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I recently bought a second hand Brent SR-14 slab roller. It came without any shims. This might be a silly question, but I haven't used a slab roller requiring shims before... I usually roll my slabs to 1/4" thickness. Would I need to purchase the 1/4" shim or the 1/8" shim to get a slab thickness of 1/4"? Thanks in advance for any knowledge!

Nancy Gardner - HANDBUILDING AND SURFACE DECORATION - August 9-13, 2019 - $566.00 $566.00 Workshop Description: This workshop will cover all handbuilding techniques, including pinch, coil and slab. Students will work intuitively with the clay to express their own ideas and identity. Many surface decoration techniques will be shown in order to develop each students individual vision. ALL LEVELS Session runs August 9 - 13, 2019 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. daily, open studio hours on select days. Fee includes tuition + materials fee + studio fee. Students may be asked to bring some additional items. Materials include 2 firings, 25 lbs of clay and necessary undgerglazes. Additional clay will be available for purchase. REGISTER HERE Artist Bio: Nancy Gardner has been an artist and educator for over 40 years. She holds a BFA and an MFA in Ceramics. She and her husband Burt Isenstein have been operating Nancy Gardner Ceramics since 1989, showing in art fairs and galleries. nancygardnerceramics.com

John Donovan - Jul 12-16, 2019 - FIGURATIVE MYTH(OLOGY) - $606.50 $606.50 Workshop Description: Figurative Myth(ology) will be an exploration of hand-building techniques in clay with the intent of creating abstracted or fragmented figurative forms imbued with personal narrative content. Bring your sketchbook and favorite marking-stick, as drawing will be used as a tool for idea generation and later for planning and problem solving. The core concepts at play will be combining slab and coil building processes and working on multiple forms simultaneously to gain and maintain creative inertia. A working knowledge of basic/introductory building techniques (wedging, coil & slab building, pinch and modeling of clay) is required, but advanced clay experience is not. REGISTER HERE ALL LEVELS. INTRODUCTORY HAND BUILDING SKILLS ARE HANDY. Session runs July 12-16, 2019 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. daily, open studio hours on select days. Fee includes tuition + materials fee + studio fee. Students may be asked to bring some additional items. Materials include 50 lbs. of clay and 2 firings. Additional clay will be available for purchase. Artist Bio: John Donovan is a Nashville-based ceramic artist striving to maintain an active exhibition, academic and studio production career. John earned his BFA from Loyola University, New Orleans, in 1994 and MA & MFA degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas in 1996 & 1997, and presently teaches ceramics and 3-D design at Belmont University. John is represented by LeMieux Galleries in New Orleans and Zeitgeist Art Gallery in Nashville, with work regularly appearing in nationally and internationally juried and invitational shows. Noteworthy exhibits include the 2005 World Ceramic Biennale International Competition (3rd edition) in Icheon, South Korea, the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2008, and a major “mid-career” solo exhibition at the Huntsville Museum of Art in 2013. John received the 2011-12 Individual Artist Fellowship in Craft Media from the Tennessee Arts Commission. In 2016 John branched out from his sculptural career and established Tenure Ceramics LLC, focusing on the design and production of custom ceramic tableware for both restaurant and home. www.tenureceramics.com

I need to find the best All-In-One clay for cone 5, great for both hand building and wheel throwing I know. That's a tall order. But I can dream. I have a pug mill and don't want 2 bodies. Problem: I have too many problems with my gas kiln for cone 06 anymore. I'm DONE. I am moving to cone 5. Criteria / Factors: I'm in Southern California I teach 180 high school students grades 9-12, all levels of art skills, so it has to take punishment Not too sandy on the wheel, not too smooth or squishy for hand building Not too dense so it is so top-heavy when trimming I'm willing to pug the new clay to soften it for throwing, if it is stiff and great for hand building, or visa versa Doesn't stain clothes or the tables, rolling pins, or make a mess everywhere Is not pure white (students can't see where they missed glazing spots when using light color glazes - painting) Good leather hard, doesn't soften up too easily when re-wetting to score things together Doesn't take every indentation to the surface of pieces, temperamentalD Centers on the wheel fairly easily, especially for teen girls with tiny hands Can take a good amount of water from beginners Pulling walls, it is strong, doesn't warp or sag easily Won't dry out too quickly in hands while hand building Doesn't bend or warp easily when removing from the wheel Not so soft that it caves when cutting and sliding off the wheel Doesn't make teens hate the class because it stains clothes or gets everywhere and of course, takes glazes well and can handle a little fluctuation in gas environments Cone 5 clays I've Tried: Laguna - Dover White: Nice clay, but pure white. easy to center, but A little soft when hand building Laguna - Plain (Buff): Nice light tan color, easy center and to rehydrate if repairing, but a bit too squishy and shows every dent Laguna - Moroccan Sand: I love this clay, doesn't leave residue - color, but a bit dense to center. It is really dark grayish brown, if they only could lighten it Laguna - Buff with Sand: Nice tan color, but WAY too sandy for students on the wheel Laguna - Greystone: Too dense and top heavy for small pieces, hard to center, but really takes a beating with water, warps when thin due to density of surrounding clay Laguna - Speckled Buff: A bit dark in color, has iron so it gets read everywhere, could stain (think girls with pure white vans) Laguna - LB-6: hmmm, can't remember, but nixed it very soon after Laguna - Sante Fe: OMG - red EVERYWHERE, like a crime scene Aardvark Clay - SBF - Too dark tan - a bit sticky for students Aardvark Clay -Arctic White: Too white Opinions???? Go!!!

The next series of online classes are posted on TeachinArt Instructors to look for is Marcia Selsor that is pushing forward with discovery in Alternative Firing. David Voorhees is giving tips about successful throwing of porcelain. Connie Christensen makes a tea set; tray and all and later this year we will add her shino expertise to this school. Nan Rothwell is the latest addition and we are very excited to add her stoneware throwing class. Antoinette Badenhorst added 4 classes in porcelain from Understanding porcelain to making projects in hand building to wheel throwing. Her pinching teapots for the complete beginner is very popular and the pinching porcelain teapots will be available late fall to early winter. An introduction to understanding glazes will also follow later this year. Instructors to look forward to is Paul Lewing, Curtis Benzle and Marie Gibbons. Each one bringing their specialty to TeachinArt.

Hi everyone, Can you help please? Since my spine has decided to work against me! I've had to forgo the wheel and have spent about three weeks slabbing platters for Christmas presents These were done in porcelain with inlay. The problem was the warpage. They were dried fairly slowly under plastic considering time constraints. I live in a hot country and do not have a storage room, I work outside, so they were still affected by the heat. I've had this problem before, at home and at the studio I visit on a weekly basis. They also do not have a wet room as such, pieces are wrapped and since the owner does not fire until there are enough pieces to fill the kiln the drying time is much longer, yet all my work, and I must say most of the other student's have the same problem. By the way this happens with the stoneware pieces also. How can I avoid this in future? I want to make a set of dinner plates as a house warming gift for my daughter Many thanks Andrea

Our online School of art is growing! Marcia Selsor's class is open for registration and is filling up nicely. David Voorhees's class on wheel thrown porcelain is open for the second time, while porcelainbyAntoinette is running 3 classes, one a complete beginners class on pinching teapots ( Pinching porcelain teapots will be added to this class in future) Details are available here: http://teachinart.com/frequent-asked-questions.html You can also get a sense of what this is all about here: http://teachinart.com/preview-e-courses.html

Hello! I'm new to the community, and I've been trying to find information throughout the other threads, but haven't had too much luck... I've been working with Sculpey polymer clays and glazes to make little charms and figurines, but have been wanting to move on to heavier clays and their beautiful glazes.I particularly love the look of porcelain, but I am a complete newbie, and don't know where to begin. I live in Seattle, so I am hoping to check out Seattle Potter Supply sometime this week, but I'd love to have an idea of what to get before I go. Mostly, I will probably stick to making charms, ring holders, and bracelets at first, but I've always loved the idea of making my own dinnerware. I will be hand building everything, and most of the charms I make are fairly tiny (1" or smaller). The ring holders and bracelets would obviously be bigger, but probably nothing over 4", and everything should be less than 1/2" in thickness. I am wondering if there is any clay I should start with that could achieve a look similar to porcelain, or if I should try to jump into porcelain first. I am aware polymer clay has incredibly different properties, and that porcelain is notorious for being difficult to work with (cracking, shrinkage, slumping, etc). I am hoping that since the pieces I'd be making will be small and not too complex in form (I am fairly quick at forming them now), that it shouldn't pose too much of a problem. Grolleg, Kutani, Dove, Awaji, and Crystal White Porcelains were some of the ones I was looking at that had descriptions that seemed to match my needs. But I also saw Alpine White, which is a stoneware, and wondered if that also might be what I am looking for. I an image (the unicorn) of what I'd hope my work will eventually similarly translate to in ceramics. Thank you!

Hi Everyone, I would like to inform you of future workshops that I will present . The workshop in Sunnyvale California is postponed until October. I will confirm the exact date later. The Arvada Ceramic Arts guild host a compact hand-son workshop on August 8-9 On Sunday night the Castle Clay group will host a slide presentation a slideshow presentation, describing my background, inspirations, motivations etc. including past and current work as well as a discussion of influences from my upbringing in South Africa. We will follow that up talking specifically about the business side of art; how to get into shows, exhibits and galleries; relationships with gallery owners, photography and presentation to get into the same, developing a body of work, marketing, etc. In September 2015 I will do another hands-on workshop at the John C Campbell Folk School. The next online workshops are available for registration again. This time we are opening "Wheel thrown Porcelain Dinnerware" and "Hand building Porcelain" Both classes will run from July 27 until September 3rd, with further viewing of material until October 2nd. In 2016 I will travel to Europe to present workshops there. Details TBA. Information about these workshops are available on www.porcelainbyAntoinette.com