Hulk

Silly* studio details/thing(s) overlooked - how did I not see't?
...bought a cheap-ish 2000g digi scale last July, just noticed that it was miscalibrated to display 1/2 grams! Either I never calibrated it, or (more likely) used one of the two 200g weights to calibrate it last July.
It does what it's told to do.
For test batches of glaze, it's proportions that count, so no harm there. What jumped out at me this week: at first, thought the cheap-ish 100 ml graduated cylinder I bought was wrong, haha, as 100 ml of water weighs 200g? No matter, weight of glaze/weight of water for same volume yields specific gravity, but why is scale "wrong," hmm?
The good news bein' all them balls of clay weighed out these last eight months were half the weight me "thought" - hence why my pots so small for the weight of clay concerns evaporated like morning mists ...hrmm, mebbe the foot tall three poun' cylinder club me can join sooner over (much much) later?
 
*Silly as in obvious and outcome mostly harmless; that said, should members wish to recount drastic/tragic scenarios, go to it - if any tragedy could be averted, it'd be worth't

^ good question dh
Thinkin' 'bout Mark's question raises (for me):
  What type of mentor/mentee (wow, "mentee" actually dictionary word*) experiences have you had in wheel?
From how long to learn to how.
Wheel instruction in the two classes I've had consisted of brief demonstrations, then go to it. Students who had questions or were obviously struggling got one on one and/or small group instruction. I'm not complainin' - I'd rather toodle and stumble along than get instruction that don't fit me; that said, perhaps timely and appropriate mentorship may have helped? May help in future?
Any road, my mentor is a motley of visual (realtime and video), print, stills. In the other direction - I'm no one's mentor in wheel!
*a manatee learning from another would be a manatee mentee, and same who'd ordered tea would be a manatee mentee who meant tea, and... 

So I know this is my kitchen counter, but the light on my workbench turns most photos very yellow. This medicine set will be my own entry to the mug portion of the “Bonspiel: Canadians and Their Love of Winter Sport” show at NCECA this year. After some adventures I had with my kids and ear infections last month, I feel like avoiding illness is a winter sport!
If you’re coming this year, check out the show. We’re on the Minneapolis Picks bus tour and shuttle route on Wednesday.
 

Did a glaze firing over the weekend, here's some of the doggie bowls and a few of the more interesting mugs.  Loving my new digital controller.

Whamo Mamo Matt
Kingman feldspar- 49
china clay-21
Dolomite-19
whiting-4
Tin-8
One of my many glaze projects in school was doing a line blend on this glaze to see where it could be made cheaper and maintain color and surface
My new improved glaze was Wham Mamo II-
same formula but
tin is 4 and zircopax is 4 to tall that 8
This is my favorite glad from the 70s
I fired it on a buff to dark stoneware body in solid reduction to soft cone 10s
This glaze is super tough and lasts a lifetime in use. 
I also did all my own bathroom shower wrap around and tiled window and sink and sink top and backsplash in 1982 -still looking sharp today.
we eat off all sizes of plates made with this glaze as well.
I sold a set of dinnerware to my mentor long ago and added to it for his son who inherited it later in life.I made several sets back then and that are all going strong now. I got my mothers set back after my sister was done with it. I gave part of that to my mentors son as I cannot get this effect anymore while firing my porcelain loads.

Whenever there is a question with a very dominant answer, I like to ask myself what situation could turn the answer around.
I know that Louise Nevelson was an abstract  sculptor rather than a potter, but her body of sculptural work, at least after her earliest beginnings, was painted black. She made a few all white pieces and a few gold, but she spent her career exploring form in black.
There are creative people who find it intriguing to work under a constraint, though in her case she simply felt that black contained all colors.

To respond to the question, any potter who still has their curiosity will eye new glazes and wonder.....

Pulled a lot of $$ from that town as its a tourist meca in summer and that shop has sold my wares for 46 years now and also pulled a lot of fish from the sea out front-also a fair amount from underwater there as well. The only marine railway operating  on the west coast to luanch your boat as well. Very unique spot on this Earth.

Just startin' out here, not likely to run out of glaze questions, ever; ah don' even have the rainbow dialed yet - no yellow, orange or true violet.
Mark, you gonna love your toto.
 

You will stop looking for new glazes when you "kick the bucket". If you believe in an afterlife, then never.  Firing results may vary in heaven vs hell

How could you ever stop looking for new glazes!?!  One of the main things I love about pottery in general is that there is always something to do.  It's throwing, it's trimming, it's decorating and glazing and firing and maintenance and the list goes on forever!  What a joy it all is, and testing new glazes is a huge addition to that joy!  I wish I could do it more often, I have so many great ideas and they only rarely get a chance to be tested!  
I feel like when I test out new glazes everything looks great and I wasted time doing a small batch on tiles.  So the next time I test a new glaze I skip it and just make a few gallons, only to have it look like dookie and ruin 10 mugs.  Oh well, some lessons are never learned, just oscillate back and forth from failure to success.

I started with crystalline glaze, and still firing crystalline glaze. I experiment with other glazes from time to time; but mostly to see their reaction to a specific clay body. Now I have been working on a series of "reactive" porcelains, to see how they react to reduction, wood, salt, and raku firings. Thanks to my fellow potters who have helped me in that research.
Tom

I'm not sure thats a ever for me. That said I seem to get about 12-15 glazes going at any one time.-over time I experiment anbd bring is a new one to the fold and usuallt take one out.
Thats happend a few years ago with an iron saturated glaze I now make with synthectic iron and am phasing out the old iron glaze. The new one is much brighter and almost red in certain situations.
I have a few glazes that I have used my whole career  and my costomers still crave them.
Test for me works in cycles of how bored I get with my glazes and how much spare time I have to adress the testing period.
I know for example I have big (last remodel of house) on our bedroom this late spring/summer and thats will take up all testing time so its now or fall for me for new colors.
as to the remodel its a full gut interior-raising the floor 11 inches to match rest of house as one level. Raising the ceiling at least 1 foot-That means collar ties and adding 2x6 to ceiling,making walls 2x6 over 2x4 as is currently by adding furring strips to studs.
Adding a very small 1/2 bath with wall monted Toto Toilet and a small corner sink. maple hardwood floor-moving closet into two closets. Moveing entry door 6 inchs over to fit closets .New  windows(3 -3x6s) perment color outside wood interior. Maple trim throughout. New wiring (last room to get this).
Puting in a small mini split AC /heat pump unit for this room .(its about 16x 15 if I recall.)taking out the exterior door and  filling in the 5/8 x 10  old growth redwood siding with cider siding(already have it)
Adding new insulation and 5/8 sheet rock as well.
I'm doing all the mechanical/electrical and helping with some wood work and doing the trim
This room was a add on in 1962 about 10 years before I boughtb the property and its all made from old growth redwood-and is currenty covered with mahogany paneling-the real stuff. Its that only room left thats not 5/8 sheet rock.
And as you may have guessed I'm not going to be making many pots during May 20th and the later part of June-But they are getting made NOW.
Sorry I got a wee bit sidetracked on the glaze question

dhPotter recently posted in the QotW pool: 
At what point in a potter's career does he/she stop searching for and testing new glazes?
When does the potter become satisfied with his/her stable of glazes and says "This is enough"?
I really don't know how to answer that, as I am still keeping notes on new glazes, watching for ingredients and percentages, constantly interested in new glazes and trying out quite a few in 100 g test batches. Over the years, my own work has changed quite a bit as I learned more about glaze. ... I had never had a glaze theory/making/testing class. However, as I had been a math/science major in the early days of my college education and worked as a lab assistant nights glaze chemistry is not too distant a reach for me. I have learned to be more intuitive of late as I understand much more about how things react in a glaze than I have before. I was a teacher in a HS, and as my budget was a small for the size of my classes, I turned to mixing my own glazes as a way to get the most bang for my buck. I had around 20 glazes I mixed for classes, and then a few that I used in large powdered lots of commercial glaze. 
In my own work, I started out by saving money with just one white glaze that I sprayed underglazes and stains over top of for color and decoration using dipping and atomizer spraying. Over the years I have changed from that to airbrushing using a series of blue, brown and green glazes over a creamy tan white that reacts well over texture as now my decoration comes in stamped and carved decoration put in before shaping.
I really don't think potters say. . . enough, especially with the way the technology and understanding increases as we keep exploring the medium. Maybe I'm wrong, and after all it is only my personal opinion.  Thanks for the question dhPotter.
 
best,
Pres

There must be something in the air. I ruined a batch of 20 mugs two weeks ago!
@LeeU Cooking spray works great for keeping non-porous stamps from sticking. I had a batch of sprigs to do last year with very fine raised letters and detail in a plastic stamp, and after trying everything I could think of, cooking spray worked beautifully.

This side will have a dug-out channel going around the sun. The piece is a spinoff from my Excavation series, and incorporates a Hidden Dragonfly when placed  sunny side up.  I was at the potters' guild reception for the Once Upon the Earth show and it pained me to have to deal with the fact that nobody could touch and handle my pieces.   I handle and touch my pieces from the beginning of the process as though I were blind. Their heft and texture is half the point, as with this one that is on the workbench.   3/11 added pics after some carving
 

Iv'e seen tons of deer in our back yard, they've scared the heck out of me walking out to the observatory in the evenings just after dark with a loud "HUFF!". That's OK though, Iv'e snuck up on them and gotten payback. 
Unloaded the kiln with some mugs and planters, and some of my wife's first experiments with underglaze, I think she's gonna do great!. Sure feels good to have work on the table! Getting ready for a show at the nature center in a few weeks.
 
 
 

I put a bit of Bag Balm (kinda like Vaseline) on a cotton ball and lightly coated the metal press--which I think may be brass, not iron. I finally got a good impression today.  Yes, I rub from the back! Not fooling with plaster, tho I know I "should".  No picture of the best mother mold------I looked up and saw this---ran for the camera, which of course had the wrong lens on it...there were FOUR of 'em wandering through. I've lived here for 16 years and never seen this out my windows. 

Not clay, but glass.  Still goes into the kiln.

^ good question dh
Thinkin' 'bout Mark's question raises (for me):
  What type of mentor/mentee (wow, "mentee" actually dictionary word*) experiences have you had in wheel?
From how long to learn to how.
Wheel instruction in the two classes I've had consisted of brief demonstrations, then go to it. Students who had questions or were obviously struggling got one on one and/or small group instruction. I'm not complainin' - I'd rather toodle and stumble along than get instruction that don't fit me; that said, perhaps timely and appropriate mentorship may have helped? May help in future?
Any road, my mentor is a motley of visual (realtime and video), print, stills. In the other direction - I'm no one's mentor in wheel!
*a manatee learning from another would be a manatee mentee, and same who'd ordered tea would be a manatee mentee who meant tea, and... 

At what point in a potter's career does he/she stop searching for and testing new glazes?
When does the potter become satisfied with his/her stable of glazes and says "This is enough"?
 

What is realistic amout of time to spend before being able to produce quality thrown forms on the wheel.Meaning ones that others will want (not family members)
1 year 
2 years
3 years 
4 years 
5 years 
longer?

Here's a question for you:
Do you think you have helped, or been helped more by people in the flesh, or by forums, or by You-Tube?  Pottery-wise, not your whole world.

When I took a JC Raku class, I was required to sculpt a modernized version of a Xian Warrior. The requirement was that we use an existing warrior and modify it to reflect how we see ourselves and our current life situation in clay. I chose to show myself as a farmer since I do have a "hobby" farm. (No, I don't grow hobbies...). 
My question is: How do you see yourself in clay?
Here's what I came up with:

I just opened up my new Ceramics Monthly (what a great magazine- and I see you have another article published, Pres!) and saw on page 20 a first exhibit by Anna Whitehouse called #100bottles100days. 
This made me wonder whether anyone here, at any time in your practice, undertook something like this, an item made in different versions over a course of a large number of days. I know people who have done a painting a day or a drawing of a nude each day...
If so, what was your specific objective in the exercise?