Hulk

I am investing in me. I've had several heavy-duty, do-or-die, metamorphoses (body/spirit/severe loss etc.) incl. minor TBI from external sources and now new damage from  decades of SSRIs used off-label (i.e. not for depression). The discontinuation syndrome process took a brutal 3 years, but I am now over a year clear of them & doing well--except for the TBI.  It is astounding to actually see it on a brain scan!!!  I have finally accepted the reality of certain limitations and become habituated to using effective work-arounds, consistently.  So my investment for claywork is to maintain the consistency of employing imperative work-arounds and take my today's Self into emerging new directions. 

good, joseph, i miss your photos of what you are currently working on.

I am investing in time, I get up for work at 3:30AM on a few days of the week, and instead of sleeping in on my days off I am going to just get up on those days too and work in the studio before the kids get up. I have all the equipment I need, I just need more time. Some ideas for my work popped into my head and I would like to explore them!

Right now I am 90% sure I’m going to do this, though I still need to convince myself of the last 10%, but I think I’m going to get Lasik surgery. I recently turned 50, so this will be my 50th birthday present to myself.  I was originally planning to splurge on a nice vacation, but those plans went out the window with covid. Lasik is probably more useful anyways. 

I bought another Peter pugger to help with clay body mixing (two bodies mixed together ).
I also just had a APL suspensionplasty with biotenodesis screw in left thumb. in laymans terms they cut out my trapezium bone out of thumb and use part of a thumb tendon to suspend the thumb over that hole. My surgeon did 3 techniques on my thumb to strengthen it.this was lastTuesday-i'm off of painkillers now and have a brace for two weeks then a cast for 4 weeks then rehab for 4-5 months . my thumb will have to be taught to work again as its immobile now. the other fingers are sticking out and i have use of them. The restriction of use is no lifing more than a cup of coffee.
i choose this coivid time to be down from clay to rehab as we cannot travel and are hiding ot on the property for a long stint.I did make lots of greenware and in few weeks will help my assistant glaze and fire a small kiln load to keep my outlets supplied duri ng this break. one armed now
my wife needs the same surgery as soon as i'm healed.

maybe a kiln? i have the money but not the space!

HI folks, little late for a new question, but call this next weeks. I have been thinking about much of the chatter on the forum, and it seems like people are doing things this year to improve their ceramics journey. Much of this may be direct, but some indirect. We have members getting surgery to improve their health or relieve pain. I am buying my first major investment in many years. .  a new kiln. Others are starting up buying a new or used wheel. Others have taken the time off from the pandemic to clean and organize studios. This brings to mind a question for all of you:
QotW: What investment will you be doing this year to advance/enhance your ceramics journey?
 
best,
Pres

Last day at the physical therapist,  still need more healing time to have a decent grip but I think I can handle cleaning my studio.   I have a mural to make in the near future so I will spend  time sketching.  My studio is hard to warm up on really cold days so having a design project is good.  I have a feeling that winter is about over in Kansas,  dandelions and new grass are popping up all over.   Denice

Hey--this is some serious art here! This is the art of resilience and adaptability. It is the art of pleasing women who shop at gift boutiques and are obsessed with gnomes. It is the art of kicking Peter Voulkus out of one's head and replacing him with a big nosed little creature in a valentine hat. It is the art of survival.  And, truth be told, it is the art of having a bit of fun. But we shall not speak of this ever again.

big pot practice

I agree!
I was trying to figure out what looked familiar about it even though I've never seen it before. Took me a while but then it dawned on me, the pot on the cover of Robin Hoppers book Making Marks. 
 

Working on test for a  Greek mythology set.

I spent the weekend glazing the rest of my bisqueware I had saved up, finishing bottoms and taking pictures.  Going to be listing it all on my online store and having a fun sale sometime in the coming weeks.  I have some stuff I know will be popular just from how many people on instagram, facebook and reddit have reached out to try to snipe things early.  
I participated in my local clay art associations pot swap this year and will be sending out this plate to the person whose name I drew!
 

Hmm, sorry, didn’t mean to imply anything other than very fine brushwork is possible as well as depth and precision. Just a possibility, not meant as an assessment in any way.  Just meant as some more ideas that may or may not interest you. Your conclusion “any suggestions welcome” was taken as such.
sorry again.

Thanks for the follow up Brandon B, and good work!

I just replaced the potentiometer in the pedal with the one from the website above. It was a little tricky.
First, unsolder the old slider, and remove it. 
Second, the slider arm is too fat to fit inside of the metal arm, so I secured it in a vice and used a file to trim the fat off the top and bottom of the slider arm.
Third, the potentiometer's install tab is on the wrong side. I used a 1/4" chisel to pop a small slit in the plastic plate so the tab could go through. Epoxy was my backup plan, but the chisel worked. Then I bent the tab so lock the pot in place on the plastic board.
Fourth, I gently bent the prong to the side so it would touch the connecting wire. I pressed the connecting wires into place that attach the slider pot to the trim pots. The connecting wires are stiff wire, not multi stranded, so you can move them into place and they will stay put. 
Fifth, the connecting wires had enough solder on them to reattach them, but I put a dab of solder on top, just to be sure.
I found when I ran the first test, that I had to really tighten up the Allen set screw on the metal arm, because the old pot is very easy to slide compared to the new one. I reset the trim pots and it works perfectly.
Frankly, I'm surprised at how easy everything went together. I'm sure there are pots that might have the tab on the right side and a skinnier slider arm, but whatever. The wheel moves sooooooooooo beautifully. I've used a bunch of Brents, but I've never seen it ramp up and down so smoothly. I'm happy with the results. 
 

According to the features published it can automatically and also has a speed control.
“Intellectual Mixing Technology: Real-time monitoring of clay consistency can be accomplished while mixing. Similar to an automatic transmission, the Pugger-Mixer can automatically speed up or slow down based on the hardness of the clay being processed. The operator can also control the speed by controlling the variable speed knob.”

NVS-07
VPM-20
VPM-7
            ...and all PP, it seems. I wouldn't consider any others, hence ah'm done.

Hi Kate...Welcome to the forum. Noisy is a relative term. Noisy with relation to what? Is it a noticeable whirring noise or does it howl like a loose fan belt on a car...or somewhere in between? There's a good possibility that it could be a loose fan belt in which case you can tighten it by moving the motor away from the centerline of the unit. If it's more of a grinding type noise, then it could be a bearing. It's been a while since I've had the undercarriage housing off and I don't remember the configuration, so I can't say how hard or easy bearing replacement would be. IMO anything that runs with a belt is going to generate a certain amount of noise...it's just a matter of what you consider noisy and whether or not you can live with it...BTW, Kate, did the wheel come with any kind of splash pan? If not, I can give you an idea of how I made mine. Just look earlier in this thread to get an idea of what I've done.

I peeked in on the liner tile firing this morning,  they looked great.  I am going  to have my husband help me unload the kiln tomorrow.   I loaded it myself and made my hand that I had the surgery on recently swell up.    Ice pack took care of it,  but I am going to try not to push it for a while.     Denice

They sure aren’t! Glaze isn’t quite the same as glass either, although it shares some ingredients. It’s like the difference between bread and cake. There’s some ingredient crossover and you need to bake (fire) them both, but techniques and times that work for a crusty sourdough will do something awful to a chocolate sponge. 

If she used glass in her clay, it’s ill advised on her part. I know it doesn’t stop some people if they don’t see anything going wrong immediately, but that doesn’t make it a good idea. The coe of bottle glass or other commonly available glasses including stains and frits used in a hot shop are too distant from that of most pottery clays. I’ve gone on clay/glass rants before. I don’t know that the internet needs another one.
If you want a similar effect, you could try mixing a clear blue glaze as a paste, crumble it and fire the bits just enough so they sinter. This will keep them from dissolving when you add them to another clear or translucent glaze bucket. They should melt together for a similar effect. The Jungle Jems line does something similar I believe. 
 
 

Sbsoso- welcome to the forum.
You did not State clay body type: but I will go with porcelain. When doing production: not a bad idea to keep 25lbs from the previous lot to compare to the new lot if problems arise. No problems before, and now problems means the first stop is to check with supplier if others have reported issues. Like potters, clay manufacturers shop for low prices: which sometimes creates issues. You have a plasticity issue which you can only resolve by adding water. Adding water does not increase plasticity; just moves the body closer to its liquid limits. Adding water will also increase drying issues such as warping. Your plasticity issue is caused by one of two things: the % of plasticizer has been lowered, or the plasticizer (ball clay) has lower plasticity properties. The second is Nep Sy being used as a body flux. Nep Sy has 14% soluble salts that can migrate: which can cause rapid dehydration of water. Sodium is hydrophobic- fancy word for- not fond of water. Again adding water compounds the problem by allowing further migration of soluble salts. 
As others stated: de-airing pugmill has zero influence. All a de-airing pluggers does is remove the air between clay particles which speeds up the transfer of negative particle charges. De-airing has zero influence of the actual chemistry of the material.
Tom
 

I think it has more to do with saturation than bacteria or fungi.  As you say, the clay is fine if it's "wet", or aged, both allow time for even wetting.   I don't have a pugmill, but when I recycle clay I don't have to age it to use it.  I just slake it (complete hydration) and then dry it on a slab until it's nearly the moisture level I want.  
I think it may make some sense about the stronger vacuum, placing the freshly mixed clay under a STRONG vacuum will not just remove the air, but it will cause any dry spots to hydrate as well.  That said, I think they probably use a filter press, and in that case they are wet mixing anyway so that point may just be moot, or redundant steps to maintain plasticity.
I have a box of porcelain manufactured a month ago when I bought it, and one that is a year old, I cannot tell the difference when throwing.  I always heard of aging my clay but noticed that when I buy clay it's usually manufactured within the last 30 days, and a lot of times in that same week.  But I know my clay is filter pressed, I have seen the giant filter press machine, and apparently that is not standard procedure anymore?

There's at least one young full timer here in the neighborhood - standalone dedicated shop/studio in their back yard; her friend, also young, is a serious part timer. Met several young folk at the local JC Ceramic lab (a few years ago) on the road to full time potter (wouldn't expect them to all make it there, however), and a few building their portfolio for graduate applications...