shawnhar

Here's a sculpture that took me a while to complete the "faux bronze" finish on.
"Empty Nester", 11 inches tall. Finally finished her today!

I post this as sort of a "public service" to other pottery semi-newbies like myself.  I somehow never got the message that you can easily paint oxide (and mason stain) washes on top of glazes for a lot of added color or design.  The videos below brought this to my attention and I am really excited about the results.  It has opened up some new avenues for me.  I defer to Richard McColl for a full description but it could not be easier:
Just add some oxides (or mason stains), a little water, and maybe some gerstley borate as a flux -- and apply ON TOP of your glaze for great color and effects.  Goes on great with a brush.  Make it the consistency of ink.  Hard to screw up.
Some examples are at the bottom and here are the videos:
 
 
 

Here's one of the finished lamps.  Using low power LEDs.  Not bad for a prototype!

This week's effort: 
Somewhere in there is a matching set of 4, to replace the set that are too friendly with gravity!

Here's what I've been up to in my free time.  Been making LED lamps.  Here's a few of the prototype designs. In greenware with crackle slip.
 

My workbench (all of them looked like this yesterday-today the kilns are glaze firing). Today benches are empty
One  and half handed glazing takes time
My new temporay cast can take a xxxl rubber glove over it now. 
Going to rain some it feels like.
 

Relax, you are being paranoid.
Take a look at Warren McKenzie's work area and note how much dried clay is on EVERYTHING, he's been doing this for 50 years.
Not saying there isn't a risk, and you should keep your dust to a minimum, but there is no need to freak out.

@shawnhar
I am admittedly a hypochondriac but reading through a lot of hobbyist ceramic forums talking about silicosis made it sound like a dramatically bigger issue than it actually is. 
 
I ended up reading a ton of published studies on silicosis prevalence in various populations and it seems like the occurrence rate is so exceptionally low in general, and that these cases mostly occur in much higher exposure situations (miners, stone cutters, construction) where workers are exposed to free floating dust for hours at a time, every day, for years.  Many introductory studies stated ceramicists were at risk, but these are people who spend years doing this for a living. 
 
While it freaked me out at the idea that having this in my home made my exposure constant, 24/7 for three years now I don’t work with nearly enough volume or leave enough out for it to have been a serious issue I don’t think. A lot of the comments made it sound like leaving a few crumbs on the floor that you step on was going to give you acute silicosis. 
 
I’m still going to take it seriously and keep a tidier space, cleaning up as I go and wet mopping everything down - but I think I can relax a little and keep pursuing my passion in my apartment until I can afford a studio space. 
 
Thanks for bringing me back to reality haha

Happy Valentine's Day 

Waxed and ready to glaze
1 bottle, 1 vase, 1 bowl, 10 mugs, 11 berry bows
and 4 plates that are our 15yr anniversary/test design for shape, weight, durability since it was last week's class subject, feeling pretty firmly in the intermediary category now, gettin there. It will be so awesome when I'm not throwing "a" bowl, I'm throwing "MY" bowl, another thousand pounds or so maybe, hopefully, lol.

Waxed and ready to glaze
1 bottle, 1 vase, 1 bowl, 10 mugs, 11 berry bows
and 4 plates that are our 15yr anniversary/test design for shape, weight, durability since it was last week's class subject, feeling pretty firmly in the intermediary category now, gettin there. It will be so awesome when I'm not throwing "a" bowl, I'm throwing "MY" bowl, another thousand pounds or so maybe, hopefully, lol.

Waxed and ready to glaze
1 bottle, 1 vase, 1 bowl, 10 mugs, 11 berry bows
and 4 plates that are our 15yr anniversary/test design for shape, weight, durability since it was last week's class subject, feeling pretty firmly in the intermediary category now, gettin there. It will be so awesome when I'm not throwing "a" bowl, I'm throwing "MY" bowl, another thousand pounds or so maybe, hopefully, lol.

Waxed and ready to glaze
1 bottle, 1 vase, 1 bowl, 10 mugs, 11 berry bows
and 4 plates that are our 15yr anniversary/test design for shape, weight, durability since it was last week's class subject, feeling pretty firmly in the intermediary category now, gettin there. It will be so awesome when I'm not throwing "a" bowl, I'm throwing "MY" bowl, another thousand pounds or so maybe, hopefully, lol.

Waxed and ready to glaze
1 bottle, 1 vase, 1 bowl, 10 mugs, 11 berry bows
and 4 plates that are our 15yr anniversary/test design for shape, weight, durability since it was last week's class subject, feeling pretty firmly in the intermediary category now, gettin there. It will be so awesome when I'm not throwing "a" bowl, I'm throwing "MY" bowl, another thousand pounds or so maybe, hopefully, lol.

Waxed and ready to glaze
1 bottle, 1 vase, 1 bowl, 10 mugs, 11 berry bows
and 4 plates that are our 15yr anniversary/test design for shape, weight, durability since it was last week's class subject, feeling pretty firmly in the intermediary category now, gettin there. It will be so awesome when I'm not throwing "a" bowl, I'm throwing "MY" bowl, another thousand pounds or so maybe, hopefully, lol.

Waxed and ready to glaze
1 bottle, 1 vase, 1 bowl, 10 mugs, 11 berry bows
and 4 plates that are our 15yr anniversary/test design for shape, weight, durability since it was last week's class subject, feeling pretty firmly in the intermediary category now, gettin there. It will be so awesome when I'm not throwing "a" bowl, I'm throwing "MY" bowl, another thousand pounds or so maybe, hopefully, lol.

This will be "Primal", No. 7 in my Hidden Mask Series. The glazes are merlot, cobalt, deep yellow matte, clear & black engobe. Few more thing to glaze and then ready to fire-took me forever to get clay this time, and one 25lb block arrived as dry and solid as old  concrete. They replaced it, but still....!!!

So I mentioned before that my buddy was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle and I was working on a new tibia for him.  Well it's done and I'm giving it to him tonight after work.
Thrown and altered, crackle slip, etched aluminum plate and bolts, oak stand. 

Local pottery Association throwout a challenge every so often.  Latest is "Hug".
These two are drying, ready for bisque.  If they survive they will go into a wood-fired kiln at end of August.  Probably no glaze, might give them a wash with oxides, might not.
Hardest things I've made in a long time.  The standing pair are the third attempt, previous just collapsed.  They're small, as you can probably tell by the half-sized washing up sponge.

I started a new topic so we don't derail this one any further:
https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/21553-glazing-big-bowlslarge-objects/
 

However, understand that “dry” doesn’t necessarily mean leaving a pot just sitting out on a shelf somewhere.  If you live in a climate that cycles through wet and dry seasons, and  cold and hot temperatures extremes, humidity levels in the air can also move up and down substantially over time.   This affects things made out of clay which have not yet been fired.  Dry pots absorb and desorb lots of water from humidity in the air, through the small channels in and around clay particles.  Unfired clay effectively inhales and exhales humidity over time.  Think of it a bit like a rigid sponge.
This matters because clay shrinks and swells as it’s water content changes.  While most of the shrinking happens in the day or two after we take a pot off the wheel, shrinking and swelling stresses are still at work in a small but meaningful way even when we think of the pot as “dry”.  
And different temperatures also promote water movement, in the pot as a whole, and also in different parts of the same pot.
Humidity fluctuations may or may not matter, depending on your clay body and what is in it.  Big, gutsy clay bodies which are relatively “open” ie a good range of large and small particles sizes with grog, silica sand or other aggregate strengtheners, along with sufficient colloidal material may have very good “dry” strength.  Fine porcelain bodies have larger smaller particles, greater surface area, and smaller pore channels, but little in the way of aggregates to strengthen the body, and can be more fragile.   
Different clay body ingredients can also impact how well a clay body withstands humidity cycling.  Sodium Bentonite, for instance, which shrinks and swells dramatically, is a common clay body plasticiser, and small colloidal particles like this are actually the main source of green strength in dry pots.   It is mostly not a a problem since our clay bodies have so little of it, but should not be forgotten, as some bodies lean on bentonite more heavily.   Ball clay shrinks and swells less than bentonite, but there is usually a lot more of it than bentonite in clay bodies we use.
Point of all of this is that pots can be negatively impacted by humidity cycling, and to a lesser extent temperature cycling, causing weakness, cracks which show up later during glaze firing, and in extreme circumstances even dry pots disintegrating where they sit.   The longer you leave them exposed, the greater the risk.  
The extreme version of all this would be if your studio is in a rainforest, and you leave a pot on top of the kiln you fire every couple of weeks, and which is also exposed to the sun on one side.   That should be the perfect storm. 
Moral of the story is if you want your dry pots to last and fire OK later,  try to avoid putting them through conditions like this.

Simple hand building project if anyone is looking for something different to try for a change of pace. My soft slab (olive) boat, it's an easy project, would be good for kids to make too. Turn it into a viking ship or ? I don't have any glazed right now but a couple bisqued ones in the last image.
Supplies needed:
Soft clay
Rolling pin 
1 1/4 - 2 1/2” diameter dowel wrapped in newspaper (or long thin rolling pin, diameter isn’t critical)
Pony roller or piece of plastic
Cornstarch (optional)
Supports if you use soft clay
1 - Template is 19” overall length, 4 1/4” wide. Each side measures 15 1/2”. Soft slab, cut out the pattern. Don’t worry about getting the ends exactly as I have them, you can just use one gentle curve from the point to the opposite side. If you want texture on the outside of the boat do it now.
2 - On the long edges use a pony roller and soften the edge. If you don’t have a pony roller just use a piece of thin plastic, hold it taunt and run your finger along the edge. (2a)
2a- Flip the piece over, if you want texture on the inside do it now. Soften the long edges on this side too.
3 - Cover up the ends and lightly dust the clay with cornstarch. Since my clay is very wet I don’t like to use a pounce, I just load a brush with cornstarch and tap the brush over, but not touching, the clay.
4 - Lift the slab and lay it cornstarch side down over the dowel wrapped in newsprint. 
5 - Press the clay around the dowel then flatten the bottom with a small rolling pin or pony roller. The dowel I use is a bit narrow so I lift one end up while doing this so I don’t crush the long edges of the slab.
6 - Moisten the ends with just a few drops of water if you are using soft clay. If you use firmer clay then use a tiny bit of slip. Bring the long edges together at the ends of the slab and pinch the lower edges together. I keep a slight overlap so I can fold the overlap over and work it in with a rib so the boat doesn’t leak. 
7 - Roll the top pointed ends into spirals, covering the join.  One ends rolls to the left, the other to the right. Transfer the boat to a drying board.
8 - Straighten out the rim, flute the edges if you like. I use bendable hair rollers to support the sides while drying. Clay coils would work too. I’ve found with my clay I need to dry these slowly or they lift up in the centre. You could also put a small weight in the centre to help prevent it lifting. 
Would love to see some other projects here!
(Sorry but I can't get the numbers to show up on the images, read left to right 1-8)


 

I started a new topic so we don't derail this one any further:
https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/21553-glazing-big-bowlslarge-objects/
 

Secret to glazing big bowls is spraying, everything else causes too much glaze to pool in the bottom which can break the bowl or bubble or all sorts of nastiness.
I've been really into doing big 2 piece vases and stuff, trying to feather my nest by covering my front garden areas in big pots

I don’t spray big bowls. I pour the inside and outside separately, and usually add a little water to the glaze to thin it.  Go to the dollar store and get some large diameter plastic tubs: it makes life waaay easier. When setting them up in the kiln, place other items evenly around the rim to create a heat sink. Test tiles, shot glasses, mugs, even extra kiln posts. It took my cracking rate down to nothing.