Hulk

Most of my life in clay I have been  a start from scratch camp as far as glazes go. I have also been a re-formulator to some extent as well to others recipes .
I guess if I recall back in high school I used what they had for a less than a  year (low fire) then same deal in 1st quarter at a JC  (high fire) but it was during the next quarter I make my own scale (balance beam) and started making my own from that point on within a year I had a glaze calc class at Humboldt State (just changed their name last week To: Cal Poly Humboldt-big news for or small community here) its only the 3rd Cal Poly in state now
Never looked back-of course most of that is lost in my brain these days-I have more ideas than time these days
I got lazy a few decades ago and have Laguna clay make my rutile base  by the ton in 50# bags-I make about 14 other working glazes year around.That glaze is one of my most popular glazes with customers -not with me but I'm ok with that.
I have an order in right now with them for more glaze.
I just got the quote -it used to be $45 a 50# bag now its $72 a bag-just like everything these days its costs more.
 
 

started out as a user, then a mixer, and then wanted to have more control over what I was putting on my clay and knowing the ingredients I became a "recipe follower" and now, dip my toe (or pot as it were)   into reformulating.  I think this might be the year I learn more about glaze software.....
 

I’m a re-formulator.

I'm definitely and firmly in the modify / tweak / alter or start from scratch camp as far as glazes go. It's a bit like how I cook, recipes are okay but knowing what the ingredients do then tweaking or substituting them to get the results you are looking for is what I prefer to do. I think part of this comes down to a couple things, firstly if you are one of those people who needs to know the why of things and secondly for economic reasons it makes sense for me to formulate and mix my own glazes. I enjoy glaze formulation, to me it's like doing a crossword puzzle, lots of fun. 

I think all the above actually. In the beginning premixed production style glazes till one gets tired of paying for water, then mixing dry, then frustration with fit and finish led to learning about mixing which led  to more glaze research which led to the realization raw materials are cheap which led to corrections which led to develop your own. Ultimately it led to never wanting to go back to premixed production style glazes. So now for me correct as needed, design when there is a need. Test / experiment as inspired.

Hi folks, no new questions in the pool, so I'll pose another.
Over the years, I have evolved in my use of glazes. In the beginning, college years, I was a user of glazes in the studio. I used what was there, and learned how to combine/overlap/decorate with what was mixed. When I graduated and got the job at the HS in Altoona, I did much the same. Ceramics had been started by another teacher using an old electric kiln and buying clay and glazes from Amaco firing at ^06. Its what he knew. Over the next few years I took over the classes, and started building a program by developing a better list of suppliers than the one the district used for all things, and buying better materials at better prices and moving to ^6. We still used Amaco liquid glazes, but  on SC clays. Then I realized that I could get the glazes cheaper if I bought bulk and dry as the shipping also came out of our budgets. I searched for a year and found Minnesota clay, and A. R. T.. I purchased some glazes that seemed to be good fits and started to build up a selection of glazes that would replace the old amaco liquid and dry. I had moved from being a user to a mixer.
This worked for quite a few years, and then they froze our budgets for several years, using up my inventory, and making the budget very tight all around. So I moved on putting all of the glaze budget into materials after reading M^6 several times That and other things made me a me more of a raw mixer. Mixing up the  chemical compounds with the addition of some additives to have 2 & 5 gallon buckets of glaze for the students. This usually was 15-20 glazes for the class, along with some commercial underglazes. As time went on though, I have become more of a re-formulator where I use existing recipes of glazes, and modify them for either color or surface by manipulating the raw compounds within the glazes by changing the clays, fluxes opacifiers and other oxides. I still start with a base recipe, put it into a glaze program to tweak the glaze, do testing, and go from there. Glazes at home now are around 6-7 in number, with the use of oxide washes as inglaze.
QotW: When it comes to glazing, are you a User, Mixer, Re-formulator, or a true Formulator?    Please excuse my choice of terminology, but I am trying to keep terms simple.
 
best,
Pres

aka Mikhail Zakin
...am enjoying reading about these artists, thank you.

Toshiko Takaezu. 1922-2011 She was awarded Living Treasure Award in 1987 in Hawaii. Known for her closed forms. She was my first influence when I started learning in 1982. 
Michael Zakin. 1913-2005 She was one o the first women to build and fire a salt kiln, and her work with carbonized clay is in major collections internationally. (I have one). She was close to Karen Karnes and was an incredible teacher who established The Old Church Cultural Center in Demarest, NJ. That is where I first encountered her in 1989, She created a different world in her classroom, where the world was good and creations were nurtured.
 
 

That's just what I was hoping to hear Hulk.  I'll definitely get the lighter and cheaper 1/4" then,  one for each of the 3 clays I use.   Thank you!
I've been reclayming on a plaster slab as well, which is in a lidded bin that I use as a damp box also.  But I can see having 5 exposed sides would be even better.  Does pottery plaster in bags have a use by date?  When I used mine again I couldn't get it to set, tho I tried several times.    I thought I had read somewhere that it doesn't age well in the bag.  Is that true?   I had the bag in plastic as well.   Do I just need to get a fresh bag?

So simple...yes it worked from my cell phone....now I can get on with pottery... thanks so so much.

Recall we received clarification from Orton on small vs large cones: 
      https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/21668-kiln-sitter-cone-for-witness-cone
The website was corrected (the .pdf was ok)
      The small cone description has been changed on Orton's website, now reads (emphasis added) "Small Cones used on the kiln shelf deform at about 9°F after Large or Self-Supporting Cones of the same number."
My take is still (mostly) repeatability - how the glaze and clay behaves when cone is bent thus, hence difference between large and small cones matters when a) switching to the other cone type (I like the small ones) and/or b) when sharing firing info with others.

Almost all (err, all) my handbuilt efforts are comprised of wheel thrown parts.

Clay/pottery/ceramic specific stores within reasonable driving distance, we don't have, however, when passing near one on our travels, I've fenagled time for a stop and shop...
Hence, for pottery specific parts, e.g. Dawson sitter tube assembly, new thermocouple, etc. it's internet and/or telephone, unless repair can be put off until the next trip.
As for generic parts, e.g. threaded fastener, if it's a small number of pieces, I also prefer matching up hands on from the locals' drawers/bins and paying the premium. If the part count is more than a few, and I can wait, then I'll look to match up at the locals' bins, buying one or two, then placing an order, when the saving$ are significant*.
*examples:
We bought hidden/European style hinges for our cabinet refinishing project from D Lawless, where per piece difference was a few bucks - multiply by the required count, two or three hinges per door - total savings buys tires and tubes for over a year of bike riding (I ride "a lot")...
For our steel door restoration project, we bought new low series stainless button head hex screws at a bit over six cents each (vs forty five cents each) from Albany County Fasteners (their minimum was twenty five pieces, if I'm recalling correct - we needed a few hundred).
For local botanical garden bench restoration project, bought carriage bolts from Albany County, saving just under 75% (but for hot dip galvanized, not electroplate).
...

Clay/pottery/ceramic specific stores within reasonable driving distance, we don't have, however, when passing near one on our travels, I've fenagled time for a stop and shop...
Hence, for pottery specific parts, e.g. Dawson sitter tube assembly, new thermocouple, etc. it's internet and/or telephone, unless repair can be put off until the next trip.
As for generic parts, e.g. threaded fastener, if it's a small number of pieces, I also prefer matching up hands on from the locals' drawers/bins and paying the premium. If the part count is more than a few, and I can wait, then I'll look to match up at the locals' bins, buying one or two, then placing an order, when the saving$ are significant*.
*examples:
We bought hidden/European style hinges for our cabinet refinishing project from D Lawless, where per piece difference was a few bucks - multiply by the required count, two or three hinges per door - total savings buys tires and tubes for over a year of bike riding (I ride "a lot")...
For our steel door restoration project, we bought new low series stainless button head hex screws at a bit over six cents each (vs forty five cents each) from Albany County Fasteners (their minimum was twenty five pieces, if I'm recalling correct - we needed a few hundred).
For local botanical garden bench restoration project, bought carriage bolts from Albany County, saving just under 75% (but for hot dip galvanized, not electroplate).
...

During the holidays, I have been looking for some repair parts for things around the house, and usually find them at our local hardware store 1 block over and 3 blocks down. Just a walk. However, lately I have had a harder time finding just the right part, even when looking at the big box  hardware twenty mile down the road. Makes me wonder. . . .when buying parts for the studio, kilns, wheels, extruders and others, do you try to buy local or do you just jump to the internet? I prefer to have a store, really with almost everything, I am one of those touchy, feely types that are more convinced the item is right by seeing it in person, and often being able to feel it. I haven't bought some things because of a sharp edge, a weak connection or other flaws. Lately though the internet has been the place to go.
QotW: When making repairs for the studio, do you try to buy local or do you just jump to the internet?
 
best,
Pres

The only parts I have been able to buy here are stainless steel screws.  That's it.  Small town, I have to order most everything.  
 

Good question!
Everywhere.
FaceBook marketplace; Craigslist; https://www.govdeals.com/; nearby pottery places, including universities and Junior Colleges, suppliers, studios, etc.
Good and fair stuff goes fast - keep looking.

I think I’ve figured out what I’m going to do. I used 60-80 mesh granulated manganese, in the percentages shown below. Interesting that the speckles are sometimes larger depending on the glaze, because the glaze can cause them to spread out a bit. The 0.2% test looks the closest to my previous claybody. But there have been times in the past when I wished they were a bit more sparse. 0.1% is too sparse though, so I think the right answer for me is 0.15%.
 

My husband is starting his fourth year of retirement and I think everything that could go wrong did.  He had health problems right away,  in the middle of his colon surgery his mother was brought by a ambulance to the same hospital.   We spent two years handling things for his mom,  she died last November,  still settling the will a year later.  In middle of all this  Covid shutdown,  I had both wrists and a finger operated on and I have arthritis in my fingers.   I haven't given up,  I am reorganizing my shop this week,  even hanging new blinds.   I started on a alternative plan to keep me in my studio ten years ago.  I started growing gourds,  I know they are not clay but they are shaped like pots and are light weight.  There are many ways to get designs on them with light weight tools.  If you not into growing them you can buy them in bulk on-line.   I have seen finished pieces in galleries and have bought a dozed pieces for inspiration. I bought one that was from a gallery on 5th avenue at a estate sale.  My big project this winter is 3'x4' mural.   I guess I'd better get to work.   Denice

Likely I'd turn away if there were no power available to turn the electric wheel.
There is clay nearby - many of the California Mission roof tiles were made here - it'd be a whole project; however, I'd give it a try.
If glaze choices became more limited, I'd likely roll with that.
If firing became difficult, I'd like to think I'd still throw, trim, and finish, but recycle a lot more.
I'm enjoying the whole process; however, throwing is what got me into it, and I'm not seeing running a kick or treadle wheel.

This. My thumbs and a couple of my fingers have started to be painful in the joints, sometimes to the point that they throb for a couple of days after heavy use. I'm seeing my hand doctor and wearing a brace on one thumb at night, and I've seen some improvement, so that's good. I could always do the cinnamon roll tendon surgery on my thumbs if needed, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. I just want to make sure my hands won't limit my activities in retirement when I'll have time to do some of the other things I enjoy doing like woodworking and fishing.

For me its not a shortage issue -its more a wrist hands issue . I need them to last my whole life without to much pain. Clay work has taken its toll and I need to do less  clay so that I can continue without giving up the ghost.
With three bones missing in right wrist (a prc) and one bone gone in left thumb clay has had some serious effects on my after 50 years. I really do not want a wrist fusion which is what is next-so I need to gauge clay /pain with giving up the ghost
My long term plan which is getting more short term every day less clay work-less outlets less sales -

Hi folks, I have been thinking about a few strands here on the forum that concern shortages. Most of the shortages are due to the Covid situation which has made some major changes in the supply chain. Thinking about this made me wonder. . . what would it take for a potter, either a full timer or a hobbyist, to give up on pottery? 
In my own situation, I usually make pots when I feel like it, which is not in the cold, but otherwise whenever I can get the time in the studio. I love to throw, and at times handbuild. Working with the clay is therapeutic and satisfying, just as opening a kiln for me is like Christmas still. I imagine that if things stayed cold all year round, I would probably find a better way to heat the shop, and keep on keeping on. If for some reason I became disabled, I believe I would still deal with things to some degree working with the clay as so many others on the forum have. Shortage of electric, I would probably change clays and go to pit firing, and bring the kick wheel out of the basement to work that way, or buy a treadle wheel.  I know that I am getting older, and that I take longer to throw a bat of mugs, but they are better mugs and more creative than the ones before, so time is not an issue. The only thing I can think of stopping me from making pots is the shortage of clay. . . Heaven forbid! I could probably turn Pioneer Potter, and dig/process the clay on my own, but then by the time I was done, too much time and energy has been exhausted leaving me the same!
QotW: What sort of shortage would make you "give up the ghost" ?  
 
best,
Pres

I heard back from Laguna about the Cim Talc they are now carrying. The chart below is what I was sent, apart from a minuscule bit of alumina and slightly less LOI it's the same as what @Hulk linked to above in his last link. I noticed the data from the chart Laguna sent is from 2016.

I did a side by side comparison of Amtalc-C98 (aka amtalc, amtal and the old pioneer talc). I entered Cim Talc from the Laguna info. The Cim Talc does have more SiO2 which I would  rebalance in recipes having more than a small amount of talc in them.

I picked a random fairly high talc recipe and ran it with both Amtalc-C98 and Cim Talc, shows the silica difference and very minuscule differences in calcium, magnesium and alumina. I would reduce the silica in the Cim Talc recipe to equal the Amtalc formula. The calcium and alumina differences are more than likely insignificant given the analysis from Laguna had both the calcium and alumina oxides at <3 and <1 respectively.

I'll pin this thread as I'm sure the "new" talc topic will come up again.