blackthorn

Re raku firing.  The first one I was involved with was in my teacher's basement.  A 10 cu ft electric kiln with  pulley that lifted the lid.  The shelves were built up so that only the top layer was used.  Once the pots reached the required temp the lid was lifted (I don't know if the kiln was turned off)  and the pots were tonged into garbage cans through the basement window.
How many rules does that break? It never happened again and the house didn't burn down (miracle) and no one was hurt (another miracle.
Lin

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. 

My second attempt at a self-draining soap dish works! Big thanks to Pres for supplying this suggestion:
Having a wall and a lip as two sort-of separate elements allowed me to cut a channel through the wall, but still have enough clay on the lip to pull and shape a spout. Now it allows the water to slide off, but not the soap!



 
 

I was infatuated with the ceramic process and work of the Pamunkey Indians, a Virginia tribe located within a day trip from VCU's School of the Arts where I was earning my BFA in ceramics.  I had studied the work of the Maria Martinez and other native people's doing pit firing & burnishing black & red wares and I knew the Pamunkey's were just beginning to resurrect their craft. I lucked out and got to tag along for a few weeks with an anthropologist who was assisting them with research and reconstruction of their history and the reestablishment of all aspects their traditional way of life. I got to learn about making/firing/finishing the pottery along with them and just couldn't wait to do it on my own. Silly me. Apparently the small back yard of an urban apartment, with fussy neighbors and even fussier management (something about not liking the smoke-go figure) was not an appropriate place to do my thing. I might have given them some lip about why the heck can't I do what I choose with my little patch of ground, but they were having none of it and threatened to kick me out--only the fact that I was a single mom with a young child saved my butt...but I had to cease and desist with the backyard bar-b-ques! 

Today it rained. Yesterday it rained. Day before that,  it rained.  I like the rain but my tomatoes are treading water.
So envious of you good folk with full on studios and kilns.
I shall go now and roll another slab.
 

Trade you rain for snow
I like snow - in the winter.

I've been working on transferring photographic images to clay.  I've read the myriad of image transfer techniques and am fiddling with my own addition to that 
Lots of misses but a few show some promise.  I won't be able to fire until the exile is lifted. Meanwhile... more adjustments. 
Then the fun part will be placing them actual pieces.

I've been working on transferring photographic images to clay.  I've read the myriad of image transfer techniques and am fiddling with my own addition to that 
Lots of misses but a few show some promise.  I won't be able to fire until the exile is lifted. Meanwhile... more adjustments. 
Then the fun part will be placing them actual pieces.

my bicycle is happy that i finally put air in its tires and have taken it out of the shed.   i think i must have shrunk a little, my toes hardly touch the ground.   got to see if the seat can be lowered.  i don't go far, maybe 2 city blocks.   just hope nobody comes around the corner while i am approaching it.
finger exercise works too, typing here, playing solitare and playing two boards on the scrabble game help keep fingers nimble.

I've got 2 huskies and 2 kids here in quarantine, so I have been taking them on walks just to get a tiny bit of sanity.  My kids have reached peak annoying this week, and I've been trying to flatten the curve as much as possible.
But yeah, lots and lots of walks, with and without the kids, but always with the Huskies.  Because you know what's worse than bored childrens?  Bored huskies! Yikes.
 

I've been working on transferring photographic images to clay.  I've read the myriad of image transfer techniques and am fiddling with my own addition to that 
Lots of misses but a few show some promise.  I won't be able to fire until the exile is lifted. Meanwhile... more adjustments. 
Then the fun part will be placing them actual pieces.

I've been working on transferring photographic images to clay.  I've read the myriad of image transfer techniques and am fiddling with my own addition to that 
Lots of misses but a few show some promise.  I won't be able to fire until the exile is lifted. Meanwhile... more adjustments. 
Then the fun part will be placing them actual pieces.

yesterdays glaze loads stack and ready to fire to cone 11.
I like a lot of space so pots can BREATHE-ok its a myth at least for me in a reduction kiln-I like it packed tight. 
In the  salt kiln its more true
The little kiln a 12 cubic updraft and the car kiln a 35 cubic downdraft.
Little kiln is off now an the cone 11 is almost 1/2 and about to be shut down.
then two day cool-no rush at all for these pots now
 
 

I've been working on transferring photographic images to clay.  I've read the myriad of image transfer techniques and am fiddling with my own addition to that 
Lots of misses but a few show some promise.  I won't be able to fire until the exile is lifted. Meanwhile... more adjustments. 
Then the fun part will be placing them actual pieces.

Ok not on my workbench yet -but really this does not fit on any workbench.
Todays greenware load-just loaded at 7pm and candling a few hours.
This is one and a 1/3 glaze load-stacked to the moon with most forms full of other forms.Some tumbled stacked large platters and rectangle footed sushi dishes on top .I still have one more bisque like this one to do in a week as well.
Most is a future wholesale deal-no matter what the world is doing I make pottery -its what I do.
 

Working  on found object texture tiles to be raku fired and assembled for a wall hanging.

I've been working on transferring photographic images to clay.  I've read the myriad of image transfer techniques and am fiddling with my own addition to that 
Lots of misses but a few show some promise.  I won't be able to fire until the exile is lifted. Meanwhile... more adjustments. 
Then the fun part will be placing them actual pieces.

I haven't been on the forum for awhile - trying my hand at hand building. Fear (& I hope not loathing) after I fire these things! Its a lamp, drying upside down & its bigger than the ones I throw on the wheel.

Friends In Clay,,,,,,Periodically it's a good idea for us to remind all forum users, whether you are an active participant, an occasional contributor, or a lurker, to always take advice, especially technical advice, with care. I have not doubt that everyone who gives technical advice is doing so with the best intentions, but you must do your own due diligence by doing additional research into your question. Then, test, test, test,,,,,
 
best to all,
Steven 

I started out of the gate making and firing crystalline glaze: which also meant making my own glaze. From there it naturally evolved into making my own glazes; including my own versions of temmoku and others. The first ton of clay I purchased, then started making my own- later buying a pugmill. Currently, I use R2 porcelain that I specifically developed to promote crystalline growth. I make my own suspender and brushing medium: that Britt named glaze jelly. Made my own tile setters, and other kiln furniture. I prefer to explore and learn.
T

I use pretty much the same basic tools as others but also a section of a metric tape measure. I make all same type pots with lids have a standard size lid, I set the callipers to the measurement for that particular type pot or just use the tape measure. (I find metric is so much easier to measure with than imperial)

My basic throwing kit, after buying and making all sorts of tools: 
1) pointy asian style trim tool
2) small wooden kidney
3) whatever junky sponge is around
4) chamois
And last but most important and versatile......
5) metal rib
And here's what I use them for:
1) trim tool - I use it to clean up the "buttress" or skirt on mugs'n'jugs and to pull my bats off.  Thing is a champ and that's why it's on my bench. Cost me 99 cents at the ole pottery shoppe
2) kemper small hardwood kidney rib - it has a flat side, it has a curved side, what's not to like.  But really I use this for compressing the bottoms of plates and as an inside compressing rib when doing a tall form (with the metal rib on the outside).
3) junky sponge - now I don't want to name any names, but after trying some fancy name brand sponge pack I have to say I wore them out in short order and moved on.  I use chunks of tile sponge, Hydra sponges (the cheap round ones in the kits), etc.  If you're married to the mudtools ones, try the foam from a box of cones, it works great.  
4) chamois - ok I'm gonna ruffle some feathers here, but you can take your paper towels and bag plastic and you can go ahead and put them in the garbage where they belong.  Nothing feels as good as gripping that slimy little piece of lambskin and pulling it down over a rim.  Nevermind the beautiful, perfect, compressed, strong, and incredibly smooth surface it leaves behind.  That's great and all, but I mean actually just holding the thing and letting it slide in your fingers, when you wring it out, when you slap it onto the side of your water dish... It's all magical!  It almost feels ethereal and lighter than air.  Anyway, chamois are great.
5) metal rib - ok, metal ribs, let's be honest... They're cheating, right?  No one tool should have all of this power.  I use my metal rib for so many things, I will begin describing them now.  I clean my bats with one, I shape pretty much everything I throw with one, I scrape slip off of clay, I decorate with one, I burnish with one while trimming, the list goes on forever!  Definitely my favorite tool.
 
Beyond those for throwing I also now rarely use a needle tool, pretty much just for scoring, though still occasionally use one to level off the top of an uneven rim.  The other occasional use tool is a large cooking chopstick from daiso.  It serves as throwing stick, and general all around stick for doing stick stuff.
For trimming I pretty much use a thin dolan pear and a screw cap from a gallon milk jug.  I'll tap whatever I'm trimming into center, put the milk cap in the middle and apply gentle downward pressure on the milk cap to hold whatever I'm trimming on center and just hack at it with the pear tool.  I occasionally use an Asian style trim tool but I can't keep them sharp enough for them to be of any long term use whereas the dolan tools are hardened steel and the edge lasts quite a while, even on groggy stoneware.  
 
Welp, that's about it and probably far too detailed, but you can go tool crazy if you aren't careful.  For mugs I'm down to sponge, chamois, metal rib and trim tool, and I get into a pretty good rhythm can pump one out every 2-3 minutes to the gauge.
Speaking of which, I've got 30 out in the shed that need to be thumbed off and handled... Toodles!