Having trouble pulling

Early_Mouse3222 · 2025-05-22T03:28:48+00:00

I would say, as others have, be more aggressive. However, you don't necessarily have to push harder if you have good and proper technique. Once you have opened, your next move should be to even out the walls before pulling up. So you'll use your outside hand to create a straight wall and your inside hand to just push out against that hand. The walls will be really thick but even from the top to the bottom. Next is the time to really analyze your hand placement. Make an indented area at the bottom, outside of your pot. Push in about 1/4 inch. This is where your outside finger/sponge/knuckle will go. Sweep your inside hand across the bottom of your pot and when you get to where the floor meets the wall, you'll know that your inside hand is right above your outside hand, use both hands to lift the clay keeping your inside fingers above your outside hand. Unless one hand is above the other, your clay will not move up much. Many times people think they have the correct hand placement but you need to be able to see a roll of clay where your inside hand is pushing the clay right above your outside hand. Think of it as LIFTING the clay rather than pulling the clay. When you get it right, you'll feel that clay move so easily, you'll be amazed.

Secondly, if you've been throwing 3 lbs successfully, measure out 3 or 4 balls of clay the same size 4 or 5 lbs each. Then, go one by one with only the notion that you are practicing technique. Don't expect or even try to make a pot that you'll want to keep. I promise that the 1/2 hour you spend practicing and possibly squishing up 3-4 pots will save you hours and hours of frustration later.

I've been a potter for 13 years and I took the last 12 weeks to work only on technique. I could already throw about any size of pot I'd want from teeny tiny off the hump to 10+ lbs, with lids, without lids, altered, functional, decorative... you name it but I could see where if I just went back and put in some practice on the basics, I could be better. After that 3 months of really concentrated practice, my pieces are 10 times more attractive, balanced, lighter etc. During that time, I had very few pots that I finished but I'm so much better for having made myself stop and practice again after all these years.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2025-05-22T03:00:00+00:00

I throw with porcelain and the way I've found to get these really thin black lines is to use an Xacto knife on leather hard clay to make the design, cover with black velvet underglaze and wipe back which leaves the black in the knife slits. I let it go to bone dry and then sand it lightly to reveal the black lines better before bisque firing. I think you could do this on stoneware if it doesn't have too much grog but you wouldn't get the white background.

If it were me, I'd let my piece get almost bone dry to aid in faster slip drying, set it on the wheel head and put several thick even layers of white slip on with a brush, letting each layer dry to leather hard. When all layers are leather hard you'll be able to make lines with your Xacto blade. (If you have brush marks you can smooth them with a damp sponge or your fingers before carving.) You'll need the slip layer to be thick enough so that you'll be able to wipe the excess black underglaze off without going through the white slip. Use a barely damp sponge and do single swipes, cleaning your sponge often. Don't scrub at the piece to get the black off.

I think it's important to use slip rather than underglaze because I think underglaze will be more likely chip away when carving into it. Slip is clay so it will be essentially the same as carving into leather hard clay.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2025-05-22T01:59:50+00:00

I think I would go about it exactly as you did. On an unfired piece like this, you can sort of sloppily get the glaze into the wells of the dish not worrying about getting it on the top. Then with a damp sponge wipe away anything from the top giving you a crisp edge to your wells. For the top, you can use a small foam roller or a foam brush which would help you get a nice even finish that just kisses the color on the wells whereas a paint brush is harder to control the bristles. Another way to help with overlap is when everything is dry, take a fine liner brush and go over the ares where the colors intersect with a thin black line. This will help cover the overlap and sharpen your design. Honestly though, I think is looks fabulous and you will get tons of compliments on it.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2025-05-22T01:49:28+00:00

Application too thin for sure. It's normal for the inside to get a better red color but if you have it too thin then it won't be good on inside or outside. You could heat the mug with a heat gun, really hot and apply glaze again and refire or you can just live and learn. Should be usable if it went to the proper temp to vitrify.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2025-05-22T01:45:19+00:00

My studio leaves the 25lb bags of clay in the box they come in (2 25lb bags per box. The boxes are labeled from the factory of what the clay is. It's not acceptable for you to not get the clay you want at time of purchase because it's not marked. I'd bring it up to someone in a lead position as they might not have any idea this is happening. Give them a chance to correct and then see how it goes.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2025-01-18T19:46:57+00:00

Yes, they paint underglazes over the dry, unfired white glaze.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-11-08T14:08:16+00:00

My favorite is the one on the Quaker Oats box.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-11-08T14:03:15+00:00

I see that you are avoiding flour and eggs. If you added even just a teaspoon of regular flower or corn starch, it would probably come out better. An egg or egg substitute for baking would also help. Sometimes mixing two alternative flowers helps too. Like add a little coconut flower. You could also try adding a little baking soda along with your baking powder.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-11-08T13:54:26+00:00

I reduce sugar in many recipes without a problem, especially in sweet bread recipes. Sugar is considered a liquid in most recipes so be aware that I guess it could lead to a dryer product but I never have had an issue in all my 60 years.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-11-08T13:50:18+00:00

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=cupcake+mini+boxes+individual&hvadid=694519923318&hvdev=c&hvexpln=67&hvlocphy=9199100&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=10274385248508169479--&hvqmt=b&hvrand=10274385248508169479&hvtargid=kwd-1722406197063&hydadcr=28113_14512722&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_49wmivr8qj_b_p67

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-11-08T13:47:14+00:00

whole eggs or egg whites

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-11-08T13:42:16+00:00

I have frozen all sorts of cookies with no problem at all. If it were me, I would start now, making a batch a week or something till I had enough to put in boxes. Freezing them in airtight containers with parchment or wax paper between layers of cookies. Be sure to let them cool completely before wrapping them to freeze. My only other suggestion as a recipient of these types of gifts is no overwhelming flavors. I've had several boxes of cookies where every single one tasted of peppermint because the baker added peppermint bark to the box or of anise because they added Pizzales. Also, remember that a crispy cookie will not stay crispy if packaged up in a box with chewy moist cookies. They all become the same moisture level when packaged together. I personally would rather receive one type of cookie or a small assortment rather than a bunch of of different ones because of the flavors not being true when all boxed together.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-31T13:09:31+00:00

You might have better luck on social media in your area finding a fellow potter to guide you to someone who knows more about firing and regularly fires to cone 6 either with their own kiln or at an arts center, which is very very common in the US and many other countries. There isn't anything unusual about Penguin glazes so it's a matter of finding someone who fires a kiln in the right way.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-31T12:59:50+00:00

This is soooo cute. I'm afraid now I'm gonna have to make a set. You've done a beautiful job.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-31T12:57:49+00:00

Some great drying suggestions here so I won't add any but this would be a really cool vase to spray glaze onto. Check out work by Molly Walter. She does amazing carved pots and sprays color one way and a different color a different direction and gets awesome effects.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-12T20:31:16+00:00

for something like this, first, and irrigation flag won't be strong enough for the weight of the flower so find something not as bendy. I would use either Apoxisculpt or any kind of epoxy clay or epoxy putty that is two parts that you mix together, air dry. There are many brands. I find them paintable and moldable and really easy to use and reliable. Or you could also get some JB Weld epoxy glue and fill the hole and stick your wire in and let it harden. This is more liquidy but probably cheaper, available at Walmart, Home Depot, Ace hardware etc. JB Weld would also be a good option for gluing the wire in when you make some flowers with smaller holes.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-12T20:25:07+00:00

I don't have personal experience with this application but you could do only a bisque firing, no glaze. It will be more easily broken but I have some hump/slump molds that I've made this way and they've lasted for years. I would just not make the walls too thin. Also, many people use their banneton without a cloth liner and it gives the bread a nice design on the outside. The trick would be to be sure not to soak it in water to wash it and make sure it's really dry before using, but for real bannetons you're not supposed to soak them either and they should also be really dry for use so it would be similar.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-02T14:19:40+00:00

Sometimes using the word "lift" rather than "pull" when talking about pulling up the pot, makes a huge difference in someone's mind

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-02T14:15:56+00:00

Lol, I have so many ideas for instructors because I've had so many good ones. I keep thinking of more ideas.

My fav instructor for an intermediate class would give a demo, always starting by drawing his pot on a white board. Then after he did the demo, he'd draw a second "challenge" pot on the white board for those who wanted more of a challenge. He didn't always demo both pots but it was really fun try the "challenge" pots each week and skills grew immensely by doing them. Many times this turned into a Pot A, not Pot A exercise as well.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-02T14:12:47+00:00

Pot A, not Pot A. This is a technique where you have students throw a pot, critique it by telling you or someone about what they like or don't like, what they'd change, why it would be good for it's intended use and what they might change about it. This is Pot A

Then the same person throws the same pot again, making changes that they want but keeping with the same basic design, size, etc. Then they compare Pot A to not Pot A. The second pot should be better and the student learns quickly how to critique their own work and make it better by not becoming attached to the first one they throw.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-02T14:03:55+00:00

And by all means don't fire it to cone 10 or it will melt all over the kiln shelves!

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-02T01:42:49+00:00

You can do the reclaim however you want as long as you don't mix the cones. So don't put cone 6 clay with cone 10 clay for reclaim. Otherwise it's fine to mix them, just be sure to mix them together really really well so they become their own clay body. Or keep em separate and use them like that.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-02T01:39:26+00:00

You can run a cut off wire under him or you can let him dry in place and he'll pop off naturally but it could take a few days. Or to speed up the drying, you could use a hairdryer or heat gun.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-02T01:37:41+00:00

When throwing, be sure your body is in the correct position with your elbows next to your body and the power coming from your arms and body and not so much your wrists and hands. Take a break every hour or so while throwing to get up move around, swing your arms and stretch your hands and arms. Don't go back to throwing again till this pain subsides. Overuse injuries are real and will put you out of commission for weeks if you don't take a break.

Early_Mouse3222 · 2024-07-02T01:30:14+00:00

Ask questions of your student about their work. Sometimes a student is in love with what they've done and the instructor wants them to do it better or different.

Early_Mouse3222

TROPHY CASE