Ceramic Human

Having trouble getting some grey Mason Stains to turn out grey. I don't have a picture, but the pearl grey kept turning out purple and the sage grey turns out a lot more blue than we'd like. Included picture shows Sage grey at 4 parts to 100. Definitely not like the color showed. Firing to cone 5 and using Coyote clay's clear glaze as a base. Both Glaze to stain ratios were 100grams -4 grams. Dipping once and holding for 3 seconds. Do I need to add a lot more stain or is it a firing or application problem? Any ideas? Edit: Camera on phone was pretty bad but it is more blue t

Agreed. Ceramics in general does contribute, but how does the question I am posing specifically contribute to global warming or environmental destruction? Not being sassy here. I am genuinely ignorant. (:

Okay. Agreed. But by this definition, there are plenty of responsible and environmentally good things you could do to the ground that also "change" it.

Lol. We will still use it to adjust the moisture in "out of the box" clay. It also seems to reduce air pockets and serves as a substitute for wedging. Otherwise I'd give you a friend discount.

Interesting. What I hear you saying is that clay disposal is harmful to the environment because it suffocates plant life. Is that correct? What about naturally occurring clay? Would you consider that to be environmentally unfriendly as well? Because that stuff suffocates plant life too. As far as eliminating a job for a person who really needs it, yeah that sucks. But we don't keep jobs around because people need them. We create jobs because they engage a need that the business has.

That's a good idea. I'll look into this, thanks!

I wasn't sure what topic to put this under, but it's about clay. Sorry if this is a repeat subject. Our company recycles 100% of our clay that isn't considered to be contaminated. We have a reclaim system that one of our employees manages, but this person is moving on from the company in a few days. They get the clay to the right consistency and run it through the pug to be reused. The problem we are running into is that it's actually cheaper and simpler to order new clay than it is to manage this process and inventory. So here's the crazy idea that might upset some folks. What if we

We have anyone mixing glaze wear a mask with particle cartridges and mix outside. I was hoping that in addition to that we might vent it outside to keep the studio air clean.

I guess I said it all in the title. Our company currently mixes dry glazes out in the alley next to our building. It would be nice to be able to mix indoors but we'd need proper ventilation. We'd be saving lots of time mixing if we could do it right next to the sink. I was wondering if anyone has had or seen a set up with indoor ventilation like this before. Thoughts?

Makes sense. Looks like we have to drill 3/4" holes in order to use the protective case. That's what the bailey kiln person told me on the phone. Looks like I have an exciting afternoon of MANUAL READING ahead of me! To learn about the joys of "offsetting your bailey electric kiln." But hey, totally worth it if we can add 50 firings to the lifespan of a thermocouple and prevent defects in the process.

Looks like you guys covered this topic 4 years ago. I think I just need to do more browsing before I ask. Lots of good stuff here.

Yes. They are quite thin in some parts and have minor cracking. Seems like we may need to increase routine maintenance until we can get those covers put on.

Sorry. I'm reading about offsets now and what you said makes more sense.

So if we fire to 2167, we'd change the firing to 2185 ish? And all of the target temps by +15-20?

The kiln shelves sometimes get flakes but it is more rare, because most of the surface of the shelf is covered by mugs. looks to be on top of the glaze. I did go through with pliers and clean the ends of the thermocouples and they were VERY flaky, so I'm pursuing that as the most likely culprit. Potentially adding in routine thermocouple maintenance, or purchasing caps to slide over the thermocouples.