shawnhar

Just wanted to follow up and say thanks to everyone. Ran the clear through the 100 mesh screen and removed all the "sand", worked great. I feel like maybe it was mostly dust from bisque.

I tried sieving it but the clumps are so small it only catches a few of them, going to order a 100 and see what happens.

Thanks, not sure what to do about the glazes now. They sat for a month without being used, does glaze go bad in that amount of time? Also wondering if I can get a 100# screen and smash the little bits back into the glaze?

I can rub them off, not out, they are little solid rocks, not air. They appear after dipping, and after dry, can be brushed/rubbed off. the clear is Nepheline Syenite 24% Wollastonite 6.4% Gerstley Borate 16.8% EPK 8% Flint 32.8% Strintium Carbonate 12% Bentontite (optional) 2% The Turquoise does the same thing, it is Cornwall stone 41% Silica 16.5% Strontium Carbonate 12.5% OM4 ball clay 10% Whiting 10% EPK 5% Lithium Carbonate 5%

I am having trouble figuring out what to do about these tiny spheres in my glaze, they are smaller than the sieve I have (think it's 80#) and not sure what is causing them or how to deal with it. It seems the minerals are separating out and hardening into tiny little balls. They will mess up the piece as they don't smooth over or melt well and leave a bumpy pinholed surface. This is my clear but I have seen the same thing in my turquoise glaze as well. Anyone seen these before and/or know how to deal with them?

Nice, I like it. Maybe a samurai

Only if they are super thin, otherwise it's just "tink", which I guess is technically a ring, but underdeveloped.

These are tiny, small as your pinky, not enough room for the waveform to develop, so no ring no matter what material.

Sponge holders and berry bowls, just loaded the kiln with these and some 6 lb bowls.

I thought they would make pretty poor test tiles as well, and also think they look like little clay roof tiles for a doll house! Sadly, I cannot ask the person that made them as they are no longer with us.

Thanks! Makes sense.

I finally received the box of kiln furniture from the person I got the kiln from recently, and there are several hundred of these packed in little boxes. They have been bisqued and have a hole in them. Are these just test tiles for glaze, If so, why the hole?

Exactly, even if we had sold every single item in the booth, we'd still be in the negative. I haven't "made" the 1st dollar yet. This show did not even cover the cost of the tent, signs, shelves, lights, chairs and booth fees. BUT... I knew that going in, we are just now getting to the cash flow stage where we can have more money coming in than going out. The booth is "mostly" good, the kiln, wheel, tools, clay, glazes, buckets, bats, plastic, etc.... Heck I spent over 1500 just on classes last year, which it totally fine, I view it as tuition. That was a lot of money going out with little to none coming back the other way. But most of that is done now and I have all the tools and materials needed to start making money, the 400# of clay sitting by the wheel should put us in the black.

Not big compared to some, but certainly our biggest, 200 vendors, 2 days, maybe 3000 people went by the booth, just a wild guess, I really have no idea what attendance was. I would say it was a mid-size show. We did not sell a single item over $20 and grossed $800 for the whole show, 550 the 1st day, which is the most we've sold in a day, but it still felt disappointing as we had set a hopeful goal of 10x the fee, another vendor at different event said that was her break point to repeat a show or ditch it, sounded good to us. Still though, a very nice milestone as that is what I make in a week at my "real" job. Really mixed feelings, I want to call it a win, but somehow it's a bit of a let down, then again it's only been 14 months since I started throwing so I should check those expectations. We literally had everything decent we've made in the booth, except my wife's x-mas ornaments. Weather was awesome so that was a relief, getting rained on every time was getting really old. One person asked why the prices were so cheap, specifically 20 for a mug, said everywhere else they went (other festivals/states) they are 25-30 or more, said there was another potter here selling mugs for 12, and he wondered what was wrong with them or if they were imported from China. That same potter had mugs last year for 24 if I remember correctly, I could only guess they were priced lower based on last year's sales, but I have seen you guys mention here more than once that pricing too low destroys the perceived value, and they bought 4 of my mugs. That guy is a good potter too, felt weird.

I will never forget the frog poop, that will haunt me to the grave...