: Ginny C - Viewing Profile

I'm loading a bisque load right now and one large slab-built dish should probably be placed on sand to allow it to slide when expanding and contracting. (Or so I've read somewhere...)
I don't have any sand! Can I substitute a bit of kiln shelf wash, dry? Or will that fly around and cause problems?

I'm hoping for an immediate reply!!

Ginny Clark

Help, please!! I probably used too much Epsom salt solution while trying to fix a newly purchased glaze, and I’d like to know if there’s a way to undo the damage!

Coyote Ice Blue glaze for cone six. When I opened the pint jar the glaze was badly settled and hard, so after digging it out into a bowl it took several splashes (maybe 2 teaspoons?) of the solution to soften itenough to sieve it. It then seemed okay so I brushed it on three nice pots.

My kiln seems to reach cone 7 when I set it for 6, so I setit for cone 5, slow, 5 minute hold. When I opened it, the cone pack showed it had not reached cone 5! And the pots looked awful—rough and not blue or shiny at all. Refired them to cone 6 and they are much better, but still have some underfired areas. (There might be not enough glaze in those areas...)

I decided to brush on more glaze before re-firing them yet again! But when I opened the jar the glaze had solidified into a mass the consistency of soft clay. I assume it’s from too much Epsom salt solution!! Is there anything to be done to make this glaze useable now??

I’m going to contact Coyote, but I wonder if any of you helpful potters out there can advise me!!? One of the pieces is a really lovely yarn bowl that I’m donating in a few days to a silent auction for a good cause. If I can figure out how, I’ll attach a photo.

Ginny Clark

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I cannot find the instructions or link to an article I've seen on cutting a lid after making a closed sphere. I've done this with a single, slightly angled cut, cutting 3 semi-circle arches into the lid so it will be easy to replace it correctly. But I've seen something about a way to do this which causes a gallery or offset in the lid that makes it fit perfectly. I CAN'T FIND THIS BY GOOGLING! And I'm ready to cut and want to do it that way!!! Anyone know what I mean and can send me to the instructions??
Ginny C

I read somewhere that to keep the stilt in the exactly right position on the bottom of a glazed pot while placing it in the kiln you can use glue. Sounds great! But what kind of glue? Will Elmer's type work? Some of my larger handbuilt pieces have warped in the glaze firing because, evidently, I didn't set it down on the stilts just in the right place, due to not being able to see what I was doing!

Electric kiln, wheel thrown AND hand-built from slabs, slightly arthritic hands....I have loved the feel and ease of Laguna B-mix cone 5 clay, but I HATE the fact that my vases leak just enough to leave terrible marks on wood tables! I know I need a lower absorption rate clay.

I'm not stuck on using a white clay—would actually prefer something that looks more like a reduction fired body. And I like the look BUT I don't like the feel of a rough grog, which hurts the sides of my hands when I'm struggling to center!

Given all those parameters, what clay would you people suggest I order now??
Ginny C.