[TypicalGirl]

I spent the last couple weeks spiffing up my work area. Used Christmas cash to buy some new shelves for the studio and some big glass jars to store glazes in. That was a great time to give the studio a good cleaning and start the year fresh. I was given a storied old home made kick wheel a few weeks ago, so that's been added to the studio - its nice to have a dedicated trimming station and a wheel for nieces and whatnot to play at. The glaze area got a new, double-tub sink and sprayer and now has hot *and* cold water (great, since its outdoors) and that means the driveway - er kiln yard - now has a sink for raku and other purposes. Woo hoo!

I got my first check from the gallery up the mountain, and right away bough a new Slab Mat and some pokey things. Oh! And my local clay supplier gave me 100 pounds of porcelain in exchange for replacing the keyboard on their laptop!
I'm getting ready to load the new downdraft kiln for its 4th firing. The first was OK, the second was way over-fired and not surprisingly the 3rd was very under-fired. Wonder what this load will bring.
The firing after this one is going to be all shino glazes I think.

So, yesterday was spent throwing dog bowls and tea bowls.
 426726_3100090707105_1409288159_3166164_1561761337_n.jpg (75K)
Number of downloads: 57
I've also been doing some hand building for raku pieces - the local Ace Hardware gave me a piece of embossed wallpaper and I've been playing with that.
 400419_3030646771050_1409288159_3143511_108864489_n.jpg (64.98K)
Number of downloads: 58


Today, a little more throwing and then I have a whole lot of glazing to do!

[Vivienne]

Hi I just joined a couple minutes ago.

I was involved in pottery back in the mid 90's, then moved, then had c-tunnel surgery. Now after too long I am getting back into my basement studio.

I have all the toys a potter would want plus a used extruder coming next week. There are about 2100 LBS of clay in my basement and most of it needs to be soaked and put through my pugmill. A task that has me cringing and putting it off.

The basement is around 58 degrees F, so late spring and summer is my time to be in the wet mud.

Hope I still got it in me, pretty worried about it all.

I am so glad to have found this forum

[lynny]

love the jug design Teardrop! very cool

[Idaho Potter]

I've taken the plunge and my daughter has designed a website for me. I've finally posted pictures on my profile page--if I did it right. This aspect is all very new to me and I'm nervous as all get out. Have some patience with me, as a lot of the photos on my website should be labeled Archival. Not being the greatest photographer, it may be awhile before the new ones get posted. Don't know why I'm nervous, you have all been receptive to my postings, and I feel like some of you have become friends--long distance as we may be. Right now I feel like I've stripped down to my skivvies on Main St.

[Pres]

teardrop, on 06 January 2012 - 10:17 AM, said:

Preface: Studio = kitchen table

Still playing with making slab pitchers here. I am trying out/creating different styles of handles in an attempt to not only see how many variances i can come up with on the same basic theme...but also which seem to feel the best in most people's hand (hard for me to discern cus I have big hands). I'm also looking at placement and how different handles affect balance. (alot of the testing/decisions will have to wait until they are bisque fired and I can pick them up by the handle).

I am calling this ongoing series of pitchers "the Tee towel series" because the texture on the side is merely a nice and bumpy tee towel pressed into the surface. As I go along I plan to add designs/themes as needed. Other than those items, I am also interested in:

Getting familiar with the construction
Proportioning of the handle/bib/body
Discerning how thick I want to make the walls and finding a balance between strength and weight
Figuring out how long each peice takes to make
Figuring out how much clay is in each peice/etc.
Visualisualizing how the glazes will look and what colors I want to migrate to for a "water pitcher" that will more than likely live in someone's kitchen.
Deciding upon a balance (if I can sell these at all..LOL) between time/supplies and eventual sales prices...when i get THAT far. For awhile I'm gonna be targeting charities and non-profs who hold 'silent auctions" or other fiundraisers and will probably give away more than i ever sell...but we shall see where it goes.

hope ya get yer kiln goin, buckeye.

teardrop

Teardrop, I noticed that some of your handles are pretty squared at the edges and will have a tendency to be sharper there. When at the HS a lot of the kids liked using slab handles on their pots so I taught them to roll out a thicker slab, decorate it somewhat by incising, stamping etc-then tossing it diagonally onto table along its length-stretching the handle, and the decoration and softening all of the edges. Only toss on the underside down so that the top where decorated does not lose decoration. Try it a few times you might like this technique.

[Heidi]

TypicalGirl, on 27 January 2012 - 12:26 PM, said:

I spent the last couple weeks spiffing up my work area. Used Christmas cash to buy some new shelves for the studio and some big glass jars to store glazes in. That was a great time to give the studio a good cleaning and start the year fresh. I was given a storied old home made kick wheel a few weeks ago, so that's been added to the studio - its nice to have a dedicated trimming station and a wheel for nieces and whatnot to play at. The glaze area got a new, double-tub sink and sprayer and now has hot *and* cold water (great, since its outdoors) and that means the driveway - er kiln yard - now has a sink for raku and other purposes. Woo hoo!

I got my first check from the gallery up the mountain, and right away bough a new Slab Mat and some pokey things. Oh! And my local clay supplier gave me 100 pounds of porcelain in exchange for replacing the keyboard on their laptop!
I'm getting ready to load the new downdraft kiln for its 4th firing. The first was OK, the second was way over-fired and not surprisingly the 3rd was very under-fired. Wonder what this load will bring.
The firing after this one is going to be all shino glazes I think.

So, yesterday was spent throwing dog bowls and tea bowls.
426726_3100090707105_1409288159_3166164_1561761337_n.jpg
I've also been doing some hand building for raku pieces - the local Ace Hardware gave me a piece of embossed wallpaper and I've been playing with that.
400419_3030646771050_1409288159_3143511_108864489_n.jpg


Today, a little more throwing and then I have a whole lot of glazing to do!

Handbuilding piece is just awesome!

[Diana Ferreira]

This year started of rough and busy. I made a whole new series of molds on the wheel, fired the first set of nesting bowls and discovered that the clay slumped, removing the floating effect I wanted to create. so back to the plaster and wheel. I created some supports, and since then have been casting away. At the same time our studio got a lot of orders, and i got a potential order for 80 teapots. so back to the wheel and more plaster work. This will be the first multi-part mold tgat I will build myself 100%. Quite scary :-)
But today I am in bed - a nagging lower back pain got me waddling like a woman about to give birth. And this morning it took me over an hour to get out of bed. I am back in bed with some pain relief, , some soothing classical music and the PC for the rest of the day.
nesting bowls
 nesting bowl set, unglazed 2.JPG (23.6K)
Number of downloads: 23
 nesting bowl set, unglazed outside 1.JPG (47.66K)
Number of downloads: 37

moldmaking setup - before clean up!
 moldmaking1.jpg (63.86K)
Number of downloads: 34

[teardrop]

Sorry to hear yer down in the back, diana. I'm one of those fortunate folks as well. Is there such a thing as a pain-free day? Not in my World. However, after 15 years of this fun, I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself if I wasn't in pain.

it sure lets ya know yer here...

Thanks for the suggeston on the handles, pres. I had virtually no experience when I started making these....so it was definitely trial and error. Some of the slab handles cracked in the interim between making them and trying to put em on...some cracked after being put on the pitcher a few days later. (about 1/2 the "Looped" type strap handles cracked) Once I stopped looping them I had better luck....though I will still make looped ones cus i like the looks of them. All-in-all it's been fun trying to figure it all out.

They >are< fairly large. I have big hands so they are perfect for me....but we will see if the ladies balk or fall in line. I tried a few rope-like handles/round handles but they just didn't look right to me and in the end, I like the way the slab-type handle looks much better.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

These are the last few I've made. Still playing with handles and also tossin on some adornments to see if they fall off later. LOL. The elctrician is coming today to scope the new 240 hookup and I'm gonna pulll the handle on a new L & L...so hopefully somebody will like what I'm doin or the garage is gonna get WAYYYY full WAYYY fast and I may have to switch my game and open a juice bar.... LOL.

somebody stop me.... heehhee

Attached File(s)

•  pitchers 026 Large e-mail view.jpg (163.63K)
  Number of downloads: 32
•  pitchers 025 Large e-mail view.jpg (157.03K)
  Number of downloads: 36
•  pitchers 024 Large e-mail view.jpg (162.08K)
  Number of downloads: 31
•  pitchers 023 Large e-mail view.jpg (150.65K)
  Number of downloads: 23

[Pres]

teardrop, on 06 February 2012 - 08:17 AM, said:

Sorry to hear yer down in the back, diana. I'm one of those fortunate folks as well. Is there such a thing as a pain-free day? Not in my World. However, after 15 years of this fun, I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself if I wasn't in pain.

it sure lets ya know yer here...

Thanks for the suggeston on the handles, pres. I had virtually no experience when I started making these....so it was definitely trial and error. Some of the slab handles cracked in the interim between making them and trying to put em on...some cracked after being put on the pitcher a few days later. (about 1/2 the "Looped" type strap handles cracked) Once I stopped looping them I had better luck....though I will still make looped ones cus i like the looks of them. All-in-all it's been fun trying to figure it all out.

They >are< fairly large. I have big hands so they are perfect for me....but we will see if the ladies balk or fall in line. I tried a few rope-like handles/round handles but they just didn't look right to me and in the end, I like the way the slab-type handle looks much better.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

These are the last few I've made. Still playing with handles and also tossin on some adornments to see if they fall off later. LOL. The elctrician is coming today to scope the new 240 hookup and I'm gonna pulll the handle on a new L & L...so hopefully somebody will like what I'm doin or the garage is gonna get WAYYYY full WAYYY fast and I may have to switch my game and open a juice bar.... LOL.

somebody stop me.... heehhee

No problem with the aesthetic of the wider handles, just the technique. In this last bunch I am seeing more attention to the edges that can be uncomfortable. Some times when I did a wider slab handle I would shape the join at the top like a curve with the low side at bottom. This does two things-more comfortable, and the curve worked through the handle strengthens the handle.

[buckeye]

Mark C - Really sorry to hear that you will be down for 3-4 months and sad that your missing a show you have done for 20 years. I hope you have a quick recovery!

Idaho potter - No reason to be nervous! post away, this site and the people are great.. congratulations on the new website!

Diana Ferreira - WOW those bowls are awesome! really sorry to hear about your back, hope it is better now

Vivienne - Welcome to the forum, we are glad you found the forum as well



My update: Finally got my electric back up and everything fixed. My one friend who helped me he needed help the next weekend and dont know how I did it but my shoulder has been a mess, I havent been doing much throwing, hurts to much but throwing some smaller stuff, slowly. I have been doing a lot of firing though and its working out great. I am not making glazes yet but I did order dry glaze from Glazemixer, ordered two and they turned out great.. having a lot of fun.

I am really big into metal detecting and have been getting out a lot since the weather is nice here in Ohio, I am left handed and its my left shoulder that is messed up so I am swinging mostly right handed but still finding some good stuff, 1926 Mercury dime yesterday and last week I found an 1817 penny and some cool relics at very old home sites.

[Diana Ferreira]

Thank you Teardorp and Buckeye.
I slept most of the day, which was such a pity as it was a really beatiful day. But my back definately feels better. My brother, who also get the same aches and pains suggested that I should get a 'kidney' type of belt that I can wear when lifting heavy stuff. We are in the midst of another heatwave. I am ready to go back to the studio tomorrow, though.

[teardrop]

It won't be a big deal to a lot of folks here with 30K and up invested in their studio.....but work here continues on (borrowed term from someone else here) the "garagio" project...

Saturday I got tired of waiting on the electrician to call back and took matters into my own hands and ran a 240v- 60 amp cuircuit/sub panel/outlet from one side of the garagio to the other....where the kiln is gonna sit.

Gonna order the kiln today. Just waiting on some numbers. I have 5K en total to set this up....the kiln purchase obviously taking up a huge chunk of that number.

But I know all too well from the past year's events...you only live once. In the end.....the future is now.

Second large® purchase....a slab roller. Lookin at the comments here in the archives (Thanks, all) I think I'm gonna go with a Bailey.

From there it's glaze. I wanna mix my own eventually...at least a few colors....but for now I am going to pick/choose some commercial glazes and see what combos I can come up with. Maye I'll feel differently about it when I get into it..but the thought of making a bunch of test tiles and seeing the results has me salivating big-time.

Also trying to grab some quality tools....the post here on banding wheels has me NOT skimping.... and talk of particulates has me clicking on "Buy" for a respirator/filters/etc.... Some things i can do without....others..nope.

Gotta make a road trip for clay. just can't get behind those shipping charges! Wow.

As far as "work" (now known as Klunkery here)...... still tryin different shapes/forms/construction. (and always will) I have 25+ pitchers in greenware so it will be fun to see if i've made anything that will survive the bisque firing or will pour water without dripping all over once bisqued...LOL.

Live and learn! (especially in self-taught/youtube mode) Gotta love dat mud!

I'm thinking this shape could be for tea or coffee. Much like expermenting with handles...it looks like some lids may make their way into the picture as well in the future. My wife talked me into making this one. (you can see in the pic of both that there's no lid yet)

dunno where i'm goin' or if I'm doing it 'right"....but I'm sure havin' fun tryin' to figure it out. (and realize i will >never< truly figure it all out...thankfully)

coffee, anyone? (OK..let me glaze it first and see if it pours)

teadrop

Attached File(s)

•  pitchers 039 Large e-mail view.jpg (159.59K)
  Number of downloads: 28
•  pitchers 041 Large e-mail view.jpg (139.5K)
  Number of downloads: 32
•  pitchers 043 Large e-mail view.jpg (144.7K)
  Number of downloads: 27

[~janie]

Negative reputation!!! NOT! That is terrible! I noticed I had a negative reputation, and have no idea how I got it. I just figure some people don't have enough positive things to do.

I appreciate you very much, Teardrop.

Marcia, are you teaching a workshop this weekend, or attending one? I wish you would teach a good workshop, I would certainly travel to Brownsville to attend.

This 'addiction' is perfectly healthy for me.

[teardrop]

Thanks janie.

I snagged a >very< lightly used Skutt 818 for a song this weekend. It isn't nearly as large of a kiln as I had planned on buying but the price and the excellent condition of the unit caused me to change plans on the spot. At least now I am up and running. (I am cooling bisque load #2 right now)

Ordered a Bailey DRDII slab roller....a selection of tools...and a whole slew of glazes as well. Isn't spending money fun? (and easy on a pottery supply website!)

Klunkery, here we come!

[OffCenter]

teardrop, on 06 February 2012 - 08:17 AM, said:

Sorry to hear yer down in the back, diana. I'm one of those fortunate folks as well. Is there such a thing as a pain-free day? Not in my World. However, after 15 years of this fun, I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself if I wasn't in pain.

it sure lets ya know yer here...

Thanks for the suggeston on the handles, pres. I had virtually no experience when I started making these....so it was definitely trial and error. Some of the slab handles cracked in the interim between making them and trying to put em on...some cracked after being put on the pitcher a few days later. (about 1/2 the "Looped" type strap handles cracked) Once I stopped looping them I had better luck....though I will still make looped ones cus i like the looks of them. All-in-all it's been fun trying to figure it all out.

They >are< fairly large. I have big hands so they are perfect for me....but we will see if the ladies balk or fall in line. I tried a few rope-like handles/round handles but they just didn't look right to me and in the end, I like the way the slab-type handle looks much better.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

These are the last few I've made. Still playing with handles and also tossin on some adornments to see if they fall off later. LOL. The elctrician is coming today to scope the new 240 hookup and I'm gonna pulll the handle on a new L & L...so hopefully somebody will like what I'm doin or the garage is gonna get WAYYYY full WAYYY fast and I may have to switch my game and open a juice bar.... LOL.

somebody stop me.... heehhee

I like 'em.

Jim

[teardrop]

Thanks for commenting, Jim. I'm really getting excited to start applying some glazes to 'em!

be well

teardrop

[Kabe]

Teardrop, You were talking about making some wooden forms to stabalize you work while you form it. Another approach you might try, if you can sew, is make a pillow the same shape as the form you want to make. In your case a shape with square corners. ( a round shape is easier to make) Fill the pillow with , vermiculite and pack it in tight. Form the pitcher around it and when it gets leather hard and will self support you vacuume out the vermiculite and pull the bag out of the form. Then you can reuse the bag for the next one. reusing the vermiculite from out of the shop vac. I know that hands are covering mouths in gasps because vermiculit, I think has asbestos in it. Our potters lungs take all sort of abuse as it is so one more sharp dust particule in are lungs is not good. So you would need to use all sorts of safty precautions for your lungs sake. MIght not be worth it. This technique was shown to me a long time ago and I have never seen a up date on a better product to fill the bag with. Vermiculite is light and dosn't absorb water. They add it to soil some time to help roots breath. (Kinda ironic ain't it) If anyone else has used this techeque and has found a better product to fill the bag/pillow with please let us know. I just know that it works really slick and you can make a real tall shape rather easily. Happy firing Kabe

[teardrop]

Thanks for the idea, kabe. I made 3 wooden forms but have yet to give them a try. Once the new slab roller shows up...I'll see if the forms cut time from the build or add to it.

happy pottin'!

teardrop

[wolfie50]

Since my last post, I've enrolled in another pottery class. It's an open studio and therefore isn't meant to be a instructional class. It gives me access to firing, the glazes, slips, etc. and a multitude of tools I haven't yet bought for myself. Luckily my instructor or because this is a non instructional class, my technician is more than willing to answer my endless questions and because I asked... is including me in such things as loading and firing the kiln. THAT has been so helpful....not that I have a kiln of my own to load (as yet!), but it appears to be less scary than I thought. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to help her with slip and glaze mixing, because that is something else that boggles my mind. All in all, I'm sure that this all gets easier to understand but right now my poor head is a mumble jumble of ideas. Not that that's anything new. I'm told I can be "impatient"! Hmmm...well, possibly, but only because I want to learn it all and learn it all now!

So...for now I'm all over the map! Trying new techniques, throwing in different ways, planning things that are really far too advanced for me the newbie potter...though I do like a challenge. I'm hoping I'll find that one thing or maybe two or three that sort of defines my pottery. I worry though that I'll always be like this, and that...should I ever set up a booth at a sale....my stuff will be a hodge podge!

Is this normal for someone just starting out? Any suggestions?

Oh yes!!! and I'm finding that I really love handbuilding. I seem to thrive on the "fussy" stuff. I've posted a pic of one of my "jarheads"! Unfortunately the pic is at the "just been underglazed greenware state, but once fired I plan to wash it all with a watered down black underglaze to "distress" the entire thing and bring out the incised lines, stamping, etc. Not sure if I'll glaze or wax or what yet. I'd appreciate any criticism or suggestions!

Many thanks, Brenda  DSCF1307.JPG (2.36MB)
Number of downloads: 25

[wolfie50]

Since my last post, I've enrolled in another pottery class. It's an open studio and therefore isn't meant to be a instructional class. It gives me access to firing, the glazes, slips, etc. and a multitude of tools I haven't yet bought for myself. Luckily my instructor or because this is a non instructional class, my technician is more than willing to answer my endless questions and because I asked... is including me in such things as loading and firing the kiln. THAT has been so helpful....not that I have a kiln of my own to load (as yet!), but it appears to be less scary than I thought. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to help her with slip and glaze mixing, because that is something else that boggles my mind. All in all, I'm sure that this all gets easier to understand but right now my poor head is a mumble jumble of ideas. Not that that's anything new. I'm told I can be "impatient"! Hmmm...well, possibly, but only because I want to learn it all and learn it all now!

So...for now I'm all over the map! Trying new techniques, throwing in different ways, planning things that are really far too advanced for me the newbie potter...though I do like a challenge. I'm hoping I'll find that one thing or maybe two or three that sort of defines my pottery. I worry though that I'll always be like this, and that...should I ever set up a booth at a sale....my stuff will be a hodge podge!

Is this normal for someone just starting out? Any suggestions?

Oh yes!!! and I'm finding that I really love handbuilding. I seem to thrive on the "fussy" stuff. I've posted a pic of one of my "jarheads"! Unfortunately the pic is at the "just been underglazed greenware state, but once fired I plan to wash it all with a watered down black underglaze to "distress" the entire thing and bring out the incised lines, stamping, etc. Not sure if I'll glaze or wax or what yet. I'd appreciate any criticism or suggestions!

Many thanks, Brenda  DSCF1307.JPG (2.36MB)
Number of downloads: 25