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As a new teacher in a community education setting I have a question that I have not seen in the Forum. One of my students may be pregnant. I have looked in books on health and safety by Monona Rossol, Michael McCann, and Angela Babin. None are specific to clay, pottery and glazing. Other than the basic precautions all of us should be using (wet mopping, dust mask, frequent breaks for back), are there things/chemicals that we should be concerned about? I'm mostly thinking glazing, are there chemicals she should avoid, or will using gloves and good housekeeping be enough? Thanks for your input. Nancy Johnson

Have small quantities of chemicals I inherited and need glaze recipes for cone 6. These are the chemicals: red iron oxide, rutile frit, manganese carbonate, copper carbonate, cobalt carbonate, nickel carbonate, borax, feldspar custer, zinc oxide, bone ash, chrome oxide, albany slip and barnard blackbird slip. What main ingredients are missing to make glazes? Where can I find recipes to make best use of these chemicals?

You always hear about how deadly Barium Carbonate is, and that it is used in rat poison. Say a person;[hypothetically speaking], had mice in their cottage. The mice were snacking away on the store bought poison.Could a person lay down some barium? How much? I have also heard it used for ants, 50/50 with sugar. [Called Ant Rid.] TJR. Anyone try this?

Thought I'd share a success story here with my Terra Sigillata recipe. Everything I've ever read says that you need sodium silicate or sodium carbonate but it seems that Tetrasodium EDTA - aka Jet-Dry works as well. 3 parts Clay 1 part water 2 teastpoons Jet-Dry I used a small bottle to mix up a test batch as I wasnt sure that it would work at all. Previous attempts at using Calgon were unsuccessful as I read that the old recipe containing phosphates was changed. So, if you dont have sodium silicate or sodium phosphate handy you can give this a try and see if it works for you. Full post here - https://dreamsofearth.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/terra-sigillata/

Hi So I just got John Britts mid fire glaze book. Boy is it beautiful! So of course I am not empowered yet, some intimidated , which I should be. My question to you is: how do you deal with the toxic chemicals ? I did a search and I got a hit on magnesium oxide , I believe, and the consensus was that no one bothered with it. If you do bother with it , what precautions do you take. I am assuming on the very toxic, full ventilator, gloves,safety glasses, clothing washed separately. But the fumes! Does everyone have an out door kiln , everyone vented? My kiln is tiny, should I be saving up to vent?My kiln is in a shed , with double doors that open up . I figure I can open up the doors , blow a fan towards the kiln. Mr Britt talks of fumes being in several loads afterwards. He also talks of not not actually knowing how toxic combining , or firing or combining and firing can be because of no tests having been done. Then there is the dust that should be mopped not swept. Should nothing else be in my shed? What do you keep the toxic stuff in ? And where do you get it? Is there a book that is better on this stuff? A Google gave me a gaggle of books! Or is one just as good as another? I am paranoid, I am very leery of chemicals. I just have to know what to do. I probsbly won't dive into a bunch of toxic stuff unless I see a real need, but the dry chemicals are all a hazard by virtue of being dry and inhalable ,eye irritant etc. It would reassure me to know what you do. Jolie

I have several large bags of glaze chemicals that for various unexpected and unknown reasons, have lost their labels. After narrowing down the possibilities by visual examination, can anyone suggest how I might determine more definitely what they are?