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Morgan

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  1. Like
    Morgan reacted to neilestrick in EPK shortage?   
    Sure thing. Just putting it out there in case you or someone else needed it.
  2. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Min in Laguna 15 cracking   
    Just an update and I do not wanna jinx anything but I did about 50 more mugs wedging each ball individually per @Min’s suggestion and another chunk wedging larger amounts but then doing my normal elongating wedged clay to wire off smaller balls. I then truly spent an insane amount of time compressing bottoms. No visible cracks on any of the individual wedged ones and a handful on the ones using my normal method but with intense amounts of compressing. Looks like this is just going to be part of the process with frost. Thanks for all the suggestions and hope that is the end of that.
    I do want to add some compliments to frost as well. It is hands down the best looking glazed porcelain I have ever seen. I also love how even when fairly wet it holds it shape very well for handling. This is especially important for me as I do all attachments much sooner than leather hard so I never have to really worry about joint cracks. So I may have to spend more time on the wheel but handles etc are much more efficient for me now.
    off to do some glaze fit adjustments now…
  3. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Chilly in Laguna 15 cracking   
    Just an update and I do not wanna jinx anything but I did about 50 more mugs wedging each ball individually per @Min’s suggestion and another chunk wedging larger amounts but then doing my normal elongating wedged clay to wire off smaller balls. I then truly spent an insane amount of time compressing bottoms. No visible cracks on any of the individual wedged ones and a handful on the ones using my normal method but with intense amounts of compressing. Looks like this is just going to be part of the process with frost. Thanks for all the suggestions and hope that is the end of that.
    I do want to add some compliments to frost as well. It is hands down the best looking glazed porcelain I have ever seen. I also love how even when fairly wet it holds it shape very well for handling. This is especially important for me as I do all attachments much sooner than leather hard so I never have to really worry about joint cracks. So I may have to spend more time on the wheel but handles etc are much more efficient for me now.
    off to do some glaze fit adjustments now…
  4. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Hulk in Laguna 15 cracking   
    Just an update and I do not wanna jinx anything but I did about 50 more mugs wedging each ball individually per @Min’s suggestion and another chunk wedging larger amounts but then doing my normal elongating wedged clay to wire off smaller balls. I then truly spent an insane amount of time compressing bottoms. No visible cracks on any of the individual wedged ones and a handful on the ones using my normal method but with intense amounts of compressing. Looks like this is just going to be part of the process with frost. Thanks for all the suggestions and hope that is the end of that.
    I do want to add some compliments to frost as well. It is hands down the best looking glazed porcelain I have ever seen. I also love how even when fairly wet it holds it shape very well for handling. This is especially important for me as I do all attachments much sooner than leather hard so I never have to really worry about joint cracks. So I may have to spend more time on the wheel but handles etc are much more efficient for me now.
    off to do some glaze fit adjustments now…
  5. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Laguna 15 cracking   
    Just an update and I do not wanna jinx anything but I did about 50 more mugs wedging each ball individually per @Min’s suggestion and another chunk wedging larger amounts but then doing my normal elongating wedged clay to wire off smaller balls. I then truly spent an insane amount of time compressing bottoms. No visible cracks on any of the individual wedged ones and a handful on the ones using my normal method but with intense amounts of compressing. Looks like this is just going to be part of the process with frost. Thanks for all the suggestions and hope that is the end of that.
    I do want to add some compliments to frost as well. It is hands down the best looking glazed porcelain I have ever seen. I also love how even when fairly wet it holds it shape very well for handling. This is especially important for me as I do all attachments much sooner than leather hard so I never have to really worry about joint cracks. So I may have to spend more time on the wheel but handles etc are much more efficient for me now.
    off to do some glaze fit adjustments now…
  6. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Bill Kielb in Laguna 15 cracking   
    Just an update and I do not wanna jinx anything but I did about 50 more mugs wedging each ball individually per @Min’s suggestion and another chunk wedging larger amounts but then doing my normal elongating wedged clay to wire off smaller balls. I then truly spent an insane amount of time compressing bottoms. No visible cracks on any of the individual wedged ones and a handful on the ones using my normal method but with intense amounts of compressing. Looks like this is just going to be part of the process with frost. Thanks for all the suggestions and hope that is the end of that.
    I do want to add some compliments to frost as well. It is hands down the best looking glazed porcelain I have ever seen. I also love how even when fairly wet it holds it shape very well for handling. This is especially important for me as I do all attachments much sooner than leather hard so I never have to really worry about joint cracks. So I may have to spend more time on the wheel but handles etc are much more efficient for me now.
    off to do some glaze fit adjustments now…
  7. Like
    Morgan reacted to Bill Kielb in Laguna 15 cracking   
    We have found frost to be a bit picky so we teach what we consider effective compression or for bottoms of cups / mugs …….. some pattern of ribbing from the outside perimeter to the very center as in the video. Folks simply pushing down hard definitely stand a chance of the clay growing outward or less compressed on the whole. For Frost though, I spend a lot more time on handle joins after having knocked several off after a bisque run just to see how well they were attached. If when fractured, the parent material broke off with the join, I considered that well made. If the join simply broke at the slipped connection, then I considered it an ok but weaker than the parent material join and for Frost subject to hairline cracks. (Sort of a welders view of good and average joins)
    For frost I definitely make sure to compress as properly as practical and for handle joins - compress and often infill to be sure it’s all similar strength and density.  Overall, I rarely use a sponge or overwork even greenware with a rib and sponge while trimming as well as burnish things perfectly. I find overworking can lead to delaminating and really strange surface cracks (maybe more like you describe) presumably due to local shrinkage and density differences of areas I overworked.
    Having said all that I think it has made me better. I still like frost, and the extra attention really does not seem to slow me down a bunch.
  8. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Standard Clay's New Formulas   
    As insane as it sounds the difference in bulk freight on a a pallet from the west cost vs tons of 50lb flat rate boxes is not that substantially different price wise. I have gone back and forth debating on getting 2 tons of frost at a time freight from laguna and honestly it is not even that big of a difference. I still may do it (made another thread about Frost) It is slightly cheaper, but not as much as you may think. It is still costly no matter how ya slice it and part of what makes being a potter out here hard, but it is what it is. That said, I have the luxury of endless tourists, fantastic artisan/farmers markets daily and a clientele that do not even bother looking at price tags as well, so there's that.
  9. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from KB3d in Standard Clay's New Formulas   
    As insane as it sounds the difference in bulk freight on a a pallet from the west cost vs tons of 50lb flat rate boxes is not that substantially different price wise. I have gone back and forth debating on getting 2 tons of frost at a time freight from laguna and honestly it is not even that big of a difference. I still may do it (made another thread about Frost) It is slightly cheaper, but not as much as you may think. It is still costly no matter how ya slice it and part of what makes being a potter out here hard, but it is what it is. That said, I have the luxury of endless tourists, fantastic artisan/farmers markets daily and a clientele that do not even bother looking at price tags as well, so there's that.
  10. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from neilestrick in Standard Clay's New Formulas   
    As insane as it sounds the difference in bulk freight on a a pallet from the west cost vs tons of 50lb flat rate boxes is not that substantially different price wise. I have gone back and forth debating on getting 2 tons of frost at a time freight from laguna and honestly it is not even that big of a difference. I still may do it (made another thread about Frost) It is slightly cheaper, but not as much as you may think. It is still costly no matter how ya slice it and part of what makes being a potter out here hard, but it is what it is. That said, I have the luxury of endless tourists, fantastic artisan/farmers markets daily and a clientele that do not even bother looking at price tags as well, so there's that.
  11. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Do you accept Venmo Apple Pay etc?   
    Oh totally, I report all transactions properly and I didn’t mean to imply it any other way…in fact people are somewhat surprised when they want to pay Venmo and I charge them tax on top and I explain why. I guess I should clarify why I made the topic.
    One, to point out how many people I see doing this and that Venmo/PayPal are not stupid and they have adjusted themselves properly and will now send anything over $600 to the IRS (or something small). This is also why they push for you to use their business version to collect transaction fees. Secondly, I guess it was just to see if others see this behavior to the extent I do? All these people are going to have a very rude awakening come tax time or later the way that they use apps like Venmo, so more of a PSA I suppose. And lastly just curious as to all the other payment methods folks use in general. 
  12. Like
    Morgan reacted to Callie Beller Diesel in Do you accept Venmo Apple Pay etc?   
    Because banking in Canada is different enough, I had to look up what exactly the differences between Venmo and any other card service is in the US. (We don’t have Venmo because we do that through our banks instantly, for free, without the middle man, and the encryption legally has to favour the account holder.)
    Anyways. It looks like the appeal for Venmo is that customers can use their own cash without having to pay an extra fee, or potentially incur credit card interest. There does not appear to be much of a benefit as a business, because you still have to pay fees to accept payments, and it takes a couple of days to transfer the money to you, just like a credit card. 
    So the question then is, will you loose sales at this venue if you don’t offer that payment option? If everyone’s carrying cash anyways and it doesn’t make a difference, it looks like more of a hinderance than a help from my angle. But, if it makes a difference to your sales, you might want to have a look at it. 
    If taxes and recording transactions are at issue, you can still use your Square as a till system and enter the venmo transactions as cash. That way you can do things like send receipts, and have the app do your calculations and have a record of the sales tax you have to set aside for remittance. It just helps to have everything in one place.
  13. Like
    Morgan reacted to Min in Laguna Frost ^6 users (glaze fit content)   
    My thinking was if you could demonstrate you got a bad batch then it might be worth trying again. Adding silica to the body could very well decrease or stop the glazes from crazing. If you showed Laguna this then they should replace your clay.
    Mark brought up a good option with Tacoma Art Center or Seattle Pottery Supply, they both have their own version of a NZ porcelain. I've used the one from Tacoma, it's a nice claybody to work with and very white. Haven't tried the one from SPS.
  14. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Laguna Frost ^6 users (glaze fit content)   
    I agree with everything you said and totally expected not all glazes to fit with a new clay body. Not that it is a barometer for anything but I have tried all these glazes with a dozen other porcelains (with similar COE) and other clay bodies with zero issues. Again, I know that does not mean much for Frost, but it just seems strange. That said, I find it pretty unusual that every single glaze (15!) did not play well with Frost. Especially given the glazes I tested which, are all for the most part, very much in a good range and known for their stability.  I feel like I would have heard or seen more people discussing Frost glaze fit issues, but maybe I have not been paying attention. Lastly, a lot of these glazes have years of pictures and reports on Frost with no issues for others poking around Glazy etc (Opal for example).

    Anyway, I appreciate the comments, and agree, just still find it odd. Not a big deal, I will stick with works, but I would love to hear from folks that actually use Frost too to see if they are having/had such issues with such a broad spectrum of glazes that seemingly work fine for most people using the same clay body.

    I appreciate the thoughtful and detailed response!
  15. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Hulk in Laguna Frost ^6 users (glaze fit content)   
    I agree with everything you said and totally expected not all glazes to fit with a new clay body. Not that it is a barometer for anything but I have tried all these glazes with a dozen other porcelains (with similar COE) and other clay bodies with zero issues. Again, I know that does not mean much for Frost, but it just seems strange. That said, I find it pretty unusual that every single glaze (15!) did not play well with Frost. Especially given the glazes I tested which, are all for the most part, very much in a good range and known for their stability.  I feel like I would have heard or seen more people discussing Frost glaze fit issues, but maybe I have not been paying attention. Lastly, a lot of these glazes have years of pictures and reports on Frost with no issues for others poking around Glazy etc (Opal for example).

    Anyway, I appreciate the comments, and agree, just still find it odd. Not a big deal, I will stick with works, but I would love to hear from folks that actually use Frost too to see if they are having/had such issues with such a broad spectrum of glazes that seemingly work fine for most people using the same clay body.

    I appreciate the thoughtful and detailed response!
  16. Like
    Morgan reacted to Callie Beller Diesel in Laguna Frost ^6 users (glaze fit content)   
    Crazing has very little to do with your cool down rate. If you slow your cool and it appears to get rid of a crazing problem, you’ve likely only caused a crazing delay. A shock test will still bring it out. Crazing is caused by COE values that differ too greatly between clay and glaze. If this is your first test of using Frost instead of the Standard 365 clay and all your usual glazes have crazed, that just means the 2 clays have different COE’s. That’s not unusual at all. 
    If you want to keep using the same glazes, you’ll have to adjust them all to compensate. If the crazing is slow to emerge and the crack pattern is a larger one rather than a covering of fine lines, chances are the glazes won’t need a lot of adjusting. That which bodes well for keeping the character of the glazes intact. It’ll be a little bit of work with a test sieve to hone in 10 glazes, but it’s doable. 
    If you’re going to use glaze software to help narrow the project down, some notes about comparing COE values:
    1) Using calculated COE values won’t eliminate physical testing, but it’ll cut down the work and materials used. 
    2) COE values aren’t absolute numbers. They’re only a snapshot of a measurement taken under a very specific set of circumstances. If you change the circumstances, you get a different value. They’re good if you’re adjusting a glaze without adding or removing any ingredients, only changing quantities. Also worth noting that because of this, different glaze softwares use slightly different COE values in their source tables. If you’re looking at a clay manufacturer’s suggested COE range for glazes, make sure you’re using the same software they are. Many manufacturers have stopped offering these suggestions though, because they tend to cause more confusion than they help with.
    3) You don’t want to match coe values of your glazes to your clay. That results in more glaze flaws. Knowing that you need to move your existing glaze COE values higher or lower is the important bit here. 
     
  17. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Roberta12 in Becoming an LLC   
    Frankly I would not waste any money on a 3rd party for simply setting up an LLC, which is super simple (not sure why some above says its difficult, but maybe it is in some states?). Your county/state should have some form of a small business site/portal where you can do it online in a matter of minutes.
  18. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Hulk in Low specific gravity but THICK!   
    Yes, almost all of my glazes I do not even mess with floc/defloc, in fact I try NOT to even go there but glazes that seem to gel like crazy even with a ton of water you need to. Some glazes are also a lot more picky about showing drip lines etc where thixotropic adjustment will help tremendously.

    A big factor touched on above is how you prefer to do application. Long dips, multiple dips, short quick dips, spraying, brushing etc. I frankly do not like it much (or think its a tad misleading) when people put up a SG for a given glaze as it makes it seem like that is the exact SG you need. I get its a ballpark for most but I think it is misleading. For example I have some glazes that always get layered and so I tend to have that have a lower SG so my combined glazes do not get too too thick and crawl or flake off. 
    Long and short of it is test and you will come to understand your glazes best SG, application etc and it will become second nature. I do not even really measure my SG I just know by the consistency and the results where to be. Of coarse you need SG if you plan on tweaking with floc/defloc. 
    Once other tip: If you get a glaze where you want it after mixing up a batch, check it again every other day or so as some will gel up over time. I can tell by ingredients that I will get it roughly where I want it but by the next day it will need more tweaking.
  19. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Pir in Low specific gravity but THICK!   
    Yes, almost all of my glazes I do not even mess with floc/defloc, in fact I try NOT to even go there but glazes that seem to gel like crazy even with a ton of water you need to. Some glazes are also a lot more picky about showing drip lines etc where thixotropic adjustment will help tremendously.

    A big factor touched on above is how you prefer to do application. Long dips, multiple dips, short quick dips, spraying, brushing etc. I frankly do not like it much (or think its a tad misleading) when people put up a SG for a given glaze as it makes it seem like that is the exact SG you need. I get its a ballpark for most but I think it is misleading. For example I have some glazes that always get layered and so I tend to have that have a lower SG so my combined glazes do not get too too thick and crawl or flake off. 
    Long and short of it is test and you will come to understand your glazes best SG, application etc and it will become second nature. I do not even really measure my SG I just know by the consistency and the results where to be. Of coarse you need SG if you plan on tweaking with floc/defloc. 
    Once other tip: If you get a glaze where you want it after mixing up a batch, check it again every other day or so as some will gel up over time. I can tell by ingredients that I will get it roughly where I want it but by the next day it will need more tweaking.
  20. Like
    Morgan reacted to Hulk in Low specific gravity but THICK!   
    Some of my glazes don't need any thixotropic adjustment, likely on account of the gerstley borate, so, yes on naturally occurring thixotropic, imo.
    The clay absorbs water, hence the layer of glaze right on the clay gets the water sucked out and sticks on thar; "wetter" glaze - thinner layer given same exposure time.
    A surface that isn't absorbent will also get thinner layer with a wetter glaze; looks to me that an absorbent surface multiplies the thickness difference per unit time tho'.
    Do trials, keep good notes!
  21. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Hulk in Low specific gravity but THICK!   
    Look into thixotropy as well. Basically the last thing you want to do in glazes like this is to keep adding water. Get your SG where you want it and floc/defloc from there. What that SG should be is going to take testing with a glaze and simply knowing your glaze well/application

    Great video that explains thixotropy in simpleton terms 
     
    and this one more specific to your case
     
     
  22. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Flux   
    I have been using Joe's fluxes quite a bit and find they work fantastic I think I even posted a few pics over there.
    https://glazy.org/recipes/246933
  23. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Babs in Second glaze dip application contamination?   
    thanks for the responses. @oldladyand just to reiterate, I was more curious if it ever became a problem someone saw, I am not worried about it in the slightest, and have never seen any issues, was more out of wonderment over long periods.
  24. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from kswan in Light box for pottery pictures   
    Joe Thompson has a pretty nice blog write up on making a simple and nice light box.

    https://www.oldforgecreations.co.uk/blog/simple-and-cost-effective-photobooth-for-product-photography

    I have had a few of the cheap amazon ones and they are all...cheap frankly.
  25. Like
    Morgan got a reaction from Callie Beller Diesel in Light box for pottery pictures   
    Joe Thompson has a pretty nice blog write up on making a simple and nice light box.

    https://www.oldforgecreations.co.uk/blog/simple-and-cost-effective-photobooth-for-product-photography

    I have had a few of the cheap amazon ones and they are all...cheap frankly.
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