: Wind n Wing - Viewing Profile

Have you given any thought to using stiff bristled brushes that you could pounce the clay with. Cheap house painting, paint brushes 2" to 4" wide work nice. I find my texture brushes in the house cleaning section of the hardware store or where ever a store (grocery or Big Box) keeps the cleaning supplies. You have quite a bit of control over where and how much texture you want. I have even used an old paint brush used for painting the house or trim that wasnt rinsed out in time and has stiffened and split in clumps for interesting texture.

Wheels on everything. I have put wheels (the locking type) on all my shelving, tables and under my 5 gallon scrap buckets ( plant pot holders on wheels for the buckets). The older I get the less I am able to lift so wheels are a great help. Plus if a table needs to serve double duty from one task to another I am able to re-arrange easily.
Another thing I like to use are strands of chain hung from the floor joists (basement studio) to hang tools or whatever. On my shelving I like to use 2x4"s to stack staggered, for my glaze and stain jars. Plastic baskets that stack are another space saver for me. Any type of rolling cart for storage works well for me. Space on the wall painted with blackboard paint by my kilns to keep track of what is going on. I stack boxes of clay on 2 2x4" boards to keep the clay off the floor. Since I dont have a plumbed sink drain I use a bucket under the drain and keep water usage to a minuim by using a small garden sprayer ( hand pump) to rinse off tools table tops and anything else that needs clean up. Would love to see some photos of how others arrange their workspace.

I used to do alot of poured low fire pieces in days gone by. Some of the mold companies you should look up are Dona, Riverview, Duncan and Alberta plus Doc Holiday. They all carry a good selection of ornament molds.
Hope this helps.
RJ

Chris,
Are you referring to firing with the lid partially open or venting after firing. I usually wedge the lid open on my kiln (electric) after it has finished firing. But I give it a 12 hour cool down before doing that. I have been doing that for the past 20 years and haven't lost a load or partial load yet. I have two Duncan kilns and will even go so far as to open the bottom peep hole in addition to wedging the lid open. I am firing to a cone 6 and dont glaze. Dont think I would trust this process if I was glazing. To fast a cool down could ruin the load.
RJ

Just fininshed watching the video. I am pretty much at a loss for words. Humbling is one that comes to mind. I figure I would need about 100 lifetimes to start to come close to producing that kind of Art. This is why we never run out of ways to grow and expand when working with clay. I am sure other artists in different fields feel the same way with their chosen medium. But for me there is something addictive about clay. Each day I learn somethling new. People ask me when I am going to retire, my answer is when you find my cold lifeless body draped over my clay table. Then you can consider me retired. Just for the record I am in no hurry to retire .