grackle

Oh my goodness.  So many glazes, so little time, so I try to keep the number under control.  Really just 8 that I use on a regular basis--plum (red/purple), Santa Fe Sky-light turquoise, Jade--a green barium glaze that I only use for creatures, no kitchen food items, sage, my current favorite, Mettallic black (awesome),  Floating blue (can be tricky tends to slip when layering), Clear, and slate blue (different on differnt clay)  These are all in 5 gallon buckets.  I like to make plates and the bigger buckets help with that.  Still learning how best to use a brush for glazes.
I have a number of stains, and some underglazes, plus some jars of  commercial glaze that I am still testing.  Also some black and cream with speckles engobe, also still testing.
Being retired makes the slower pace so nice.

Thanks, Rae!  That one is hand built with paper clay.  i made some with toilet paper (dissolved) and I think some nara porcelain.  I saw a video online about making the templates.  I think the top could be a little narrower but we are using it to make coffee and it works!

thank you babs.  that will be done with some of my sample pieces and with others dry.  my husband wanted me to make some new clay clock faces for his clocks, and i will do that with these to see how it all, works!!

thank you,  Neil,  this makes a great deal of sense, and since i only glaze fired these two as a test, i will experiment further with your suggestions.  I am using the amaco underglazes and the coyote underglazes.  i have some nice thin paper clay test pieces that have not been bisque fired, and will do some experimenting with those.  perfect!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 like to say “even potters need a hobby,” and mine is bookbinding! I make hand-bound notebooks, sketchbooks, and journals. I love paper, cloth, adhesives, and sewing. My graphic design training taught me about pages/sheets/signatures, so I get to use my previous career’s knowledge. 

What a delight to hear more about the lives of people I interact with regularly but don’t really know at all.
I’m an art teacher at a public school (22+ years). It’s unusual in that it’s a k-12 school. I have to explore all sorts of creative endeavors just to be good at my job. A few of them drew me in far beyond what I needed to teach the subject.
Clay is where my heart is, I got a BFA and MFA in ceramics before my teacher life. A significant part of “extracurricular” creative activity still revolves around it. I like to make the tools I use and I want them to be as beautiful as my pots. The wood for handles and ribs comes from what I collect and I will use a branch or plank or block I harvested over lumber from the store at every turn.
The students got me into paper making, poor things didn’t know I was going to make them chop apart plants, boil them in alkali, then spend hours beating them to a literal pulp. I’ve made a lot of paper of my own since then. Coptic stitched a few journals too, @GEP. 
A serious creative anomaly happened when I decided it shouldn’t be so hard to distill essential oils from plants. I was wrong, but the process relies on third world technology and I’m pretty fluent in that. A couple years later I had an efficiently working still and system and obtained essential oils from the most interesting plants growing locally.
When I learn about something I get more interested in it. It’s a blessing, and a curse. I’m always up to something.

i've been getting into spoon carving slowly...i also love to camp and spend time in the outdoors.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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?

Glaze the foot ring, and then sit the centre, unlgazed part of the pot on a kiln post to raise it off the shelf.

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 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 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 also use the floor puzzle foam mat,  my pathway is a big rectangular in my studio.   If I have a area that gets extremely dusty and dirty I will pull  them up to clean.   If one particular area starts wearing thin I can easily replace them.  I  had a bedroom in the basement my son used as a hangout,  rowdy boys,  soda and carpet don't mix so I covered it with foam mat.   When we polished the concrete I moved them upstairs to my studio.  Now I have a lifetime supply.  I even stand on one in the kiln room when I am loading the kiln.   I don't leave it there when I am firing.  My husband is working on his wood shop and I found a  big heavy  duty  dense mat on clearance.  I think it will help his sore feet.   Denice

New and former Studios, cement slab flooring.
I'm wearing crepe sole mid-high work boots when it's cold, somewhat supportive flip flops (Sperry Top-Sider) when it's hot, slip-ons with groovy insoles when it's medium.
I work more sitting than standing. I get purple toe (Raynaud's) fairly easily, so keeping the feet happy is important for me. Wool socks, an extra layer at the ankle (cut off the feet part of worn socks, voila! ankle warmers), watch cap (warm head->warm hands and feet, try it), and insulated foot pedal all help.
Yep, the heavy cast alloy foot pedal draws off A LOT of heat! I've taped a layer of bubble wrap to the foot pedal, voila ii! right foot gets much less mad ever since.
I'm having pain in the L 4-5, a bit better yesterday, much better today.
Hope you are feeling better soon Min.