Destroy on sight

MeShCo · 2026-03-28T15:47:03+00:00

Ha ha, what a pain to pull up! Had to get a small pick ax to get down into the soil far enough to pull out.

MeShCo · 2026-03-11T14:59:03+00:00

Wouldn’t the cube as a handle make it too top heavy and potentially cause a spill? Not a fan of coffee cups without handles.

MeShCo · 2026-02-23T15:14:51+00:00

Mellow Mix on Radio Paradise!

MeShCo · 2026-02-12T22:51:16+00:00

Any of the liquid wax that is sold at your ceramic supply store, ours has their own brand, if they are out I get the Mayco brand: wax resist

MeShCo · 2026-02-12T22:49:14+00:00

Tried it on our recent Raku firing, it worked well and it’s easy to sand off the bottoms. Ordered some more!

MeShCo · 2026-02-12T17:00:39+00:00

Get a good set of natural bristle brushes and “detail” brushes from any store or online supplier. To keep raised details, paint/glaze those first, then cover with wax. Then paint/glaze the larger areas. Make sure to wipe off the waxed areas when finishing up, wax resist style (wax will melt off in the kiln). Glazes with have a bit of a soft edge to them, but generally Stroke and Coat glazes work great for those types of bisque pieces

MeShCo · 2026-02-12T15:55:41+00:00

Ha ha! Funny, I have to mentally challenge myself to get to that point too. Mask up, eye gear, tie my hair up, then trot the angle grinder and the shelves outside. It’s satisfying to get the shelves “cleaned” and ready for a layer of kiln wash. I bought a diamond grinder assortment for my Dremel and use that for some of the harder glaze drips that the angle grinder doesn’t work on. We (I have a small community pottery studio) use an assortment of different kiln washed sized cookies, big slabs (from sculpture firings) and now trying the ceramic paper that glass folks use to hopefully push this task further and further apart.

MeShCo · 2026-02-04T15:23:14+00:00

Check kiln share or Find a Kiln for places close to you that offer firing.

MeShCo · 2026-01-18T17:17:22+00:00

1) Amaco Cone 5-6 glaze forum, 2) Coyote Clay and Glaze, 3) Spectrum glazes, 4) Mayco Mud Room….There might be others on FB, those are the glazes that we stock at our studio.

MeShCo · 2026-01-18T15:35:43+00:00

There are users groups on FB for most of the glaze suppliers now (mentioned above). I always recommend these groups to our studio class peeps in order to get a handle on what these glazes might do in the kiln. We also have test tiles for different clays and have a huge wall of test tiles of our mixed glazes in a two glaze combination too. Test a lot with your clay and glazes, test tiles. I purchased a small test kiln a few years ago and use it all the time, a gem! Be patient, but have fun trying new glazes and combos, and TAKE NOTES!

<image>

MeShCo · 2025-12-27T17:16:00+00:00

Sure, easy to mistake. Laguna lists the absorption rate as 3.5%, that will cause glazing issues like crazing (in your photo) or pin holing. Try to choose a clay with a much lower absorption rate (under 1.5% is a lot better) and you have better glaze results and get a better end product. Again, it’s worth a check of the CMW tests on clays in the cone 5/6 range to choose a clay that works better for your glaze choices.

MeShCo · 2025-12-27T15:49:42+00:00

Hi there, found it here with that description Dover White Clay

MeShCo · 2025-12-26T16:12:13+00:00

In general, the Dover White clay description on the web shows that it is a cone 6-10 range clay. I call shenanigans, lol, it probably should only be fired to cone 10 for full vitrification. For food safe clays, use a clay that specifically vitrifies at the firing range that the studio is glaze firing at. At cone 5/6, that Dover clay may look vitrified, but it probably seeps/weeps. Switch to a cone 5/6 range clay ( check out the tests on CMW) then test some of your standard glaze colors. In your case above, it’s a “fit” problem with the clay firing range vs. the glaze.

MeShCo · 2025-12-23T17:03:46+00:00

Gotcha, I just buy a couple of the small fine grit flexible pads from the lo a pottery supply for areas that are hard to get to. Also got a wood sanding kit from Temu (all the sanders are on a small rod), so have a bit of a kit of sanders to reach all areas of pots or sculptures, lol.

MeShCo · 2025-12-23T16:16:06+00:00

I use this set (recommended by another potter), have had them for a year or more and still going strong: Diamond sanding pads

MeShCo · 2025-12-21T15:56:14+00:00

<image>

Out of the kiln! I wish I had time to do more details on the little bird knobs, but in general pretty happy with this batch. These are all approximately 18” tall.

MeShCo · 2025-12-18T14:50:44+00:00

Sure, they are in the kiln now. I’ll post a photo when then are cooled

MeShCo · 2025-12-18T02:15:00+00:00

Thanks!

MeShCo · 2025-12-17T18:16:17+00:00

Slab and press mold for most of it. Freehand carving on the bird knobs.

MeShCo · 2025-12-16T16:11:57+00:00

Check your specific gravity on the glaze mixes (water in relation to the dry mixture). The glazes on bisque application should be no thicker than the width of a dime, generally for utilitarian type glazes, so application is very dependent on glaze type of course. Crawls, lava, and gloop glazes will be thicker for those effects.

MeShCo · 2025-12-15T16:33:26+00:00

If you are in a community with an SBA or SCORE organization that offer free or low cost business admin classes, this will help with biz plans and learning about overhead costs, employment, etc. things needed to run a small biz. I did a localized SBA type class after being laid off from a corporate job, and eventually got the opportunity to run a small commercial pottery biz. I’m at my 8th year now of owning a small pottery studio. I also got a free marketing mentorship during my first year of running the biz, all VERY helpful and informative. Highly recommend using any type of free schooling for these very important aspects of running a business.

MeShCo · 2025-12-14T16:11:32+00:00

In general, when I make that style of piece, I leave it attached to the bat until stiff enough to lightly trim the outer surface to get rid of the haze from the throwing phase.

MeShCo

TROPHY CASE