Morgan

Here is another person I recommend for tools https://www.instagram.com/rd.pottery.tools?igsh=MW9vOHA2Y2N4OXV3NQ==

Starting to come around to this theory. Not sure why a scammer would reach out to offer an extra tool from his schematics for the long wait, but alas.

I always compress and never dealt with a cracks, but when I switched to Laguna frost it was about half my pieces regardless of shape. It’s known for being picky but this caused me to change a lot. As babs mentioned wedging is key. What really resolved my issue was spending a LOT of time compressing, I mean a lot. Always compress outside > in and force that clay down onto itself in the center. Clearly dry it correctly etc but I have all but gotten rid of the issue but it’s a serious time suck.

Hey Karen sorry for the delay been a busy summer! No updates or packages showing up let’s just say. I will say Phil contacted me in early June saying how sorry he was and offered an extra tool. It’s much appreciated, but honestly until they show up I have my doubts. I will keep this thread updated for sure. ps - I am one of those rare male Morgan’s

It’s not good reclaim if it doesn’t have mold! I’m kidding but part of me wants to think it helps somehow haha

I invested in advanced shelves a few years ago and can’t imagine going back. I ended up getting a mix of a few fulls and halves. I tend to like this as things that are all the same height I use full shelves and then can use half’s when things get weird. That said, if I could do it all over again it’s probably best to just get them all cut in half because why not? Guess it also depends on what you are firing. With the advancers I don’t even think about post placement much. I get them close vertically but beyond that unless I’m mistaken they can’t warp. It’s pretty remarkable how much more work I’ve been able to fire over the 100s of firings so they certainly have paid for themselves and the some. Pretty much ever firing I do I end up with space for one row of spoon rests/plates, whatever, that I never would have been able to fit until I switched to them.

Yup, I think that is what is happening to me too. So far it’s all been nice I will say but, big but. I had contact with him last week again on messenger and he “found my order” was having medical issues etc but feeling much better now and will get my tools out on Monday (this was a week or so ago). I am not holding my breath. I too feel for him and whatever he is going through but at the same time this is beyond that now. On top of ALL that on his Facebook he just posted recently about reopening his Etsy shop vs alternatives advice like Shopify etc. I have no idea what to think anymore but let’s just say I would be jaw dropped if the tools or a refund are ever coming my way. If he can’t fulfill orders or is not in the right physical shape to do so why would he even consider opening up new orders or avenues?

Hard to add to what’s been said but ya apples and oranges. i personally have both. I prefer Shopify but it is totally on you to drive traffic there, seo, marketing etc. Etsy does this for you (rather poorly)…but as Neil points out it is beyond saturated. If you don’t have tons of sales and tons of reviews it’s almost impossible. I did spend a good chunk on Etsy ads to get a small amount of sales and reviews (think like 300 sales and well over a 100 5 star reviews) so now I just let it ride if something sells on there, great, but I don’t care as my focus is on Shopify site. if you do try Etsy spend a ton of time on seo (look at competitors), have great pics, a lot of listings if you can, focus on good titles, tags etc. But again, Etsy is hard now but doable still if your willing to do it well, have a good product and so forth. In the end if I could have done it all over again I would have probably just focused on good content via social media/instagram/fb and invested time and money on meta ads, google ads and just drove traffic to my Shopify store alone and never bothered with Etsy. The vast chunk of my sales are from direct in person markets so that helps me not care so much about online sales…but ya if I never had to do another market I would probably die happy.

This is roughly the schedule I use (temps changed to get heat work where I want on my kiln) https://digitalfire.com/schedule/plc6ds then if you want you can use the same schedule with a controlled cool down if that’s your thing, for my glazes I prefer crash cool.

He claims to not contact him on Facebook but he was non responsive on email after payment (over a year ago) so I sent him just a couple of DMs on Facebook and oddly he replied. He sounds fine and is obviously working. Maybe something happened before but I do not want to speculate. What I can say is a few big social following potters dropped his name almost daily which certainly probably overwhelmed him with orders. Time will tell and I am going to be optimistic I get my replacement tools but when is anyone’s guess.

Whoa! I cannot believe it is that much mainland where you are, just wow!

Also mark I’m living in HI and paying over 40 cents/kwh, it’s crazy.

I kind of got burned by not specifically stating 325 on an order one time (lesson learned) so of coarse they sent the much cheaper 200. For some glazes I could not tell but others were super apparent and 325 gave a superior finish/melt.

Outside of having to test it, wouldn’t it be easier to simply color with oxides/stains etc, your go to porcelain the exact color you are aiming for instead of having to deal with that? Food for thought.

Minor update to anyone else in my boat. I pinged him on Facebook again and actually got the most detailed message out of him I have. “Good news Morgan, I have your order printed out and I see your PayPal payment”…then radio silence again ha! Maybe I actually get these sometime in the coming years…who knows.