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I have 150 K26 soft bricks that have been drilled through with about a 5/8-inch hole on the broad side of the brick. I want to fill the holes and then reuse these bricks. Does anyone have a recommendation on what type of material/product to use? I have looked online and see that there are fillers intended for repairing small kilns, but these products are packaged in small amounts - too small - and by the time I'd buy it I'd have spent more than I'd be saving by salvaging the bricks I have. The bricks are to be used for a lid for a wood fire train kiln. The first design is failing and has to be rebuilt.

Hello again, another wood firing question for those of you with more experience! I'm going to try a few different clay bodies in an wood firing next month. I'm in Ontario, Can - so I'm going to test a porcelain and Tony Clennell's clay body for sure. I've also seen a lot of work with gorgeous deep purple/brown tones. Are there any clay bodies/slips/kiln placement that I might experiment with to get this color? Thanks, Lindsey

Hello all, I'm participating in my first wood firing, and I have been doing some reading about using flashing slips. Some say they are applied thinly over bisque wear, others seem to apply before the bisque. Anyone have some experience with these methods? Photos would be greatly appreciated as well! I'm also interested in trying to spray some slips. Thanks!

Some people asked me to keep some updates here on out progress. So...... here are a couple of shots of the first two days of the build: Day One Day Two More to come in this thread. Check back every day or so if you are interested. best, .................john

I'm looking for work at a Pottery in the UK...any suggestions please? Here's a link to my pottery page on Face Book for an idea on my pottery skills: https://www.facebook.com/CraftyIdeasPottery Thanks! Anamica.

Jack Troy – Pottery Forms: Intention and Happenstance WS05 – Saturday & Sunday, 10-4pm, November 9 & 10 Fee: $200 member/$225 non-member This 2-day demonstration/discussion workshop includes presentations on Japanese teabowls as well as both contemporary and historic pots to help enlarge our approach to our persoanl work and emphasize the evolution of personal forms — pots with a unique identity. Using the cup as a take-off point, Jack will demonstrate how the cup reflects a concern for functional and aesthetic values, including surface decoration, tactile qualities, inside-outside considerations, spontaneity and control, as well as focusing attention on the cup as a whole: weight, lip, foot, body, handle. Thrown cups will be altered by faceting, carving, paddling, stamping and heavy slip application. His most recent, tactile, sculptural teabowls are altered significantly from thrown components. Jack will demonstrate extending the scale of work, and will apply a variety of altering techniques to thrown forms while addressing how and why some pieces are made specifically to be fired with wood. Pitchers, jars, and bowls of various scales with be thrown and altered, befriending asymmetry. Jack Troy's anecdotal style of information-sharing covers a wide range of topics, including technical and aesthetic issues in ceramics, personal goals, and the dilemma of being a literate potter while knowing that most of the world's best pots were made by people who couldn't read, write, or do glaze calculation. The aim of the workshop will be to meet each other and exchange ideas that help extend our personal knowledge of forming and firing so the choices we make about our work might enliven the clay we use. Participants are asked to bring with them 2 pots “lived with over time†– one made by the individual and one by someone else – to illustrate two types of “meaning†with regard to how a piece convey’s significance to us. 2013 is Jack Troy’s 51tst year of making pots. During the past year he fired 11 different kilns, including the anagama at Golden Bridge Pottery, in Pondicherry, India, in February 2013, where he taught his 230th workshop. Other events include workshops in Washington State, at Fern Hill Pottery, Brush Prairie; and Shoreline Community College, Seattle. In Maine, he held a Residency at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, judged the 2012 Strictly Functional Pottery National exhibition, and received the 2012 Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). His education in ceramics has included trips to 26 countries. Having published over 80 articles in ceramics publications, he also wrote Salt Glazed Ceramics, Woodfired Stoneware and Porcelain, and Calling the Planet Home, [poems]. His work has been exhibited widely, and is in numerous collections, public and private. He has said, “I made my first pot - a wretched little bowl with a pitted glaze - in November, 1962. This simple act changed my life, leading me to believe, 51 years later, that potters may change the world for the better, one handful at a time. “We potters finish our work, but only others can complete it, through use. Pottery, then, is only finished once, but can be completed endlessly, by a succession of users, keeping it active in a variety of settings.†WS05 - Saturday & Sunday, 10-4pm, November 9 & 10 Fee: $200 members; $225 non-members Register on-line or contact Matthew Hyleck at matt.hyleck@baltimoreclayworks.org for more information. Baltimore Clayworks 5707 Smith Avenue Baltimore, MD 21209 www.baltimoreclayworks.org