Hulk

I have had arthritis in my hands beyond memory at this point. Using your hands is whay I consider a key element to life and hands. My guess is you are not a professional with clay so you will not be using.8- 10 tons a year which. puts a hurt on the hands . I would  not worry about clay and your hands. Mild Artritis is in all us old timers who use our hands in life. 
I am 100% a believer that clay can help  strengthen and exercise the muscles . As you age no matter what your artritis will continue
Clay has kept my hands strong . They do not like cold but thats also an aging issue.Heck I do not like cold-never have liked heat either-I like it just right.

Years ago, when I was teaching throwing to beginners, my mantra was Move the Clay, don't let it Move You! I don't know how many times I told the kids that.  Little did I know that all of that moving the clay was also moving me. I find now that many fingers have become bent to fit the way I pull. Both hands have. . . .adjustments.... fingers permanently bent to fit other fingers, on the left for inside pulling, and fingers on the left made to reinforce the pointer when pulling. Weird what repetitive positions do to the body.
 
best,
Pres

https://euclids.com/pages/kiln-elements
Euclids will be able to make you some.

wow, four spindles, maybe more - "..,compressor mount under housing" and attachments, belt sander, disc/lapidary wheel, pottery wheel, flex drive, bench style grinding wheel, drum sander, chuck, arbor, cup/conventional guns

I was working on my bachelors degree in ceramics at Wichita State University in the seventies.    WSU  was the sister university to Alfred,  all  of the students working on their masters came from Alfred.  So most of my instructor's were students from Alfred,  many of the WSU students working on their masters ended up at Alfred.   Every spring the department would get around 25 application for 6 openings in the masters course.    Rick St. John would set up a projector and show the slides of applicants,  he would show them for a week giving all students a opportunity to see them.   It was quiet exciting to be in school when ceramic studies were evolving and changing with the times,  it felt like a new beginning.  I feel sorry for younger generations  we had great ideals, music,clothing and exciting art.   My son's generation had whiny music and the borrowed our hippie clothing style.  One time my son asked how I knew about the cool clothes I bought him for school.  When I told him it was the clothes we use to wear he didn't believe me.       Denice

Speaking of Books there is one being made now that is all about the place I learned the most in Ceramics. I wrote a piece for that books which is in the editing stages now.
It was called the Laundry 
In the 50's-60s it was a commercial Laundry. In the late 60s it was bought by the Humboldt State University and turned into a pot shop. It has floor drains (wood covered cement troughs that drain out). They added a kiln room off the back. The builing is one huge barrel arch roof. A really great pottery setup for teaching.
Back then my mentor Reese Bullen  (who started the Art Dept there) hired a new instructor to help him teach ceramics from Alfreds as a recent gradute Lou Marak -it was 1969. I came a few years later to that program.
They hired another Alfred grad the year I came as well  (1972). It was the heyday of ceramics for this school. It was after the war and it was ahuge open learningtyransition time in ceramics-from Volkus to Arneson clay was expanding. Thes e recenty Alfreds guys where on fire from leaning from the greats who taught and wrote at Alfreds. Rhodes and the like passed what they knew down to my teachers who passed that to us. It was a solid 5 years in immersion in all things clay and kilns for me.Many a teacher and potter came out the other side of that Laundry .
In my time I learned slip casting, low fire ,high fire , kiln firing, hand building ,slab work,clay and glaze formulation just to name a few. I Worked in work study program for years as kiln and glaze room tec.( Back then tec was not used) loading and firing kilns of all types.Salt to low fire electrics-with redution cone 10 gas as the standard .
The program slowly after many deacdes switched as did many programs to  around the country  in schools to sculture and making art-mostly low fire. This slowy in my view turned the ceramics program into a lesser one than the one I was in at that time. I have heard lots of feedback on this from students over the past 30 years
Now the University recently became Cal Poly Humboldt and humanities is at the botton of the pile now. They now have funding to build in massive science expansion 3 new parking structures and you gues it the Laundry will be scraped to put in a parking lot as Joni Mitchell once said in a song. The last 10 year ceramics professor retire this year and no one is fighting this stupid mistake. For me the university long ago lost the community support as they do not care about that.
Two of the old ceramic teachers is compiling this book on 50 years of the Laundry-its history and students. I am just one of those and one of the few that choose the production pottery route over teaching and also stayed local and am still producing . In my. time we once had over 20 full timers in this small area making funtional wares now its me. Last man standing full time. The laundry is a special place for me in my brain  as well as the people who shared what they knew way back in the early 70s with me. When folks  are buying and using my pottery they really are using pottery that came from my years at the Laundry and those who taught there at that time.
Ps this book is being complied and underwritten by a gallery In Davis Ca called the John Natsoulas Gallery. John is footing the bill
He has a press at gallery and has had a 30 year ceramic realationship with HSU ceramics and did a book on the UC Davis ceramics lab already
its a great thing he is doing for our local clay history-if you are ever in Davis Ca stop by that gallery its worth the trip-just look for the 15 foot  high ceramic cat you walk thru to enter the gallery. You cannot miss it.
https://www.natsoulas.com
 
 

A visual of why testing a glaze with your clay and firing schedule is important. Images below are of a few different claybodies with Leach's 4321 clear glaze. It looks perfect on some clay but not so much on others. How the base glaze reacts to colourants brings in more testing. Are you firing in an electric kiln or ?
 
 

More comfort: good lighting, overhead and side light in agreeable colours; air, fresh and comfortable temperature; music/radio/podcast or whatever you like, including silence (I usually put on my favourite locally produced public radio shows streamed via old laptop connected to 5.1 surround sound), chairs.
All Min said, and more buckets, large sponges, rags, lots - once any clay has dried on a rag, grab a new one, for clay on cloth becomes airborne dust.
Stay ahead of the dust!

Are you familiar with the Orton cone chart and making the last segment go the speed in the chart for the final 100c of the firing to get the cone to drop?
The center column speed is common so your last segment speed would be 60c per hour and for cone 5, end of firing = 1186c, start of final segment: 1186c - 100c = 1086c.  So last segment starts at 1086c, goes 60c per hour and ends at 1186c. This should get cone 5 to drop as planned.
your first segment can go as fast as your pots will tolerate so approximately 100c - 250c per hour.
It turns out, most of the heatwork is done in the last 100c, so get that right and you can more accurately fire to cone. If you add a hold to the end generally a 15 to 20 minute hold drives it approximately to the next cone.
This way, you always have a place to start working on a “good” schedule.
 
 

Linda Arbuckle adapted Daniel Rhodes slip and engobe recipes below. I would see if you can get the materials for the Cone 04 Wet recipe in the first column.
Are ceramic frits available to you in Iran? Any chance you can get Ferro 3134? If not can you get borax? It is often sold as a laundry cleaner. If you can get borax (but not the frit) swap 5% borax for the frit and dissolve it in really hot water and try a test with that. Don't make a big batch without testing it on your clay first. Get the engobe onto the clay as soon as you can. The drier the clay the more chance it will crack or flake off during drying and firing.
To make white you will need to add an opacifier, can you get any zircon based ones? You could use tin but it's much more expensive. Without the opacifier the engobe will still be white but not as opaque a white as with the opacifier. If you use tin use 1/2 the recommended amount of zircon opacifier called for in the recipe.
If you want other colours of engobe this link has the original recipes plus some colourants for other colours.
(I'm going to move this thread over to the chemistry section)

 

Hi Bam,
Tony Hansen's digitalfire.com site has entries on each oxide, including colorants.
Ceramic Oxides (digitalfire.com) and an article on colorants Colorant (digitalfire.com)
I like Susan Petersen's book The Craft and Art of Clay, particularly the glaze section, which includes an entry on each important ingredient (including colorants) and clear discussion of unity.
I use cobalt carbonate, copper carbonate, rutile, tin oxide, chrome oxide, iron oxide, uhm, oh yeah, zircopax.

More comfort: good lighting, overhead and side light in agreeable colours; air, fresh and comfortable temperature; music/radio/podcast or whatever you like, including silence (I usually put on my favourite locally produced public radio shows streamed via old laptop connected to 5.1 surround sound), chairs.
All Min said, and more buckets, large sponges, rags, lots - once any clay has dried on a rag, grab a new one, for clay on cloth becomes airborne dust.
Stay ahead of the dust!

If you are just wanting to throw for now I'd set up your space so you are carrying the clay the least possible distance from where you bring it into the house. Having a laundry sink with a drain sink trap so you don't clog your pipes is really helpful, especially if you have running hot water. If you don't have a sink then you can use a couple of buckets of water to wash your hands and tools, one for the really mucky stuff and one to rinse in. (keep the slip and throwing water to add to your reclaimed clay to prevent it getting short (not so plastic). Shelving to put your pots on, a sturdy table to wedge on, a floor that can easily and frequently be mopped down and a stool that is ergonomically comfortable if you throw sitting down. An anti fatigue mat if you throw standing up. 

Hi Lindsay, welcome to the forum. 
I understand your interest here, as I was a HS teacher who taught mostly Ceramics classes. However, in the mid 80's a music colleague of mine and I wrote a grant to put in a computer studio for the arts in the school. I started teaching computer graphics courses with an emphasis on animation, 2D and 3D. Retired in 2009, I still fiddle with Corel Draw, Blender and several other graphics programs. Natural transition for me as they(ceramics, and CGI) are often the same beast. . . 3D.
As to a studio, you are on the right track, if you are interested in throwing, but you may want to get yourself a solid work area to try some handbuilding on.
 
best,
Pres

@moonari Hi there! I've only done a few firings as I'm making my glazes and have a lot of testing to do still. I did end up buying several 6" posts, along with some 2" and 4" and some 1". I bought 3 advancer shelves (full) which have been wonderful, but quickly realized I needed an extra shelf or two so I also ordered a full size standard shelf, and will eventually get another. I do think half shelves would be too small to fit much with a kiln this size, unless you are making very small pieces. 
I ended up building my own vent system which was easy to setup & saved me a good chunk of money.  I bought Skutts plenum cup kit and ordered a blower motor which were the two most expensive parts. The rest can be purchased cheaply at any home improvement store. 
I'm definitely glad I went with the 822 over the 818, as I didn't realize until using it how small it actually is. I'm thankful for those couple extra inches. If making larger pieces like plates or bowls, you'll only be able to do a few pieces per firing. I've only used the cone fire programs so far, but will soon be trying a custom program as the cone 6 firing program seems to over fire a bit for me. With you getting a 3" brick, you'll have even more insulation so you may have the same problem with overfiring if using the preloaded desired cone firing program. One nice thing though with the cone fire programs, is you can add a slow cool to any of the programs, which has to first be enabled in the settings. I think it was called R8. You also have the ability to add holds, preheat, and firing speed, so you can still customize the preloaded programs a bit. 
Overall its a great Kiln and doesn't take up much room. I do wish I would've spent the extra couple hundred for the touch screen controller, but the Kilnmaster controller is easy enough to use. Hopefully some of this helps. Good luck and congrats on your Kiln! 

Hello @Hulk and everyone else that helped me through this disaster! I am happy to say I made it to the other side and am now having success in my sculptures! WooHoo! Here are a few pictures and what I learned! (Thank you, @Hulk, for your encouraging words and warm welcome. That alone meant a lot to me.)
1.) @CactusPots A SLOW bisque firing is ***KEY!!*** Especially when pieces are more than 12 inches tall. Sometimes I even preheat for an hour in addition to slow bisque firing now. Out of all my research and feedback, I believe this is the most important part of the solution. I even talked with a tach at Skutt about it.  Thank you, @CactusPots!!
2.) @Min Using "jiggling pressure" when applying attachments also has made a difference! 
3.) @Pres I now use slip made with Magic Water (Magic Water + Clay Body) when attaching elements on my sculptures. This works best FOR ME since I didn't like the "feel" of Magic Water alone. (Also, @Pres, I have tried pinholes inside the vessels when I remember, but since this hasn't been a consistent strategy for me, I am not sure how much it has helped.) 
4.) @Sorcery @Babs I do believe it was possible that air pockets (where moisture could travel to, make steam, and explode) were responsible, especially with a quick bisque fire like my original post showed. ***I've incorporated bending by attachments  as I put them on which makes first contact in the center and then I push out pockets of air to the edges. These air pockets act like vugs in rock formations; they make the perfect place for water to pool, steam and do crazy things!! 
5.) @oldlady When I can, I lay my slab on the table and add attatchments before building it vertically. What I am making doesn't always allow for that, so if I can't do it that way, I make sure I am building on a wooden form or place lots of "back pressure" inside the pot while attaching on the outside.
So…BRAVO and MUCHO GRACIAS to all of you for helping find SUCCESS!!! Here are NEW sculptures...

I am not much of a functional potter but I have made some odd functional items for my son.   I  also made sets of dishes for handicap people,  I was inspired by my babysitter.   Her daughter only had partial use of one arm,  she wanted a set of dishes for her that wasn't plastic.   My murals and tiles come from pure imagination and inspiration.    Denice

LOL, I've done that in the past too.  I have a really good customer who kept asking me for a plate cover for the microwave. I broke down and made a few of them, she bought one and the rest landed up in my clearance bin.  I am super interested in what people ask for though, if enough people ask me about a certain item I will start thinking about making it. My mistake with the microwave plate cover was it was only her who asked for it.

Some things I've made because somebody would ask me, "Do you make _____?" and I think, "How hard could that be?" to which I later reply, "What was I thinking?" 
I also largely make functional pieces. I like to think about whether what I make is suited for ceramics. For example, I wouldn't make a ceramic wine goblet because I think a huge amount of appreciating wine comes from looking at it. I also wouldn't make something for a cooktop because metal pots are so much better IMO. 
Probably a lot of people come to ideas as serendipitous offshoots of something else they are working on. I work with slabs often now because of a back injury and couldn't sit at my wheel. I had made an altered bottomless wheel thrown vase, and wanted to replicate the shape with slab, and that is now the main form of vases that I make. 
I love drawing in my sketchbook. Everything new goes there first before I try it out. It helps me visualize colors, patterns, angles and dimensions.

This weeks question of the week comes to us from @LeeU and is "what were you thinking?" insofar as how do you come up with ideas?
I tend to come up with an idea for something then think about it over a few days, make up a few prototypes, sometimes a drawing then look for design flaws or areas that could be improved. (I mostly make functional pots) I often do look at others work, not to copy but to kick start my thought process.
Thanks for your question Lee! If anybody else has some question ideas they are always more than welcome in this thread.
Lee wrote: 
"This is in the vein of "what were you thinking", which I ask myself often. My inquiry for a possible QotW subject is this: how do Forum clay artists, potters, sculptors woking in clay, hobbyists, professional gallery exhibiters, instructors, production ceramacists,  etc. come to their ideas? I'm curious about whether ceramicists do, or do not, or can not, articulate in advance formative ideas. Are there identifiable/describable processes that indivduals use, which they consciously recognize and employ as a route to generating ideas for their work? I think a "sampler" of such approaches and techinques would be really interesting!"

When you push in the power button, you're actually pushing together contact plates, which allows the power to flow from the bottom terminals on the ceramic block to the top terminals. There are two plates, one for each side of the Sitter block (left and right). Over time these plates can become corroded and need to be cleaned up. I've seen a couple of kilns over the years where power was only flowing on one side of the Sitter due to corrosion.  When the Sitter kicks off, the plates disengage and the power flow stops. The back side of the power button has a small ridge in it. When you push in the button, a little spring loaded lever goes into the ridge and holds the button in. When the cone bends and the weight drops, the little bump on the weight hits the lever and it releases the button. The timer knob has a little bump on the back side that does the same thing. When it gets to zero, the bump hits the spring loaded lever and releases the power button, which disengages the contact plates. It's very much a Rube Goldberg machine IMO, but it works.

The timer is powered by the load side so the sitter must be set to power it  but when time is expired it mechanically trips the sitter. Maybe think of the mechanics of setting a mouse trap, if the set lever is not just so, you can’t set the trap.
see page 8 of the manual http://www.fireright.com/docs/kilnsitter/lt3andk.pdf

These are the ones that I have been using: https://www.harborfreight.com/50-pc-diamond-rotary-point-set-69665.html.  They are pretty good quality at a good price.

I’ve had a couple 20” square ones, and 20” round ones, can’t remember the thickness, both warped fairly quickly. Fired to a hot cone 6 with heavy use. Size and thickness of the shelves will be factors.  Perhaps there is a quality difference between manufacturers or they are better suited for lowfire, at least the ones I had which were from Seattle Pottery Supply.
edit: good article by Bill Schran comparing the pros and cons of different types of kiln shelves. https://vincepitelka.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Kiln-Shelf-Options-by-Schran.pdf

Thanks @Mark C. The pump is not as big in relation to the pugmill as the photos make it look. The rubber sheet idea is what I've always done in the past, and what I'll go back to between the 2 halves, but I've found it leaks a lot over the vacuum chamber, and around the screen covers. I tried an auto "gasket-maker" in a tube (a type of silicone), and the odour was low, but the seal was SO tight that I thought the plexiglass was going to break when I had to pry it off. It was also more effort to scrape off. 
*My current favourite gasket solution: plumber's putty! Stays soft and pliable, low odour, easily removable, and makes a good seal.  
@oldladyThank you for the suggestion! I can see why it looks too big in the photo. I get my Mason Stains from Bailey, so I'll keep that in mind if I need to replace this cover.  
I finally figured out what was going on with the vacuum pump. Actually, the idea credit belongs with my Dad. I used a tiny pipe-cleaner to clean the 2 little exhaust holes (area circled in photo below), and TA-DA!!! Only dropped suction once in about an hour instead of 2/3 times a minute. Poor thing was clogged up with oil and dirt, and couldn't breathe. That step of maintenance wasn't mentioned in the manual, but it's evidently important.
On another vacuum note, for those reading this later, the vacuum pump from an old dairy milker might work (also my Father's idea. Very clever man). I got to 70 kPa with one my uncle had, without trying very hard. Could have got stronger suction with more tinkering, perhaps?