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Hi folks, once again it seems the pool of questions is dried up with nothing new offered. Again, I will try to offer a question of interest: How do you prefer to organize your tools for your work areas? I have several work set ups, that I use in the studio. My wedging table does multiple duty and has a few plastic trays that are attached to the front for tools, like the wire cutters and a putty knife for scraping. I also have a shelf underneath that the banding wheel and scale store on. I have a flip down cover that fits tightly over the original surface that is made of plywood to wedge the white clay on, the darker clays on the original concrete surface. I also have two containers stored underneath of magic water. . . one lighter, one darker. I also have a tray near the wall where the table is attached with a brush, and round dowel like rib, and tooth brushes for joining handles and pieces to pots. For throwing, I have a CXC with a stand up square wooden trimming guard that stands in front of the wheel on end. This allows me to set a kitchen wire basket with partitions to hold numerous ribs, stamps and other tools. I also keep a bucket on the wheel tray, and a few most often used tools. When I start trimming, I remove the top kitchen basket, and remove the CXC splash guard to slide the trimming tray in place. On the right of the trimming tray is a magnetic strip where I hand may trimming tools not in use. I also have cabinet next to the wheel with several drawers I can open and retrieve tools or stamping materials as needed. There are many of you out there producing many more pots than I, and have excellent organization skills to set up your work areas. . pass these ideas along! So I will ask once again. . . How do you prefer to organize your tools for your work areas? best, Pres

Hi folks, Today I was working on the Wedding Jar that I had made for a nephew, and was trying to accent their lettering for names and dates. I had stamped these in, but it was not quite clear so I cleaned them up and added a stain over top thinking to do a little mishima to bring the letters up. However, due to the curved surface I lost some of the letter forms. What to do. I used a small brush after engraving the missing areas to flow the glaze in, and that worked. At the same time I decided to use the brush with a white engobe to accent the flowers of the mountain laurel I had stamped into the form. My tip for the day though is much simpler. I had problems with getting the right amount of slip or stain on to the fine bristled brush. I tried a lot of different techniques and then tried to dip a sponge brush into the container of slip or stain and lay it over the top of the container loading the brush up from that. It worked perfectly with just the right amount of stain or slip to work into the brush and keep the fine work when painting on the pot. I was an art teacher, working with a lot of media, especially watercolor, acrylic, and inks. This technique I had never heard of, but it would work well with almost any media to keep from overloading a brush. So. . .. do any of you have some technique that would work well with the use of stains, underglazes, glazes, even if brushing, spraying, or other technique? Post it here, it would be great to hear from you. best, Pres

I usually have a commercial sponge pad that I used with wooden bats on the wheel when throwing large bowls and plates. Lately I have been at a loss as I could not find it in the studio. Last week I was throwing plates(patens) for communion sets and was looking again for my sponge pad. Could not find it so I decided to try something new. I put a piece of plastic from a clay bag cut to a square on the wheel with the bat pins under it, placed a bat over top, and used a knife to cut the excess off. After removing the bat, I dipped the plastic into the water bucket, smoothed it back on the wheel head and replaced the bat and threw the plate. It worked just great, and the same piece now has been used for 10 plates. Still will get much use out of it. Do you have a recent studio trick, or an older one that others may find of use? best, Pres