: voceramics - Viewing Profile

A set of tumblers we've been using for a few years. They're light and strong made from the heaviest grogged clay I have ever used and formed from slabs rolled 1/8th inch thick. My husband has dropped them maybe a dozen times even on tile, they have yet to break.

Lots of fantastic milestones in this thread.


Ian and I finally figured out a major issue last year.

After 4 months of having to destroy kiln load after kiln load of pottery with a hammer because the new glazes we went to kept getting pinholes. Utterly gorgeous colors, beautiful glaze effects, and pinholes. On top of that spending $300-400 per month in power because we tried to solve the problem with extra long holds during kiln firings, controlled cool downs, etc. The answer turned out to be thicker kiln shelves which slowed the cool down enough at the top to allow the pinholes to heal over.

By the time we got that figured out in September, we were utterly burned out. Thank goodness that's all behind us.

Our studio is in a commercial building in a residential area. At the end of the day my husband was talking with our neighbor and looking out the window at a squirrel standing in the middle of the road. Right before their eyes a hawk swoops down and snatches the squirrel in it's talons and flies off with it. Life and death in nature, all viewed from the pottery studio.

My husband built a 10 x 12 foot shelving unit for the studio which must have weighed 300-400 pounds. It was built on the ground and then had to be stood up, with me pulling on a rope laced through a pulley and the husband lifting from the ground. Once I reached the tiled front entry I started losing my footing and sliding back, he managed to power through it.

The articles are very fascinating. Thank you.

After a couple of incidences with crazing and breakage with large flat pieces, we wait till the pieces are cool enough to hold in the hand to unload. Maybe a quick peek with the envirovent turned off below 300 F, otherwise we wait till below 200 F before turning off the envirovent and pulling a peep.