Clay Studio – Page 2

Currently In The Clay Studio

New Work

drying pots

I’ve been trying to get enough work scraped together for a bisque fire. Mostly weekend work. But soon that will change… It’s almost summer break! I’ve got Â a nice platter thrown and trimmed that is drying slowly. I also have a handful of PBL mugs, a couple berry bowls, and a bunch of other random pieces.

PBL mugs

drying shelf

I don’t think I have enough for a full bisque load but I plan to try some more decals. Hopefully I can fill in the empty spaces with those. I’m hoping to bisque fire by Tuesday or Wednesday. But there’s a chance that I might make a few more things if I have too much space to fill. We’ll see what happens.

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Clay Studio Notes: 3-17-13

Soy Wax is a Go

cooled soy wax in the crock-pot

I finally got to try the soy wax in the Crock Pot idea that I mentioned in another post. After unloading the bisque kiln and washing off the pots I was ready to wax the bottoms. Previously, this required getting out the wax resist and sponging or brushing it on each pot. This worked well but it was time consuming. While taking a class at the Goshen Clay Guild I noticed that they had an electric skillet which was used to melt paraffin wax which pots were dipped into. Even though it produced an odor and required more caution, it cut down on the time required to wax the bottoms. Then as I was researching this idea further, I read on the Ceramic Arts Daily Forum that some potters use soy wax and crock pots. So I decided to give it a try.

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Studio Notes: February 2013

The alternate title of this post that I was rolling around was “What I Really Got for Christmas” as a callback to my previous post about a clean and remodeled studio. As you’ll see, I have done my fair share to help the economy, especially the clay tool and pottery literature economy.

rollers

I love tools. Any kind of tools but especially clay tools. So it was a great day when I saw that ClayKing.com was having a Black Friday sale. Some things were over 50% off! I picked up a few rollers which I hope to use for texture and maybe add some interest to handles.

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Slabs Rolled Here

A new addition to the studio is in place. Earlier today I rolled out the first slab on my brand new North Star Porta Roller!

I bought this little bundle of metal and moxie way back in November. It arrived in two packages:

slab roller arrival

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Raw Material Storage

Here’s another quick update which I should have finished months ago. Way back when it was warm outside, I ordered myself some glaze chemicals. My largest order to date, in preparation to mix some of my own glazes and do a lot of testing.

glaze chemicals

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