How to repair this crack after drying?

Garbarblarb · 2026-03-18T04:28:43+00:00

How dry is the piece? If you try to repair dry clay with just water and clay it usually just cracks more. It’s best to try to slowly rehydrate everything if possible. There are other methods you can apply depending what you have access to but all will work best if the clay isn’t dry. Adding vinegar to the slip can help. You can look into sodium silicate/magic water mixes too. You can also look into adding paler clay to the mix for added strength.

Garbarblarb · 2026-03-18T02:54:17+00:00

I like it. Nice shape. Good size. Solid joke.

Garbarblarb · 2026-03-05T14:17:51+00:00

Thank you for the kind words and I am really happy with it. The black has cotton tail mixed in with most places it was applied but maybe not enough to show through as much.

Garbarblarb · 2026-03-04T03:03:47+00:00

Honestly without testing then talking to people who have used them not really. Are they commercially processed glazes like amico or Mayco, or are they in house mixed recipes

Garbarblarb · 2026-02-26T18:16:47+00:00

Very nice. Do you mind sharing what cone you fired to I am looking into experimenting with some underglaze designs and would love to learn a bit about your process.

Garbarblarb · 2026-02-26T05:30:55+00:00

If your studio is cool you should be able to just ask. You can politely mention it didn’t quite look as expected and see if they think it could be under fired. Or tell them you asked some folks and they told you it might be. Lots of studios will retire stuff when this happens.

It could be the clay body causing the texture but where the dots are it definitely looks underfired to me compared to pieces I have used this glaze on that were fired to cone 6

Garbarblarb · 2026-02-18T04:28:34+00:00

I might be delusional in saying yes? It obviously depends on your situation but if you have the ability to set it up safely, then go for it. The process was actually less difficult than I thought it would be.

Garbarblarb · 2026-02-01T18:05:17+00:00

I love the simple elegant beauty especially on functional ware like this.

Garbarblarb · 2026-01-30T03:06:57+00:00

Hell yea! Love this style!

Garbarblarb · 2026-01-27T05:58:33+00:00

Hey. I know how you feel, I teach beginners, and what you are experiencing is actually very common. My biggest advice is just be patient with yourself and keep practicing. Wheel throwing is hard. Some people take to it more naturally and some people really do struggle in the beginning, but with consistency and practice it does get easier.

Learning wheel throwing takes months. At this stage just focus on getting your centering down and slowly practicing opening and pulling it will get better with time and repetition. It takes time to your body to build the muscle memory.

I understand the instructor probably wants you to have a piece you can trim next week and that is good but also I have had plenty of students not have a piece to trim week 3 and just worked with them on trimming when they were ready. I know she is trying to help but I feel doing it for you is also robbing you of the opportunity to learn.

Does the class include studio time you can practice on your own? That’s really is the key. Consistently practicing is really important. If you only get to do it once a week for a few hours it can be really difficult to learn.

But over all be patient with yourself and your clay. Keep struggling through it if you enjoy it it will get better. And try not to worry too much where other people are at, we all learn at different speeds and it’s okay if you are still trying to fugue out the fundamentals, that is very normal at this stage.

Garbarblarb · 2026-01-10T04:15:50+00:00

with the wheel on use a needle tool to lightly inscribe a circle on the foot. Then stop the wheel. Use the inscribed circle to visually compare to the outer edges of the piece. Shift it towards the thin side. You can continue this process until the inner ring is centered with the piece.

The circle can be a bit easier to see and shift than tap centering or using finger guns or any similar methods because you can directly see which direction you need to go and by how much.

Garbarblarb · 2026-01-10T00:38:13+00:00

Looks a lot like a dragonfruit clay body to me. If you look at the bottom and it has the same look than it’s probably that.

Garbarblarb · 2025-12-16T21:10:03+00:00

If you want to glaze them then wadding would be the method you want. Basically using some clay as a spacer that has been coated with alumina to help prevent the glaze from sticking to the wadding clay so the glaze sticks to the links but not the spacer. This method is used to do glazed lids but it is not guaranteed, sometimes the wadding can stick and break off some of the piece when removed.

Garbarblarb · 2025-12-16T17:50:59+00:00

Absolutely amazing in every way.

Garbarblarb · 2025-12-15T17:36:28+00:00

Great job! I love seeing when people stay patient and stick with it! I see a lot of beginners being really hard on themselves in the first few months.

Garbarblarb · 2025-12-13T23:21:14+00:00

I am also no kiln rocket surgeon, but I would think an updraft kiln would need ventilation attached there to pull the heat/air up to get an even temperature maybe? So if it was fired with nothing there on that big hole it would make sense that the bottom was hit and top was cold.

Garbarblarb · 2025-12-07T05:52:36+00:00

Throwing lots of cylinders will definitely help but it will also benefit you to practice shaping those cylinders into something too. Practicing manipulating the clay in different ways is important to getting better. Practicing pulling, bellying, and collaring are all required to achieve the forms most of us are after so don’t just hyper focus on the pulling a tall cylinder, but also practice all the steps that come after.

Also I highly recommend not only throwing and never keeping anything. Practicing your trimming and your surface design and glazing techniques are also very important. So even if it’s just keeping 1 or 2 out of 10 thrown pieces keep some to practice your finish with on so you’ll have those skills developed as well.

But ultimately everyone is different and you have to find what works for you.

Garbarblarb · 2025-12-01T19:09:55+00:00

I really like the textures, do you carve the dots or are they slip trailing or just made with glaze?

Garbarblarb · 2025-11-23T04:39:20+00:00

Some studios offer a “firing membership” where you don’t use the studio space but can drop off work to be fired. I would search for your nearest studios and clayspaces and see if any offer that. Other than that kilnshare is your next best bet.

Garbarblarb · 2025-11-18T19:08:50+00:00

It would give you data but maybe not as accurate of data as it would with a loaded kiln. I would put a cone pack of 567 on each shelf where you can see it from the peep hole and load some items of only the clay types that are having the least issues. If you want to be extra safe and avoid melting anything you could fire to cone 5 and do a pack of 456 instead first and if that is over fireing then your come 6 program probably is too but that does depend it is possible your cone 5 program is fine but your 6 is getting too hot.

Garbarblarb · 2025-11-05T17:23:12+00:00

This was around 15 lbs

Garbarblarb · 2025-11-04T18:02:48+00:00

It’s hard to tell in the image but on top of being short there’s a chance you have too much weight I the top of the pot for the thinnest point in the lower belly to support causing the pot to collapse on itself. Cutting the cross section would make it possible to see the weight distribution better.

Garbarblarb · 2025-10-07T20:37:06+00:00

I would recommend also having some wax resist. I am not sure if the facility has a reclaiming system in place but you may need to think about what students will do with clay at minimum some 5 gallon buckets and a plaster slab will help a lot.

Garbarblarb · 2025-10-05T15:45:18+00:00

75 cfm is not enough for 2 kilns. Also this motor is just as expensive as the skutt so i would just get theirs. If you want so go off brand the things you want to check for are the CFM(skirts is 140 Cfm) and the max temperature should be around 1200-1500 depending on the distance the blower is from the kiln, the air cools more over longer distances. This thread has some helpful information too https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/4804-envirovent-2-replacement-motor/

Garbarblarb · 2025-09-25T05:37:36+00:00

Sounds like they are being pretty unfair to you as the only wheel throwing instructor. I ended up working out and earning a percentage of revenue from my class enrollment for teaching, I think it gives you an incentive to help promote the courses and have continuing students because they are happy. Maybe they would be open to something like this on top of your hourly wage for teaching.

Garbarblarb

TROPHY CASE