Hulk

Good question!
If temporary, a large vinyl flooring remnant could be an option?
Where the edges are well away from the activity, a damp mop makes cleaning up easy.
If the edges turn up at the wall/baseboard (wall to wall!), then doing something at the door(s) to mitigate the tripping hazard remains.
If permanent, vinyl might still be an option, but putting something flat, dense, and smooth under is likely required.

Thanks for the input everyone! I ended up installing a shimpo table top wheel under the glaze booth. 

tomorrow is the day i will be talking to bailey about buying thermal lite shelves.  at 83, i am now really unable to reach the shelf i use as a bottom.  i think it is 1 1/2 or 2 inches above the floor.   my neighbor works with glass and i asked her to take out the last firing since i really could not lift the 9 whole solid shelves out.
 it is unfortunate that i never knew about kiln wash on my posts.  not using it has made my shelf bottoms have holes and my wonderful triangle posts have bumps in the same shape as the holes.  i run the posts over a belt sander now and hope they get level enough to match each other.   
so i think i will be very happy not to have to lift those shelves any more.   only 4 or so are not bowed in the center.   what is your advice about stacking since the lightweight ones are what i need for the bottom area.  will the heavier ones work on top of them without causing breakage? evening the bumps on the posts will prevent one tiny spot from causing trouble.   and, i will mix up some more of Mark's kiln wash.  i applied it years ago to the old shelves and have never needed to scrape it off.
those of you who have used the light shelves have valuable experience, will you please share any advice to make this easier for me?
 

I don’t know if this is still holding true with newer folks, but mason stains used to be considered “cheating.” 
Absurd purist ideas aside, sometimes they can give rather flat “candy coating” results if they’re not modified somehow, or used in an off label way. Off label usually meaning in a lower concentration or with less/no zircopax than usually recommended if you want them to give a more translucent result, or combining them with some rutile to give visual depth, etc.  And of course, you’ve already encountered the varying base glaze requirements for making sure they turn out as intended. Glaze testing can get really pedantic and boring, and it’s easy to get turned away if you don’t see some kind of positive or interesting result on the first round or 2. 
 

I agree that stacks of test tiles can get fiddly and overwhelming but tests are so useful! I’ve made simple reference pots for my stain tests using bisque, straight-sided mugs, cups or bowls of the preferred clay, one for each base glaze, and as many small deli cups as you have stains to test.
Dip the pot almost halfway into the glaze and let dry.
Mix 1/8 tsp of stain into 1T of base glaze in each carefully marked deli cup and stir up, add a little water to make it brushable, if needed.
Paint 1/2” wide vertical stripes of each color from top to bottom, over the dipped glaze and over the bare clay.
Dip the bare end of the pot almost halfway into the base glaze, covering the stripes, and let dry. There will be a space between dips to show you what the stain in a bit of base looks like on bare clay - handy for white clays.
After the firing, use a sharpie to label the stain stripes with the stain numbers. Make notes if you want to try different proportions in a future test.
I use these little deli cups to decorate from, mixing more as needed (stains are expensive!) and letting them dry up between uses, adding water by drops to rehydrate.
NOTE: be sure you make note on the pot of which end is Glaze Over and which is Glaze Under. It won’t always be obvious  
 
 

Cowley Double Drive, hmm, made in New Zealand?
"Double" - perhaps on account of familiar cone and drive ring speed is reduced by pulleys and belt to the wheel head shaft...
Which model? ...there may be a model and serial number somewhere.
Here's an "Operating Manual" dated 2018 cowley_wheel_manual.pdf (bathpotters.co.uk)
Newer manual includes parts diagram and list, alas, no wiring diagram MASTER Pottery Wheels Owners Manual Jan 2024.pdf (wsimg.com)
The vendor (firedupkilns) may be able to help, however.
 
 

I cannot speak about the hobbist world as it not my area of experince. But in the cone 10-11 world of firing like gas kilns they pay off quickly . My car kiln holds average  of 33 shelves per fire (12x24)the Geil is now averaging about 19 shelves per fire (14x28)
I have been thru silicone carbide in the 70s 3/4 shelve was the norm-I have a huge pile of warped ones (anyone want them?) then switched to some 1 inch mullites all warped fast then went whole hog into 50  one inch dry pressed english high alumina. They held up really well ,but weigh 33# a pice and and loading was a bear at 35 car kiln loads a year,I bought a set of 40 -5/8th mullites shelves for bisque loads to save spave and my back.
The thing that is not in this equation and as a potter for over 50 years is your body-hands and back .especially the money side (ecomonomics pale in this equation).I switched  out to all advancers and thermolites and never looked back -yes I did gain almost 2 feet in each load but my back-my god my back really deserved it. So in my view as a potter at 70 its a lesson for you younger ones -take care of your feet (good shoes) your back (lighter stuff) your hands/wrists.
Now I do use those high alumina in my salt kiln as they are the best I have seen in that environment by far. CoreLites in my view are honey combed mullits shelves and yes they work well at lower temps but they are heavier than advancers /theromlites
My school of hard knocks lessons are work smarter when you are younger as it pays off body wise in your later life. Lighter shelves if you can swing them are worth it. A few firings a year -not worth it.I bought mine in the 90s and wish I had done it sooner. I did just buy 7k worth of the thermolites for my new to me Geil (the shelves cost more than the kiln.).
In a world like Dick is in its makes the most sense . If you break one (no big deal) I  have broken many in my 30 years with them and always fine a use for the pieces-they make wonderfill thin nerd to add to post to gain just a bit (wash all sides)
No one who I know has bought them and wished anything other than my god why did I not do this sooner -but that in the professional world  not Hobbist.
I have bought many of them lightly used and that price is always higher than any other type of shelve as they never wear out or warp
If and when I sell mine  in my future I know they will have great value as they in a class by themselves.
Pottery is hard on the body and lighter shelves pay off in spades in my view.  I like Fred Flinstone just as much as anyone else but really in cermaics I'm more of a Jetson guy
 
 

Hi and welcome!
Stains are fun to work with, especially for us dark clay users. And the reference chart you’ve already found is a very good reference is this section of Digitalfire. Tony identifies the stain by number, which is a good practice as there are 3 different numbered stains with the name “dark red” and they all have slightly different chemistry.Tony’s got examples of the Canary Yellow and Turquoise in a magnesium matte glaze base, so you can see how those 2 respond, at least.
Speaking of recipes: the second  link you’ve shared comes back as a “does not exist” error. If this is a recipe on your own page, make sure it’s published so we can see it. 
Zircopax won’t make the colours pastel: glaze colour theory doesn’t work the same as paint. If anything, it’ll make it brighter and more saturated, because more of the colour is reflected back to your eyes. 
 

A few Artista threads; there are at least three long time Forum regulars who own(ed) and use(d) an Artista:
Artista Potter's Wheel Question - Equipment Use and Repair - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
Speedball Artista Potters Wheel - Equipment Use and Repair - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
Speedball Artista Pottery Wheel - Good Or Not ? - Studio Operations and Making Work - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
 

For those that haven't seen it:
 

Thanks for the input ! May go for the Shimpo v lite .
 
 
 

Excited that I retired this load and we changed the breaker and it worked. I do think after the advice I received here we are going to make some changes.  Thanks again everyone 

I wouldn’t use either of those glazes if you are new to glaze chemistry as it would be necessary to remove some of the other fluxes in order to add zinc. If you just added zinc then the glaze would have more flux than needed to create a balanced glaze. Result would be an excessively fluid glaze.
Glazes high in magnesium tend to have a more muted response to colourants than those without high levels of it and blues  from cobalt lean more towards purple tones.
Yes, zircopax will give more of an opaque glaze, with or without stains. Starting at around 5% addition will show, 10% will be opaque on most bodies. 
A green stain that contains chrome when put in a glaze containing zinc will most often give an unpleasant brown.
Your second link didn’t work for me.
Welcome to the forum.

Without going into too specific details to follow the ASTM... for cups and mugs put a cup of cool water in the corner of a microwave then with the empty test sample mug run it for 2 minutes at full power.  Handle temp must not exceed 60C/140F and  any of the other surfaces 121C/250F. Before commencing test the test pieces must be submerged in room temp water for 12 hours and also pass the ASTM 325F oven to water test. (which I don't have) Slightly different times and temps for plates etc.

I just ran a 1 minute microwave test with 4 pots with the following clay bodies:
Standard 365 cone 6 English porcelain Standard 266 black clay A medium-brown cone 10 stoneware with grog A red body, fired around cone 3. After microwaving for 1 minute and measuring the temperature of the piece in the middle, using a laser pyrometer:
The porcelain and the cone 10 body both came out around 140F. Kinda hot, but I could get them out of the microwave. The 266 black hit 170F, too hot to handle. The red body was over 220F. Here's the really interesting thing, though: in all cases, the unglazed areas were a lot hotter than the glazed areas. When I measured down the side of the piece, they were all cooler at the top than they were at the bottom, presumably because they all have unglazed bottoms. The red clay pot was glazed on the inside and about 3/4 of the way down on the outside, and at the very bottom of the outside where it was unglazed, it measured over 260F. In all cases, the bottom inside was at least 30 degrees hotter than further up the walls.
So glaze on both sides seems to have a pretty big effect on how hot the pot gets. @Kelly in AK if that plate was glazed on the bottom like most commercial plates are, that may explain why it stayed cool in the microwave.
Another odd thing:  If I microwaved several at a time, they didn't get as hot- just like when you have more food in the microwave you have to run it longer. But the unglazed areas heated up almost as much as when I ran them alone. Strange stuff.
So iron in the body, glaze, vitrification? I don't know if the red body got hotter because of the iron in it or because it's not fully vitrified, or both? The Standard 266 has a lot of iron, maybe more than the red body, but it's more vitrified than the red, so is that why it didn't get as hot? Or did the red get hotter because it has more unglazed area? Lots of mysteries here.
Having something in the pot that has to get heated up definitely slows down the heating of the pot. I microwave a mug of water 3-4 times a week in my studio for tea. It's made of Standard 365 cone 6 English porcelain, and every day I pull it out of the microwave by the handle with no problem.
 

I tried an experiment. I microwaved five unglazed items made with five different clay bodies along with a beaker of water. None of these have ever been exposed to water. Humidity exposure is minimal (kept inside and in New Mexico where it is a fairly dry weather).  Readings using a laser thermometer after 1 minute in the microwave:
Cashmere and Ochre 100F Marilyn's BOD and Chocolate 120F IronStone 210F These are all cone 5/6 clay bodies by New Mexico Clay.  I am guessing, based on their appearance, that Cashmere (a white porcelain/stoneware mix like B-mix) and Ochre (a light tan)  have the lowest iron content.  Marilyn's BOD (a red-brown stoneware) and Chocolate (Dark Hershey brown smooth clay, almost black) have a bit more, again based on appearance. Ironstone is advertised as having so much iron that a magnet will stick to it which I tested and it's true! Fortunately, it wasn't so much iron as to fry my microwave!
 I did not do the presoak as prescribed by ASTM because I was more interested in the effects of the iron in the clay body. Even without the presoak, per ATSM C1607-06, the Ironstone would NOT be considered microwave safe.  Maybe someday, I'll make  mugs out of Ironstone and the others and then run the mug test complete with presoak.

I am a all porcelain  shopcone 10 firing gas.
I would make my own wash and remove with a wet sponge  before firing any commercial wash as it usually poor quality.
Speaking of quailty wash I noticed on the Advander shelves (kiln shelve.com ) site they use the same formula as I posted years ago
1/2 alumina hydrate
1/4 epk
1/4 calcined EPK or (glowmax)
I apply a VERY  thin coat with a paint roller after shelves get warm in sun and when dry scrap the edges of wash

Yep, our porcelain plucks. But kiln wash is super easy, super smooth or a little alumina works just fine for us.  Cone 10 furniture plucks as well but dipping the ends of furniture in kiln wash is super effective and lasts many, many firings. The weight of each load is 30-60 % lighter than ordinary shelves so to us they are worth it in reduced energy alone.

Good question.
ASTM article (formerly $48) https://www.astm.org/c1607-12r20.html
Mr. Hansen's article Microwave Safe (digitalfire.com)
A Forum thread on the subject: Microwave safe. - Clay and Glaze Chemistry - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
The ASTM article may include a standard/industry definition, idk.
This is where I am with it: "...not melt or otherwise lose form, not leach bad stuff, not get too hot to touch after one minute in the waver [microwave oven] ...anything that gets more than pleasantly warm (empty, clean) is not microwave safe...!"
I still have microwave test clean dry wares on my "to do" list.
I have an inexpensive infrared thermometer now...

Thanks for the info on the breaker I will check with husband make sure he knows this before I try to run kiln again.  My newer kiln has never done this (so far) 
I am so glad I found this forum. And folks are willing to share their knowledge and time to submit it

Thanks for all the comments I will refire to come 04.  We fixed the breaker which was old.  Thanks again for your help,  

Good question.
ASTM article (formerly $48) https://www.astm.org/c1607-12r20.html
Mr. Hansen's article Microwave Safe (digitalfire.com)
A Forum thread on the subject: Microwave safe. - Clay and Glaze Chemistry - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
The ASTM article may include a standard/industry definition, idk.
This is where I am with it: "...not melt or otherwise lose form, not leach bad stuff, not get too hot to touch after one minute in the waver [microwave oven] ...anything that gets more than pleasantly warm (empty, clean) is not microwave safe...!"
I still have microwave test clean dry wares on my "to do" list.
I have an inexpensive infrared thermometer now...

Good question.
ASTM article (formerly $48) https://www.astm.org/c1607-12r20.html
Mr. Hansen's article Microwave Safe (digitalfire.com)
A Forum thread on the subject: Microwave safe. - Clay and Glaze Chemistry - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
The ASTM article may include a standard/industry definition, idk.
This is where I am with it: "...not melt or otherwise lose form, not leach bad stuff, not get too hot to touch after one minute in the waver [microwave oven] ...anything that gets more than pleasantly warm (empty, clean) is not microwave safe...!"
I still have microwave test clean dry wares on my "to do" list.
I have an inexpensive infrared thermometer now...

Some ideas on the causes & avoidance of problems in:
Microwave safe
https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/forum/23-clay-and-glaze-chemistry/
PS Pedantically in the USA:
... although I expect that -- like many stress tests -- this only implies safe at the point of test rather than lifelong safety. [Unless you re-test after representative "wear and tear" such as crazing and chips.]

Microwave safe. What does that mean?
I’ve been puzzling over this a while, a few years, at least. Lately an event, which I’ll get to, pushed me into posting the question here.
My understanding was that vitrified clay wouldn’t get particularly hot in the microwave, but there was some question when it came to high iron clay bodies. Experience in my kitchen over twenty years bears this out, the semi-vitreous pots could be counted on to get hot, the really porous earthenware could get dangerously hot while the food remained cold. High iron clays don’t seem to behave differently, but I remain open to the possibility they can. The other experience I’ve noted is that any dish fresh from the dishwasher, even cooled to room temperature, will get hot in the microwave. My assumption is adsorption (water that intimately sticks to the surface), not just absorption, plays a role.
The event that gets me seriously wondering centers on a diner plate. My dad was in the catering business and when he retired I snagged a few restaurant dishes. They’ve been in service for over twenty years in my home, unbelievably perfect ceramic engineering. Plain white, no chips, cutlery marks, or cracks, despite regular use and abuse (They’re diner plates, I don’t treat them like handmade pottery!). They don’t get hot in the microwave. My son burned his finger pulling one out of the microwave the other day. That didn’t make sense. Tonight he tells me he observed the plate closely and saw a craze and discoloration, and that it looked like a glaze crack, not a clay crack. I’m proud as a dad, he nailed it, though I doubted until I saw for myself. That discoloration is at about 11:00 in the photo, poorly visible I’m afraid. There is another blotch around 2:15. 

So finally, after all these years, one failed. Time for destructive testing. I threw that plate in the microwave, one minute. At 50 seconds, I added another minute. At one minute and fifteen seconds it shattered cleanly into three pieces.
What did I learn? These plates, tough as hell, never got hot in the microwave for twenty years, never chipped, are in fact made of porous clay. I put a drop of water on the newly bared ceramic and it soaked right in. This rocks my world a bit. I honestly didn’t imagine it was possible to fit a glaze that well to non vitreous ware or that non vitrified ceramic could be so tough. 
The ASTM has a standard and a test for “microwave safe,” I’m not shelling out sixty bucks to read it. I’m not sure my pots would even pass the prerequisites to perform the test. I figured “vitrified”, as in 0.5%, was a prerequisite. 
What does microwave safe mean?