liambesaw

It's got a ratings system like amazon or eBay, not sure how trusted it is, but I've ordered glaze chems for experiments and it's fine, I ordered some waterslide decal paper a few weeks ago and it comes today or tomorrow. Not sure about quality or anything like that, but if you see some cheap Chinese thing on Amazon or eBay and want it for half the price, just check there first and I'm sure it'll be there. Of course shipping is from China so it takes a few weeks. It's like dealextreme but for everything, not just electronic components.

Lots of waterslide decal paper on Amazon and AliExpress

Almost looks like a nicely decorated crock pot insert. Is that a red clay body with wax relief or a white clay body with iron slip. I like this style of decorating, I need to start doing stuff like this instead of relying entirely on glaze to make it beautiful.

Still tryin to figure that one out. Got some posterboard to play around with tonight, see if I can't dial the glaring lights back a bit and bend this light around.

This week I haven't done anything out in the shed but trim some fermentation jars (and feel guilty about it). Instead I've been hunched over a computer and camera trying to get everything squared away for my business and website. I have my photo booth almost all squared away, need to pick up some posterboard tonight and really start photographing everything. Wish I could just make things and let them disappear on their own, hah. Anyway, here's a picture. I was using this mug to dial in my camera and lights.

I think it's the same, I make kimchi, sauerkraut and kombucha and they don't need to be air tight, they just need to be covered. I mean some people are really afraid of a bad ferment, but ive never had a problem smelling or seeing if something was off! I think airlocks are just in the interest of extra safety. Once lactobacillus takes hold in a lactobacillus ferment (kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, etc) or aspergillus in an aspergillus ferment (sake, tempeh, miso, etc), it's really hard for any baddies to get a hold. But for miso, a weight is placed on top of the beans to keep them under the liquid (tamari), and this keeps them from being a host for fungi. So the byproduct of the digested beans kind of acts like the airlock. Same with kimchi, although it never lasts long enough in my house to grow anything but delicious!

Doesn't need to be air tight! But there will be lugs on the side and a notch along the lid so it can be wired or tied shut.

This week I will be making some three pound fermentation vessels. I think I need to make a dozen or so jars for my wife and her group of friends. I'm hoping to also get through 30 mugs this week. Made a video of me making the fermentation jars, or at least the first exploration of the form, can watch if you are interested in seeing me throw cylinders poorly, haha

Been making bells for the past few days. I love the sound of giant bowls when I ting them, so might as well make a big bell and hear it whenever the wind blows! I have a small wind chime I got at a second hand store, and it sounds really nice, but it's all tinkle tinkle, and I like the bonging and donging of a deeper bell. Hope it all works out, this is a video of me making my third one. I am gonna make some more tonight, it's fun. Probably gonna make a bunch of mugs first though, i need about 20 more mugs for a full mug bisque load.

You have a soda kiln? Color me jelly. That looks great, almost industrial like one of the large gas cylinders at gasworks park in Seattle

Ooo I like that blue bottom, is that underglaze?

And here's the other two pictures dang upload limit

Was kind of busy last week with trying to bisque a lot of the stuff taking up space, I got a lot cleared out, some winners some losers. Here are some of the winners, a new glaze combo I really like. I call it rotten melon

The thing about size for me, is that I find it annoying to center anything from about a pound and under. 15lbs? No problem, 12 ounces? Why bother. So if I am going to do some smaller items I will throw off the hump just because it's so hard for my big hands to center anything that small. For mugs and bowls I'll do chunks of 1lb, still takes a minute to center sometimes. I do love making a nice big pot though, something alluring in making something that big even though it's useful for nothing.

Very nice, hulk! Hard to believe it's only your second glaze firing!

Wow that is a giant one! That would be fun to participate in, I need to get our clay association to do an auntandgrandma firing, I know there are several large ones in the area

I might bisque it this weekend, i might end up candling it overnight though, it's pretty thick since it's a planter. I'd say almost a half inch on the bottom, sides are more like a quarter inch. Looks dry though! I have a group of larger pots, hopefully I can fire them all at once. Got another commission today, besides the strawberry planter. This one is for a big boy cereal bowl. Supposed to be between a mixing bowl and a normal cereal bowl. Pretty confident I can nail that one, haha

Waiting for a cheap or broken one to show up on craigslist haha, probably will never happen

Finally got the side bowls on, I'm pleased with myself. Now to see if it survives drying and firing ha I also made myself a new wedging table today, my old setup was a little too high for me and was making my back hurt.

Haha, yeah I've had my own runaway wheel issues! My hands are stained red, going to be awkward if I ever get caught committing a crime.

My goodness it's so easy, lift up the wheelhead and pick up the pan like a bucket and dump straight into the reclaim. Before I had to haul a bucket over and scoop everything out one handful at a time. Now I'm self conscious about my splash pan hygiene haha, I thought everyone's looked that bad after a session!

Well I only finished 15 bowls, but I got distracted. A co-workers wife wanted to know if I could make a strawberry planter so I am giving it a shot. I think I should have used more clay, I used 15lbs but it seems small to me, I'm gonna be throwing the bowls for the side tonight and attaching them and see how it goes. Might be able to get some of that Microsoft money I've heard so much about around here! Hah I will say, I wouldn't have been able to do this on my old wheel, I had to stand up to pull on this one, it was 2 feet tall at one point! Loving my new wheel

But... But... My carefully honed tap centering skills and multitude of trimming Chucks would have their feelings hurt... Don't hurt Chuck.

I recently bought a new wheel, going from a 1960s shimpo rk-2 to a new tank/Skutt prodigy, which is their entry level wheel. The difference in throwing between the two is like night and day. Previously I was quite happy with my rk-2 since it was the only wheel I had used in school and once I bought my own, but its got me wondering now... What else am I missing out on? Is there some piece of equipment or tool that made such a huge difference to the quality of work, and quality of time, that you wished you had found out earlier?

It's like night and day, no more fighting the ring and cone drive... Feels like heaven. It has a small splash pan but it's so easy to clean