: morah - Viewing Profile

Recently there has been a lot written about leaching and food safety. I was wondering if anyone knows if this also applies to pots made with kid safe/food safe/ non toxic low fire Amaco clay and glazes. When I work with elementary age kids, they often make projects that will be used for food- like honey pots, sushi trays, ice cream bowls etc. As those of you who work with this age group know, kids' projects are far from perfect. They often forget to glaze a spot, a piece breaks off leaving an exposed area, or there is crazing on the surface.They (and their parents) are usually so proud of the result that they will use it for food no matter what deformities it has. What I need to know is if I am poisoning these kids!?! Are there any types of food I should tell them to avoid using in their pots? Are honey or sushi or ice cream particularly problematic? Thanks for your help- it is really reasurring to have a pool of knowledgable people to turn to when I have questions.

Recently there has been a lot written about leaching and food safety. I was wondering if anyone knows if this also applies to pots made with kid safe/food safe/ non toxic low fire Amaco clay and glazes. When I work with elementary age kids, they often make projects that will be used for food- like honey pots, sushi trays, ice cream bowls etc. As those of you who work with this age group know, kids' projects are far from perfect. They often forget to glaze a spot, a piece breaks off leaving an exposed area, or there is crazing on the surface.They (and their parents) are usually so proud of the result that they will use it for food no matter what deformities it has. What I need to know is if I am poisoning these kids!?! Are there any types of food I should tell them to avoid using in their pots? Are honey or sushi or ice cream particularly problematic? Thanks for your help- it is really reasurring to have a pool of knowledgable people to turn to when I have questions.

It's still winter hereabouts but nonetheless its that time of year again- time to start planning my summer ceramics program for about 150 elementary age kids. We have about eight 45 minute sessions- 4 for handbuilding and 4 for glazing. Basically I need 4 easy projects (I've got large groups so I can't give much individual attention) and I feel like I've exhausted all the tried and trues already and I have a lot of returning kids. Parents are paying big bucks so I need to produce projects that are either cute or functional (or both).
Just to give you a feel, we've already made pinch pot bowls and pinch pot animals. Coil bowls and coil mugs. Slices of "pizza" and name plaques. Spoon rests and flower tiles. Cookie cutter shapes and snail coil bowls.
Anybody out there have any new ideas for me? We've all heard of writer's block- I think I have ceramic teacher block! Help!

I have a relatively new electric kiln which is getting heavy use since I need to move kid's projects quickly. I usually preheat (candle) for a few hours since their projects are pretty thick and I don't want them to explode. The problem is that I often put the kiln on right before I leave for the day. I would like to set it to preheat for a few hours and then go right into a bisque firing. I won't be there to play around with cracking the lid and opening and closing peep holes(the building is locked for the night). Will it break the kiln/ruin the projects to preheat with the lid and peepholes closed, or run the cycle with the lid open/ and or peep holes open. What do you experienced potters suggest I do (other then sleep in a closed building and abandon my family?!?)

I am giving ceramics classes in a summer camp for kids ages 5-13. I mostly do simple projects with them as I only see each group once a week for 45 minutes. My problem is that even simple projects tend to be complicated for some of the kids, and no matter how clearly I give (and repeat) directions -"remember to score and slip"," make sure the walls aren't too thin or they will break", etc. - there will be some kids who forget or don't get it. At the end of the day I find myself with more then 100 little projects, many of which will definitely break in the kiln (or before) unless I "fix" them. Now I know in an ideal world, it would be a good learning experience for kids to see that if they don't follow directions they will not be successful, but summer camp isn't an ideal world. It's all about kids' parents paying a fortune to keep their kids busy and happy. If I don't fix them the majority of the kids will go home with nothing- and be unhappy. Big no- no in the camping world.But if I fix them I am literally spending hours fixing- and sometimes redoing projects. This is crazy! I was wondering if anyone out there has had this problem and has come up with some viable solution.