grackle

interested in the idea of pounding out slabs before you roll them...i usually just throw them down to widen things out a bit, turning the slab every time, but pounding sounds quite theraputic. i do love my long rolling pin.

it is still a bit thin in terms of the body. i rolled up some newpaper to space out the body, but there should have been more. i fear it will be very tippy and that parts could break off easily if it tipped over. and the front feet should go forward a bit. but hey, it was fun, and i will keep making more. it is nice to be able to work with slabs that are thinner than 1/4 inch!!

cool. I wanted so much to know if it lived up to the hype. have been building a fish all day, and because i needed to add feet (I always put feet on my fish), i have to let the body set up a while and add the feet, and then the fins--just did that, so we will see what it looks like in the morning. here is the photo so far so far just making what I can use up without letting it get stinky.

I am just beginning to experiment with paper clay. I have been frustrated with attempts to create sculpture of any larger than 6 inches or so with clay slabs (no paper). I suspect I am probably not catching the slab at the perfect stiffness level, but my time constraints make that hard. In reading about paper clay, it seems that it is stronger and more forgiving than straight clay, and I am wondering what others who have tried using it have found? Have made a few small experimental pieces and they seem quite sturdy, even though much thinner than my 1/4 inch slabs. I have read that paper clay is also able to be repaired and added to even after it is dry!! That seems just short of miraculous??? Thanks for any advice!

Mosaics, and I just realized I should be glazing and firing scraps of slabs with all my colors to use in mosaics, duh.. Kayaking, especially on rivers, we love the Rio Grande and other Texas rivers. Have also spent a good many fall weeks on Lake Powell in Kayaks, and the San Juan river, plus the Missouri River in Montana. Which is to say, we love to travel, especially in the west, getting off road and into the back country. My husband works in wood, and I help him design boxes and clocks. The clocks are my favorites. Now that spring is in sight, I am starting seeds and even planting some things, .like swiss chard and lettuce and other greens.

Thank everyone, this is a great group! Just unloaded the kiln with the 5 minute hold, and all looks good. I was a little worried it might get a bit hot, but seems fine. I watched the temp right at the end, and it went from 2167F to 2171F, I am firing electric to cone 5, but honestly, the witness things would indicate more of a 5.5 or 6. My first firing with this kiln was a cone 6, and i really felt that it was too hot (colors washed out, etc), so switched to cone 5 with much better results. I do not see any pitting in this batch. Tried some different things with stains and clear glaze on white that look good (photo). Adding a photo of the 4 "horny toads" also known as Texas Horned Lizards. 3 different glazes--slate blue, sage, and jade. The jade (most green), is a glaze from my college days, and it has barium carbonate in the mix, so i only use it on non food items. Giving a good deal of thought to the hold on bisque firing. I have a black clay that i love, but it is SO messy (turns my hands orange), and tends to blister, but MAYBE if more of the iron or whatever was burned out in the bisque...... I have also experimented with using it as a slip over red clay, and I like some of the results, and will do more with that. All that said. I have an L and L kiln with the auto vent system--how do it l Iower the temp for a bisque hold? I am still learning the menu and I thought I could only HOLD at the final firing temp?

Thank you. I am firing today with a 5 minute hold. I guess I did not realize that heat would be added, but of course it would.

I keep reading about holding the final temp at the end of firing, but really do not understand how the length of time is chosen. would like to start adding some small increments of time and see what might change. any suggestions? i am thinking start with 5 minutes and more later. i do sometimes have a few pinholes--but i also notice that some glazes work best in the bottom of the kiln (a bit cooler?) and some in the top half. and of course, i do work with different clays--all stoneware, cones 5 and 6. i do have a vented system--L and L with the air flow. thank you!!

I am experimenting with a slip made from some very dark coarse clay that I have a love/hate relationship with. By itself, it tends to small pits and bumps when fired, but i love what glaze does on it (especially one particular glaze which is sage colored). Have just taken the first of the pots out of a bisque fire, and getting ready to glaze. Will update.

I learning to throw in college sitting down. When I got my own wheel, and had a little back pain, I thought, hmmm, maybe i could do this standing up. We had a sturdy little table built with 2 x 4's and 2" lumber on top, and we set the wheel up on it, and I never looked back. I did experiment a bit with standing a bit higher, and ended up standing about 1.5" higher on some 2 x 12's stuck together side by side. I have a different wheel now, a Pacifica, and I bought the leg extensions, so can change the height if needed, I am okay standing most of the day at this point, but I do not throw pots all day and am moving around quite a bit doing other things as well.

I have a plywood floor--inch thick tongue and groove. my studio is an add on to an existing building, and we put some cement pillars in the ground and then built a 2 x 10 framework on top of those and then 2 x 6's (maybe 2 x 8's) and the plywood on top of that. It was a little chilly right at first last winter, but we realized we needed to close off the opening around the pillars and once we did that, it has been quite toasty. this is Texas after all, so it is not going to ever be frigid, unless we have another 2 week ice storm and the power goes off for 9 days. It has been comfortable to stand on, and i do have a foam mat at the stand up wheel. I like to think that I am keeping my 72 year old arms in some sort of shape with the wedging!!

thank you! found some at Baileys.

ok, Ravenscraft slip. Where do I get that?

Hi Callie: No apology necessary! While I have often done line blends with different glazes, I have not really studied what the individual glaze components do (or not do), so I will just need to study the suggestions slowly and methodically. My husband and I often joke about the fact that he is the logical one, and I tend to think more laterally (sideways). We often reach the same conclusions, but come at things from 2 different directions, and I think I am that way with glazing too. Will holler if I have questions! Thank you, Sandra (aka Grackle)

Thank you all! Roberta, Min and Calle: I can see I have a LOT of testing and trying different things to do!! Will be working my way thru all of this (albeit slowly). I have yet to understand completely all that you have suggested, especially in terms of additions and subtractions. One thing at a time, I think!! Grackle (Sandra)

Thanks, Roberta: I would love to have the recipe. I always test any new glaze on my various clay first. I got several of the recipes I used in college (many years ago) from the pottery dept there, but for some reason, they no longer had the white. The college used the same clay I am using now, so it seemed logical. I read something about those dark iron rich clays needing more oxygen in the bisque fire to burn off more carbon and prevent bloating. I have a downdraft kiln which supposedly has enough oxygen, but do not know how to introduce more except by leaving peepholes open?.

The Cinco Roja is a medium red brown, and the Cinco Blanco is white, but not as white as the Nara. I have been messing with a very dark, almost black brown clay, but have recently decided the minuses of using it outweigh the positives. It tends to bubble when fired, and it stains everything it touches. photo of the bubbling below

Thanks, guys--have been away from the computer. I am looking for a satin white, that will work on either my Cinco Roja clay or my Cinco Blanco clay from Armadillo Clay in austin, TX. I also work with the Nara Porcelain from Aardvark (I think). All cone 6 clays, but to be honest, I fire to Cone 5 because I have determined my L and L kiln fires a bit hot., based on repeated cone results. I like to use stains with the white glaze.

hmmmm...since this is just a sample, i am inclined to try a different white. not sure why it seems so hard to find good whites???

did not finish EPK 7 Bentonite 2 Glaze ingredients immediately settled into a rock, and no amount of stirring helped,, it just did the same thing!! The ferro frit was 3110, a frit i have never used before, and wonder if that had something to do with it. HOping someone can help.

HI all: I mixed a new glaze sample today. Have been looking for a good cone 5-6 white, and found this one on Glazy. Silica 31 Fer Frit 30 Custer feldspar 28 Whiting 14 EPK

Am guessing that most of you are selling your ware? I sell a bit, but only the best, and there is always some non-best. Still working out the glazes at this point--what can go over what, etc and not drip too much or even vacate the top of the cup altogether, eeek. My husband put a sanding disc on a piece of wood, and i use that to smooth the bottoms of cups and bowls. not perfect, but then I am not trying to make it all perfect. I make some incense holders shaped like leaves for my sis in laws shop, and sometimes, the hole for the incense fills with glaze despite my best efforts, but we have a diamond drill bit that fixes that. Same with the little mushroom incense holders. Bowls don't seem to sell well, but the various coffee and tea cups do. I am retired, so this is just a hobby. Most of what I make goes to friends and family. They are not too picky.

also quite taken with the idea of small streaks of light and dark.

in college, when i was learning ceramics, they had an old big cement mixer out back, and all the scraps and clay water went in there. we used two clays, a white and a red from Armadillo Clay, both cone 6. The instructor would add dry clay when we ran the mixer, and I do not remember a pug mill (i think we just hand wedged). i remember looking into the mixer one day, and it was full of mosquito larvae--this is Texas after all! So, okay, since I am a bit lazy and retired, just doing this for fun and family mostly, i now think I will try to keep things separate, but not get obsessive about it!!

Thanks, Hulk. I am beginning to suspect you are right. Fortunately, since my production is small, I can probably just use the Mixed reclaim for small handbuilt projects, and just start over with keeping the various clays separate.