! Item in question: Pate Woodworks (Brooklyn, New York, USA) has somewhat like it. ...found several wood hammers "for clay" in Netherlands, however, with round/cylindrical striking end. Perhaps paddle would be a better search string... Then found Xiem clay paddle Xiem Clay Paddle L - slaghout | De pottenbakster (keramiekenglazuur.nl) Ya, that'd be my choice, if in the market for a pre-made paddle-ish striking tool. However, a I'd also consider making one (else, having one made), where starting with a tapered cylinder gets one most o' the way, as cutting off part of the cylinder to make the flat side would be much easier than forming the rounded part, then drilling and fitting a handle, complete with sanding and sealing, voila.

I'm stuck in on mid range (5/6) stoneware - may never get around to trying porcelain. This thrower is getting some height on a bowl - perhaps a rather thick bowl - still: (1) Watch | Facebook This thrower is getting some good height (not particularly great height) from just under 600 grams o' clay: BLACK PORCELAIN! Making Ceramic Cups & Glazing - Hobby Potter - YouTube There's a five year old thread in this forum where Mr. Fireborn described liking the Black Ice, at first, then liked it less later on.

Good question! Books and magazines/periodicals are still very much in the frame for me. Earlier on, watching others work was more important to me than now; I watched - really studied - the other students, guests, and instructors during my two semesters at the local JC ceramic lab, and spent some hours watching video clips every week. Some - several dozen - of my favourite clips, I've returned to again and again, for I'll often "see" differently after some time has passed. Now, well, perhaps I'm well into that long stretch where time at task is the main thing. This forum has been (err, is) a great source, and offers a sense of community. There are other forums/groups, aye, however, this one's best, imo. "What a fascinating modern age we live in."* - Captain Jack Aubrey Yep. Exactly where is the block drain on my Toyota truck - found it. How to set up our son's wellhouse to run off his generator - found it, use a "transfer switch," aye. Where to find a simple transfer switch - found it, arrived at front door three days later. How to wire the transfer switch, how to work on the main panel safely when the sun's shining (solar array, heh) - found it. How to change out the headsets on my road bikes - found it. Where to find a pump for a twelve year old dishwasher - found it. How to replace said pump - found it. ...and so on; "the internet" is remarkable. That said, learning with/from others, there's nothing else like it; same for opportunity to help others learn - there's nothing else like it, and no matter how much one may try to fully appreciate the opportunity when it's happening, I believe we take those opportunities somewhat for granted.

Bands, aah. A tip from Mr D Oliver, shock cord (what bungee cords are typically made with) makes for great bands, several reasons: it comes in a variety of thicknesses; the woven covering protects the rubbery bits inside, and prevents shocking total failure scenario, where the broken end whips about; the resistance goes up smoothly and progressively as it is stretched further; it can be purchased in bulk. I went with twenty-five foot lengths for my swimmers, hence, when fastened by the middle (typically, to the fence around the pool), ~12 foot lengths for each hand, with loops at the ends to grasp. We had excellent results with resistance training via shock cord bands (much safer than surgical tubing, and more precise resistance adjustment), which allow for natural movement and resistance at limb speed equal to or greater than the target activity, both of which are key, d'y'hear me there, key. The material is available through many vendors these days; forty plus years ago, I went with West Marine NEW ENGLAND ROPES White and Red Shock Cord, Sold by the Foot | West Marine We used several thicknesses; I still have a few. "Resistance Band Workout" poster - see image above. The typical bands are made with surgical tubing or something similar that does not offer progressive resistance and is not particularly safe either.

Hi Pessy! I use wax on almost every piece - to get a sharp boundary/transition at the rim between liner glaze and outside/color glaze - hence a strong odor early in the firing cycle, but not enough to make clouds of smoke. No doubt the wax (along with glaze ingredients that burn away) is designed to fully burn away; I've not noticed any marking where the wax was, any road. Hence, my guess would be normal on question one. As for re-firing, I haven't (yet) had the experience of re-starting an interrupted glaze cycle, however, reading indicates yes on question two and no on three. I'm curious to know if the wax burns more cleanly with an air supply? I've fitted my (also somewhat ancient) Skutt with a kiln vent, which pulls a small stream of air from the bottom of the kiln, hence, small streams of air are pulled in through the various cracks, as well as the small holes drilled in the lid. Kiln venting is recommended for longer element life, more thorough bisque burnout, and nicer glaze colours. While the kiln vent helps quite a bit with the fumes, I did not feel comfortable being in the studio, at all, during firing, so have also set up an overhead rig to pull heat and fumes; it's noisy, but works well.

The Skutt I'm using is fitted with a Minarik drive board. The hefty cast foot pedal has a simple component in there that does the speed control. Likely the same board, else, if the CI HP has a bigger motor, one of Minarik's other boards could work. I have the spec sheet - shout if you want to know how to find it. Whilst the various wheels are quite similar, I wouldn't agree that the motors are interchangeable - the half horse on my wheel, that's a continuous rating, not a "peak" rating.

Hi Mariane! That looks like bubbling and crawling as well. Perhaps a glaze that clears bubbles better and doesn't crawl as much would help. Per prior (post on page one of this thread), a longer bisque firing, with plenty of oxygen seemed to help with my problems, also avoiding any thick spots. What cone are you glaze firing to? I also found that black (and some red) clay fizzes/bubbles more when overfired, hence, went to solid cone five with a drop and hold, which also seemed to help with clearing bubbles.

Whilst out on the bike (and waiting on glaze load to cool off), was reflecting on what I'd read in my notes, then aha! How useful notes can be, sometimes. Detailed firing notes, detailed results - clays, glazes, what worked, problems, etc. Don't count on remembering, heh. For example: > notes support my guess that yesterday's much longer firing time was related to more mass - an extra half shelf, and lots of ware - for the cool down time is also much much longer (still waiting); those times and temps can be helpful. > notes indicate that reclaim glaze came out well on one of three clays; I couldn't remember which one, aha. > the tin chrome red I'm using sometimes catches little flecks of blue, why? More to th' point, can the look be repeated? Not completely sure on why, however, results indicate that yes, the look is repeatable - the "secret" is in the notes. > am getting closer on evening out the firing, particularly the cool zone right at the top. Notes help, for I'm not quite able to remember what I'd tried, when, for how long, nor the bend in cones. There's more ...take notes.

Stopped at a clay supplier on the way home from points north yesterday, got fifty pound bags o' C-98 and Gerstley Borate - that much talc may be all I ever need, howevah, I hope to go through all that GB...

yep - inside and outside diameter, and height. Maybe start with a few drops of Liquid Wrench on those bearing seats; from there, if they don't tap out, a smidge of heat (a smidge I say!), evenly applied. Good luck - please report back.

I've set prices for the year - through the holiday season - and am committed to sticking to'm until then. I had a wholesale opportunity, which, for me, meant wrapping my head around wholesale and being consistent with pricing. Excepting the (very) infrequent opportunities to shop and haul, shipping is a very big part of supply purchases - material and shipping costs are both going up up up. I'm trying for long term planning, such that most of my materials can be picked up when I can shop in person, however, that's once a year, if that...

We'd visited some studios over the years during Fall "Open Studios" event here; since becoming interested in potting, we visited a dozen or so potters' studios. Last year the event was put on hold - it's "on" for this year (fingers crossed). I've ponied up the fee and hope to get some traffic - two weekends in October. I'm looking forward to it, but will miss the opportunity to visit others' studios... Most that we visited feature display of ware, some where workspace/process was visible, some where workspace was not visible/accessible at all. In my case, am thinking the studio itself will be open, and ware displayed there. Year afore last I'd invited one and all to visit my studio two weeks before Christmas - a few dozen folk came by; sales were modest but very appreciated. Visitors are welcome any time I'm available. Seems unlikely that traffic will ever become a nuisance. I've been considering inviting the local potters I've met to a meet/greet in our courtyard for an open ended eat, drink, be merry - perhaps late August.

Thank you Akils ...also from the Times: The Price of This Artist’s Work? A Conversation About the Horrors of War - The New York Times (nytimes.com) also Ehren Tool | Studio Potter

Good question! ...am seeing listings $200-400 for than'n - mostly dated listings... ...am curious how the pedal/rope control works!

Aha! Neil's link (to Thetis home revolving cake stand, Amaz*n listed) includes an icing spatula! I have one - picked it up at "the bins" (Goodwill) a few years ago; it's one of five most used tools (needle, metal rib, wood knife, bit o' chamois, uhm, aah, oh yeah, sponge, ok, so six, pfft) in my studio, for levering off bats, and smoothing just below the rim onna outside. On cups and mugs, smooths the edge of slip left by the chamois, and imparts the hint of recurve, the lip parking zone. For bowls, much lighter touch, not looking to change the profile, just smooth the transition between chamois mark and ribbed outside... It's an icing spatula! ...have been curious about the intended purpose for quite some time. As for the QOW, no new equipment on the horizon, although a modern kiln may be out over the rim o' the world, somewhar...

Ain' got me flab roller yet. :| Aaand, I still have some flab. Used, err, second hand wheel (it was still squeaky new), and very used kiln (it works gud) easily outdistance other equipment, although initial order - glaze materials, clay, some other clay supplier stuff - was more than the kiln, less than the wheel. Also spent some change on two semesters at the local JC Ceramic lab for Wheel I and Wheel II classes. The wheel, kiln, materials/supplies/tools and classes were all great investments. Over the last sixteen years, the pounds have been dropping off, am down about ninety five or so, all without a flab roller, but the bike helps, and it rolls!

My wedging area is a good height for standing, and I find it easier that way - leverage? The glaze mixing space - at the exhaust fan intake - requires standing. When glazing, I'm standing when stirring and dipping. There are several other tasks that require standing, and I get up from the wheel fairly often. Otherwise, I'm looking to have a seat - several lil' nagging conditions make being on my feet a lot uncomfortable. Also, at the wheel I'm dependent on the splash pan and my knee area for bracing arms/hands. Your question has me reflecting on the many adjustments made, over the years, t' work around, aaah, limitations. I'm very fortunate!

Good work! May I suggest providing a dedicated outlet for your kiln - so you're not unplugging/replugging? If the new circuit won't support charging your car and running the kiln at the same time, one receptacle does proof it, however, so would a switch.

Lucky for me, the switches on (most of) the wheels where I started out, and the "up to you" instructor, for the operational state of my right eye, left elbow, right wrist, right middle finger tip, etc., etc., makes counter clock inordinately difficult. Were it not for said switches, perhaps I'd have found which leads to reverse.

Am feelin' compelled to reiterate... Material the motor/fan assembly is connected to can act as a sounding board. The ducts can act as resonator tubes. A large portion of the noise may be emanating from the intakes and exhaust. My kiln vent is fairly quiet, however, the secondary system (overhead, for heat and any escaping fumes) is rather loud; I have some ideas for reducing the noise. Any road, please do post an update with your findings/results OP!

Might be possible to attenuate the noise some - a baffle box for the unit itself; isolate the unit from the wall (sounding board) with squishy rubber or foam; isolate the unit from the resonator tube (heh, the metallic hose) with some rubber tape or somewhat; baffle box for the exhaust end - outside. The intake should be tight up against the kiln, hence fairly well baffled on that end, which leaves the unit itself, the hose, and exhaust... Wrapping the hose might help somewhat as well. I'd overlooked the ambient intake - a likely source of noise, that.

Wedge, aye. Right out of a fresh bag (a well sealed actually fresh-oh bag), perhaps not, perhaps... The last bit of clay I got, two bags seemed fresher than t'others; they were softer and more homogenous - likely right out of the bag would have been ok. The other bags, not so much. Even a slight variation in consistency makes things harder! Looks to me that the clay flows in direction opposite to rotation of the wheel. Anywhere the flow slows down (to go around a bubble, around a blob or bit, around a less wet bit...), there's a thickening spot; anywhere the flow speeds up (wetter bit, a shear...), there's a thinning spot. I don't need more difficult! I'm fairly certain that throwing is easier with homogenous (Dictionary.com says homogenous and homogeneous are 'bout the same, hmm; language tends to evolve to shorter/easier, so.) clay sans bubbles and bits. I'm not certain that turning the clay ball up on its right side actually helps, but I believe it does, so, there's that also. I run the wheel clockwise, hence, the clay must turn the opposite way when dragged (by hands/tools). My final wedge is of the "rams head" variety, hence, turning it up on the right side matches what's coming on the wheel. I'm recalling that some recommend the opposite, as the finished piece will then have less of a twist and will unwind less through the drying and firing processes. Any road, I'm not certain, as I haven't thoroughly tested the notion that throwing in the same direction as wedging actually helps, nor have I tested the more/less wound up ideas. I did wedge clay balls for several of my fellow students (just the struggling ones) in "Wheel I" class - matching their counterclockwise-ness - they were amazed. My preference is to start with clay just a bit damper/softer than ideal (for me), so it will be ideal once wedged up, for there's some moisture loss in the wedging, eh? I'll spiral a larger chunk afore dividing into the desired size, then rams head. As it looks to me that the inside of said rams head is more static, I'll turn the clay ball several times. After the last wedge, I'm stashing the prepped balls in a container and covering them, so they don't dry out as much. Clay that's "just right" centers easily, opens and pulls evenly, finishes round and even, winning back some o' that wedging time. Oh, for a pug mill! I've never worked with freshly pugged clay - maybe some day. However, a new(er) kiln will likely be next.

At the mill (the California Pittsburg, w/o the h), we stocked replacement boards for the antiquated fire control system. We lost a operator station in the entry pulpit early one morning; the mouse family that had moved in on the station's main board - right over the "history unit" (an early hard drive) - had added enough "moisture" and salts to rot that board. There was over a half gallon of sunflower seed shells and other detritus in there. Good ol' days.

Set o' mugs

Correlation of pyrometer readings to cones - that may be important for any/every control system? I'm still watching my one pyrometer and flipping three zone switches - low, medium, high; hence, I am the "controller." Earlier on, was donning kiln glasses and looking at cones through the peeps. Now that I have some firings under me belt, I look at cones afterward, as I'm confident in the pyrometer, wall clock, and notes to guide the "controller."