What’s on your workbench?

[Hulk]

Hulk borrow tea steeper id

[Callie Beller Diesel]

@Hulk make sure they’re deep enough. I tried some last year that were more bowl shaped and looked cute, but were too shallow.
 

Don’t do this:

[Hulk]

Aye that!

...thinking short and stout ear/handle that faces up and a bit in, cylinder four inches or so tall, small enough around to fit in 300g cups, will experiment with drainhole sizes and patterns

[Joseph Fireborn]

@Callie Beller Diesel

I just saw this. Love! Perfect color and slip work. Very nice.

[Babs]

On 12/11/2019 at 2:53 AM, GEP said:

Nice jar, @Bill Kielb! Making air-tight storage jars is also on my list of things to figure out.

I hadn't thought about a pivoting handle for the tea steeper. The item is so small, I don't think storage will be an issue. But I have one in my own kitchen that I plan to use a lot. If the need for a pivoting handle makes itself clear, then I will work on it!

Have you a saucer to place infuser on after removed from mug?

Love tea but not the drips etc which results unless used at sink...

[GEP]

1 hour ago, Babs said:

Have you a saucer to place infuser on after removed from mug?

Love tea but not the drips etc which results unless used at sink...

I put mine directly into the sink. But I have lots of small dishes that would work as a saucer if somebody wants one. 

[karenkstudio]

Made a "bead popper" from an empty Chap Stick tube.  Automatically centers the hole in the bead.  

[Chilly]

Finished in time to put the small fibre optic trees into.

[Babs]

On 12/15/2019 at 5:08 AM, karenkstudio said:

Made a "bead popper" from an empty Chap Stick tube.  Automatically centers the hole in the bead.  

Do yoy unscrew it to enpty the bead out?

Excellent

[Denice]

Nothing going on in my shop just got the stitches out of my wrist and hand and it will be four more weeks before I can do much.  What a bummer.    Denice

[liambesaw]

Been making many of these coffee pourovers on commission.  I'm just now starting to get good at them after making 50.  I threw the parts for 10 more on Monday and am still waiting for them to get to leather hard.  Everything slows down this time of year.  If I turn a space heater on to speed things up, they dry too quickly so it's a game of patience.  I can only make 10 at a time because 1) that's as many as fits in my kiln and 2) that's as many as fits on my drying racks.

The customer is launching a website in January so I'm stocking up and making enough for the launch.  They are in Canada and that has been an issue with shipping (unless the new trade agreement is passed soon), but I may end up drop shipping them directly to US buyers, so I might need to up my fee if that's the case.

Here are some recent ones as well as a few glaze tests on them:

[Bill Kielb]

28 minutes ago, liambesaw said:

Been making many of these coffee pourovers on commission.  I'm just now starting to get good at them after making 50.  I threw the parts for 10 more on Monday and am still waiting for them to get to leather hard.  Everything slows down this time of year.  If I turn a space heater on to speed things up, they dry too quickly so it's a game of patience.  I can only make 10 at a time because 1) that's as many as fits in my kiln and 2) that's as many as fits on my drying racks.

The customer is launching a website in January so I'm stocking up and making enough for the launch.  They are in Canada and that has been an issue with shipping (unless the new trade agreement is passed soon), but I may end up drop shipping them directly to US buyers, so I might need to up my fee if that's the case.

Here are some recent ones as well as a few glaze tests on them:

Nice look! I like all of them, maybe more for matte slightly less for high gloss
Any need for warning not to place on direct fire? 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Bill Kielb

[liambesaw]

8 minutes ago, Bill Kielb said:

Nice look! I like all of them, maybe more for matte slightly less for high gloss
Any need for warning not to place on direct fire? 

I let the customer know the standard stuff but he is one of those coffee brewing nerds so he's heard it all before... Prefill with hot tap water, no flame, fine grind, etc etc.

He dropped some off with the people who roast the coffee for his company to get functional feedback from them as well, hope to get some good helpful feedback from world champion coffee brewers, this could be a profitable side business for sure.  The customers company is a luxury coffee subscription type of thing, and these carafes will be part of the onboarding of new subscribers, or something to that effect.  

[karenkstudio]

To make the "bead popper",  

1.   screw the "plunger" completely out of the chap stick cylinder  

2.   Turn the plunger over and force it back into the tube while turning the knob at the bottom. If you line it up with the screw at the center, this  will allow you to draw the "plunger" back down into the tube.

3.   Screw the little plunger back far enough so you see the top of that center screw.   Then  take a sharp xacto knife and cut off the extra part of the tube so the plunger is even with the top part of the screw and the tube.

4.   When using, start by spraying  a little Pam inside the tube with the plunger retracted in the tube, cut the small  beads  from a slab of clay and push the bead out by screwing the plunger to the top of the tube.   

Note:  I smooth the top edge of the bead when it's pushed just beyond the top edge of the tube. The bottom edge is finished when on the straw  (pictured in my original post.)   

When making the larger beads, retract the plunger and stuff clay in the tube making sure you keep the screw centered as you fill the tub with clay.  

 Hope this helps.

[Min]

26 minutes ago, karenkstudio said:

To make the "bead popper",  

1.   screw the "plunger" completely out of the chap stick cylinder  

2.   Turn the plunger over and force it back into the tube while turning the knob at the bottom. If you line it up with the screw at the center, this  will allow you to draw the "plunger" back down into the tube.

3.   Screw the little plunger back far enough so you see the top of that center screw.   Then  take a sharp xacto knife and cut off the extra part of the tube so the plunger is even with the top part of the screw and the tube.

4.   When using, start by spraying  a little Pam inside the tube with the plunger retracted in the tube, cut the small  beads  from a slab of clay and push the bead out by screwing the plunger to the top of the tube.   

Note:  I smooth the top edge of the bead when it's pushed just beyond the top edge of the tube. The bottom edge is finished when on the straw  (pictured in my original post.)   

When making the larger beads, retract the plunger and stuff clay in the tube making sure you keep the screw centered as you fill the tub with clay.  

 Hope this helps.

Thanks for sharing this Karen! 

I was thinking that it would be easy to adapt syringes to make other sizes too.

[karenkstudio]

Min, Let me know how the syringes work. I don't have any to experiment with.

I have tried this with glue sticks also but didn't like the line impressions left on every beads because of the way the inside of the glue stick tubes were made.   

2 hours ago, Min said:

 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

@liambesaw You might want to have a conversation about shipping to their American customers regardless of the trade agreement. You'd save him and his customers a TON of shipping. Canada post is $$$, compared to any service you guys are used to.

[liambesaw]

21 minutes ago, Callie Beller Diesel said:

@liambesaw You might want to have a conversation about shipping to their American customers regardless of the trade agreement. You'd save him and his customers a TON of shipping. Canada post is $$$, compared to any service you guys are used to.

It was 45 dollars to ship him two pourovers and two mugs, so not too bad.  But since it's b2b, it adds a significant cost on his side.  I already told him I'm alright with shipping stateside, but I need to figure the cost of shipping supplies into accord. 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

2 hours ago, liambesaw said:

It was 45 dollars to ship him two pourovers and two mugs, so not too bad.  But since it's b2b, it adds a significant cost on his side.  I already told him I'm alright with shipping stateside, but I need to figure the cost of shipping supplies into accord. 

Yeah, but if he’s got to ship it back across the line... costs me $25-30 CAD to send one mug stateside. 

[liambesaw]

11 minutes ago, Callie Beller Diesel said:

Yeah, but if he’s got to ship it back across the line... costs me $25-30 CAD to send one mug stateside. 

Exactly, I could probably ship all of the things since it's probably cheaper for me to send a box to anywhere in Canada than it is for him to ship a box anywhere in Canada.  Surprised y'all ain't got UPS out there yet 

[Min]

@Callie Beller Diesel, do you have Chit Chats in Calgary? I've got a family member who used them to ship books from Vancouver to places in the US. He would drop off the boxes in Burnaby (Vancouver suburb) then Chit Chats took them down across the line and shipped them via USPS. It cost him around $2- per box plus whatever the US shipping was. I don't know if they are still in business or not, this was going back a few months.

From their website:

 

@liambesaw, we do have UPS but it's silly expensive, as is Purolator or Fed Ex and Canada Post. The cross border fees that UPS, Purolator or Fed Ex charge are crazy, they bill whatever the duty is then tack on a huge surcharge. If there isn't any duty they still add a ridiculous surcharge. I NEVER get anything shipped from the US to here in Canada unless its via USPS.

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by Min

[liambesaw]

21 minutes ago, Min said:

@Callie Beller Diesel, do you have Chit Chats in Calgary? I've got a family member who used them to ship books from Vancouver to places in the US. He would drop off the boxes in Burnaby (Vancouver suburb) then Chit Chats took them down across the line and shipped them via USPS. It cost him around $2- per box plus whatever the US shipping was. I don't know if they are still in business or not, this was going back a few months.

From their website:

 

@liambesaw, we do have UPS but it's silly expensive, as is Purolator or Fed Ex and Canada Post. The cross border fees that UPS, Purolator or Fed Ex charge are crazy, they bill whatever the duty is then tack on a huge surcharge. If there isn't any duty they still add a ridiculous surcharge. I NEVER get anything shipped from the US to here in Canada unless its via USPS.

 

That's bizarre, I shipped there with UPS for 1/3rd the price of USPS!  

I think UPS and FedEx are forced to be cheaper in the USA because they have to compete with government subsidized USPS.  In Canada, Canada Post is quite expensive and therefore UPS and FedEx can afford to be expensive as well.

Either way, Congress just passed the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico so you can soon enjoy duty free goods via UPS again.

 

[Min]

23 minutes ago, liambesaw said:

Either way, Congress just passed the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico so you can soon enjoy duty free goods via UPS again.

 

Haha, I wish! Most of the stuff I order in is duty free already, it's the surcharge the private companies charge that is the killer. I had some stuff shipped from Bailey's, most of it came to the drop shipment place I use in Lynden WA except once they had to ship a splashpan separately and they shipped it to my home. The surcharge was more than the splashpan (around $40). Shipments under 20- CA have no duty or taxes added. 

[liambesaw]

2 minutes ago, Min said:

Haha, I wish! Most of the stuff I order in is duty free already, it's the surcharge the private companies charge that is the killer. I had some stuff shipped from Bailey's, most of it came to the drop shipment place I use in Lynden WA except once they had to ship a splashpan separately and they shipped it to my home. The surcharge was more than the splashpan (around $40). Shipments under 20- CA have no duty or taxes added. 

Do you live somewhat close?  My old business partner lived in Vancouver and would drive to the mailbox store in point Roberts to pick up his commercial shipments, and fill up his car with cheap subsidized distilled petroleum for his cars as well.  Either that or he'd drive down to my place and stop by Costco for that cheap government subsidized milk lol.  Amazing how it was cheaper for him to drive an hour  to cross the border and unload a bunch of shipments at the post office than it was for him to sit at home and mail them. Weird system we've got, but it seems that people have worked it out

[Callie Beller Diesel]

That’s basically what Chit Chat’s does: collects Canadian post bound for the US and crosses the border with it to mail it via USPS. There is one in Calgary, but it’s on the opposite end of town. For the 4 things I sent stateside last year, I just went to my usual outlet. If I get too many more than that, I’ll make the drive.