Katie Piro

I was rushing to fire a whole host of glaze samples I'd completed and accidentally glaze fired to cone 6 without any of the peep plugs in. I have a Skutt 1027 with a downdraft kiln vent that was running. It's currently at 700 degrees so I can't peek yet. I fire to Cone 6, usually with all the peep plugs in. The glazes are a variety of homemade cone 6 glazes. Nothing commercial. No reds. They're mostly coppers, cobalts, some lithium and strontium. Will the glaze samples be accurate? Will they come out at all? Thanks! What a lesson learned in rushing. Doh! Katie

I can't speak to the other two brands you mentioned, but I've used Skutt the most. Both at home as a potter and at school as a ceramics teacher. They are work horses, easy to use, and their customer service is top notch. I've used Amaco as well, and had great successes. I've also heard excellent things about L&L but haven't used them personally. Best of luck on your search! How exciting!

I always have a cup of coffee next to my wheel as I'm throwing. Or doing anything really.

Thank you @Min, @Bill Kielb and @neilestrick! This has given me a lot of information. I wanted to stick with HCSM as a base because I LOVE Variegated Slate Blue, Spearmint, Bone, etc... And since I'm a one woman studio I need to keep the amount of different recipes I use to a minimum so I'm not wasting money on materials. I do love playing with the cooling schedule as well. Especially VSB which I sometimes fast cool if I want some glossy pieces in the mix. Thanks again! On to testing!

HCSM 1 Recipe: Kaolin 30 Wollastonite 29 Ferro Frit 3195 20 Silica 17 Nepheline Syenite 4 HCSM 2 Recipe: Koalin 28 Wollastonite 28 Frit 3195 23 Silica 17 Nepheline Syenite 4 I'm really looking to make one of these specific glazes white since they are the foundation for many other glazes I make and I want to keep the variety of materials I buy (and need to store) to a minimum. Thanks!

I love HCSM 1 + 2 from John Britt's Mastering Cone 6 but I need a white semi-matte glaze. Has anyone had any luck adding zircopax to these glazes to make them opaque and white? I did some searching and couldn't find anything. Would love some feedback from the hive mind before I jump (more like fall) headfirst into testing mode. Thanks bunches.

I have a KM-1027 touchscreen also and spent a considerable amount of time looking for the "cool down" menu item, like the non touchscreens have before realizing it no longer existed! I use the Cone 6 Slow Cool Schedule from the book Amazing Glaze by Gabriel Kline from Odyssey Clayworks. Segment 1: 100 degrees per hour up to 200 degrees. Segment 2: 450 degrees per hour to 1900 degrees. Segment 3: 108 degrees per hour to 2196 degrees. Segment 4: 150 degrees per hour to 1700 degrees. It's very easy to program. I also really recommend this book. Tons of great recipes, firing schedules and creative ideas. Good luck!

I like Podcasts, but I do tend to tune them out when I'm focusing and then I have to start the episode all over! Lore is my favorite. If I need some calm in my life it'll be something folksy. Otherwise, some of my favorite bands that I can sing along to. Marina and the Diamonds is a good one for me. I can't do anything with a really fast tempo or hard rock beats. I find it actually tenses up my muscles while I'm working.

High School Ceramics teacher here. I've taught it both ways as an experiment to see which would click more for the students and be easier for them to create quality vessels on the wheel. And though it's more complicated to teach, the results were overwhelmingly better when you create the curved base for a bowl right away. So now, that's the way I teach it. I agree with @Presabout breaking things down into those 3 main components: Cylinder, Bowl, and Plate (Wide & Flat Shapes). From there, they can manipulate the clay to do a thousand different things.

A few questions and suggestions: Why do you have your GiffinGrip on a bat? I have mine adhered directly to my wheel head and it clips on nice and tight. Have you tried dismantling it, bringing it back to the factory set up and re-assembling it? Maybe that's why there's some wiggle? You've had it a year, has it always done this? I noticed that with mine if I tried to trim when my pieces were just a hair too soft, I would get squeamish about tightening the pieces all the way to avoid warping the piece near the rim. But once I recognized the problem and waited until they were a little harder, I found I could tighten it very strongly and it would hold the piece just fine. There are also some different holder pieces, some that come with the GiffenGrip and some you can buy extra that are made for different shapes and made to be able to move closer to the center of the wheel if you need to trim narrower pieces. Also the ones with poles, that hold a piece higher up. Hope any of this helps. Good luck. Maybe try calling/emailing Giffen Grip directly? I had an issue a while ago and they were very helpful over email. K

Thanks @Sorcery!! Piro will be my married name (currently engaged). Flows a lot better than McKeown and I probably won't have to tell people how to spell it as frequently. I'll check out that YouTube series. Thanks guys! Katie

Wow you guys are AWESOME! I have right now commercially mixed PC Midnight Blue, Mayco's Sand & Sea, and Mayco's White Gloss. I use Cone 5/6 Stoneware. I have a cream colored, and buff speckled, and hopefully will soon experiment with some darker colored clays. I'm thinking to build up to: Clear: Odyssey Clear (Amazing Glaze, Kline) White: Odyssey White (Amazing Glaze, Kline) Red: Raspberry (Mastering Cone 6 Glazes) John's Straw Ash (Mid-Range Glazes) Blue: Variegated Slate Blue (Mid-Range Glazes) Green: Spermint (Amazing Glaze, Kline) Broken Celadon (Amazing Glaze, Kline) Funkies: Strontium Crystal Magic (Cool) (Mid-range Glazes)

Thank you! You just listed many of the glazes I really like from that book. Not only did I read the whole first half, I have it outlined and highlighted! (Can you tell I'm a teacher?) I also purchased John Britt's Mid Range Glazes, as well as Amazing Glaze by Kline. Any others you'd recommend? You've been a great help! Thanks! Katie

Hi Everyone! Longtime lurker. All the information you post has been SO HELPFUL to me as I start to get my fledgling pottery business off the ground. I'm looking to make the switch from commercial to homemade glazes in the near future and have some picked out that I'd like to replicate. Mostly from Mastering Cone 6 Glazes. I was wondering, for those of you that operate out of a home studio, how many homemade glazes do you keep on hand? Thanks! Katie Piro