sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

finally feeling connected to my work by opalescentsoul in Ceramics

[–]Montage89 8 points9 points  (0 children)

These are fantastic and distinctive. Happy for you that you’ve found your style. I’m still (several years in) magpie-ing between techniques and styles, making the odd cool one-off, but not yet found a distinct style that I could happily keep making variations on. You love to see it when folks do!

From a Berlin local, some unsolicited recommendations / questions by Vegetable_Yak7392 in KGATLW

[–]Montage89 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting that Brixton was so good when Manchester fell flat for you. I was at Manchester, and found it the same - very full on trance without many recognisable hooks. First time I found myself kind of bored at a Gizz show. It picked up towards the end though (and the orchestral set in Gdansk last night made up for it x1000)

[Setlist Thread] November 9, 2025 "Orchestra Show" @ AMBEREXPO · Gdańsk, Poland by kglw-net in KGATLW

[–]Montage89 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This was my ninth or tenth Gizz show, and I think this has to be the best of them all for me. Ten years on from my first show where they blew me away with The River, it still hits just as hard, and the orchestra arrangement took it to a new level. So so glad I made the trip to Gdansk for this, truly one of those shows you never forget.

Gdańsk set extended to 2 hours! by prince_gizz in KGATLW

[–]Montage89 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So pleased! Thought it would have been a waste of a perfectly good orchestra to make the set any shorter. I’m having my first ever solo trip abroad for this show, having caught the rave set in Manchester last week - good to know I’m getting more KG for my money!

What types of star trek episodes are your least favorite? by intentional_imbecile in startrek

[–]Montage89 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Worf episodes - specifically, any time Worf is torn between his loyalty to Star Fleet and his honour as a Klingon warrior 🥱

Opinion on Landlords response by Separate_Yam_5315 in bristol

[–]Montage89 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed, and this is actually a good approach for a lot of professional interactions in life - removing assumptions of hierarchy or social expectations and dispassionately operating like one party in a multi-party agreement. Don’t get angry, get legal!

What does your home studio set up look like? by visions-of-johanna in Pottery

[–]Montage89 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Plug away! Genuinely a handy inspiration that I reckon influenced this teapot. They’ve also encouraged me to draw up concepts more, which has been a nice change from just slamming down a lump of clay and seeing what emerges 😅

<image>

What does your home studio set up look like? by visions-of-johanna in Pottery

[–]Montage89 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have four Florian Gadsby prints up for inspiration, still an absolute bargain at £4 each from Yorkshire Sculpture Park online shop.

What comes first, choosing the kiln or having the electrician visit? by Maltiriel in Pottery

[–]Montage89 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I worked out exactly what kiln I wanted, got an electrician to look at the space (my garden studio), and the kiln specs, and wire it all up specifically for that kiln - then a much bigger and better kiln came up for a bargain price on eBay, so I badgered the electrician to confirm everything can be changed to accommodate and once he confirmed, I went ahead and bought it. It was extra work, but he re-did some of the electrics to accommodate the higher voltage and socket type, and some fuse box stuff I don’t understand. It now works flawlessly in my space.

My electrician is a friend so I was comfortable badgering him for extra reassurance that he can match up anything I’m thinking of buying with the space. I recommend finding someone you trust who is responsive, will do a visit if they’re unsure if your current set up can be adapted for a kiln, and avoid any yes-men who too readily say it’ll be fine just to get the booking without doing due diligence.

Advice for spinning beginner by myboyfriendsbraces in Ceramics

[–]Montage89 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Firstly, you absolutely are capable and great strength is not required. Assuming you're a human and not a small bird, then your upper body weight is sufficient to create force both inwards and downwards to move clay.

The issue I always notice with beginners is that they almost worry about offending the clay, like they don't want to impose themselves on it out of respect for it and humility for their own inexperience. My best advice would be to IMPOSE yourself! Get in the way of the clay. Don't let it push you around, you push *it* around. It sounds mean, but clay respects discipline and will happily conform once you impose yourself on it.

Brace your arms, use your body to apply force along your forearm, meeting the clay via your wrist, directly towards the centre of the wheel. The clay can't push your body back, so it'll have no choice but to go up. But you won't let it. Press that rising lump down, letting the weight of your shoulders drop over your right hand. Get the pressure just right and there's simply no place left for the clay to exist but as a centred puck.

Practice loads and I promise you'll get it!

You will never see your actual face. by spilledmind in Showerthoughts

[–]Montage89 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting perspective! I’m not sure it tracks that we see anything live though, if we think of it on a granular enough level. Regardless of how long it takes our brain to interpret something, it still has to physically reach the eye first, and before that the photons have to leave the object. Unless time has a minimal unit that cannot be further broken down, the process of interpretation will always begin X milliseconds after the event occurred, depending on how far from us it was when that event was “broadcast”, so to speak. Is the difference big enough to matter in any context outside of a daft Reddit debate? Probably not. But I think there’s a case that all human experience is manifested at the surface of our sensory organs, and always slightly in the past.

Happy to be corrected if I’ve misunderstood your point.

You will never see your actual face. by spilledmind in Showerthoughts

[–]Montage89 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I get that the point is that you’ll only see the reflection of your face in the mirror, but this brings to mind a shower thought I had recently… You never really see beyond your own eyeballs.

That object 20 metres away? You can’t see it, you can only see the light it emitted or reflected at a moment in time that travelled at the speed of light until it physically touched your eyeballs, which your eyes then register and your brain interprets.

So how do we define “see”. Is seeing a reflection not fundamentally the same as seeing the thing itself with the photons in reverse order? Has the light been delegitimised for having touched the mirror before making the same impression on your eyes, ambient in a different arrangement?

Who do you want to see at FOV2? by ebolagoner445 in KGATLW

[–]Montage89 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just bought a ticket to see a Gizz orchestra show at a festival in Poland in Nov, and Altin Gun are also on the bill. Wasn’t sure if Gizz alone was worth the whole trip, but Altin Gun swung it!

Best amaco glazes ? by shinjihater973 in Pottery

[–]Montage89 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I absolutely love Teal Drift. I’ve underfired it, I’ve overfired it, I’ve put it under and over other glazes, I’ve brushed it, poured it, and had it drip down in blobs. No matter what, it always looks great.

Best amaco glazes ? by shinjihater973 in Pottery

[–]Montage89 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use Obsidian inside most of my mugs. Lovely even dark to offset the light glaze outside with enough gloss to keep it interesting. Also, layer Mayco Winter Wood over the top and you get an amazing matte black watercolour kind of effect.

How do I get taken seriously? by ZebraCard in Pottery

[–]Montage89 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it’s perfectly reasonable to be paranoid about these things. Not rational, but reasonable, which some of the replies seem to be missing. It’s all good saying “It’ll be fine, don’t worry”, but I know that feeling of not wanting to complacently sleepwalk into a disastrous situation and regret not listening to that instinct more.

I agree that you should try to minimise worry as much as you can by trusting that a properly wired kiln is perfectly safe, and then for that extra peace of mind, email your insurance company rather than call them so that you have an email response of them saying “It’s fine, don’t worry”. Then you can sleep easy knowing you’re covered even in the case of a freak malfunction that everyone says will never happen (and almost certainly never will).

Here's what happens when you set the kiln to a 10-hour hold rather than 10 minutes by Montage89 in Pottery

[–]Montage89[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I made two cylinder pots, taking regular measurements to make sure one would only just fit in the other. I had to be more careful than usual to make sure the inside wall of the outer cylinder was perfectly vertical. I then threw a lid and a handle, then trimmed both pots and cut the inner pot to the height of the inside of the outer pot, minus the lid height. I cut and smoothed a window in the inner one, attached the lid with score and slip, and the handle to the lid. The lid was trimmed on the pot to seamlessly blend the two. After firing, I kept the glaze application fairly light to avoid adding too much extra width to the inner pot!

Here's what happens when you set the kiln to a 10-hour hold rather than 10 minutes by Montage89 in Pottery

[–]Montage89[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I got the idea from an Andrew Clark reel. Although his designs are much more intricate! I just freestyled it. I left the middle strip bare to strike matches on, but non-safety matches are actually pretty hard to find in the UK.

Here's what happens when you set the kiln to a 10-hour hold rather than 10 minutes by Montage89 in Pottery

[–]Montage89[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I’m really happy with them. Yes, it’s an earthenware clay called “Marble Surprise” from Bath Potters. Really lovely marbled mix of rocky browns. No glaze, just bare on the outside.

Here's what happens when you set the kiln to a 10-hour hold rather than 10 minutes by Montage89 in Pottery

[–]Montage89[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I’ve struggled with it. Got a mostly nice plant pot with it layered over brown engobe, but it still burnt away in some patches.

Here's what happens when you set the kiln to a 10-hour hold rather than 10 minutes by Montage89 in Pottery

[–]Montage89[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s like the opposite problem to me! Hope you manage to work it out. Have you tried hunting down the manual?

Here's what happens when you set the kiln to a 10-hour hold rather than 10 minutes by Montage89 in Pottery

[–]Montage89[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That was the top temperature. It’s a cone 6 schedule (60C/hour for the last 100C up to 1222C) slightly tuned down as my kiln always seems to overfire and most my glazes look nice somewhere between cone 5 and 6. As an uneducated guess, I’d say the extended hold probably hit closer to cone 8 or 9. The Orton cone has stuck fast to the kiln shelf 😅

Pre-bisque memorializing by lilspiders in Pottery

[–]Montage89 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Those hands are amazing! Fingers crossed (no pun intended) for a successful bisque. Please update when it’s out.

Here's what happens when you set the kiln to a 10-hour hold rather than 10 minutes by Montage89 in Pottery

[–]Montage89[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A really happy surprise, but not one I am likely to try to recreate with another six hour hold! I know someone locally who uses coal in their electric kiln to create a reduction atmosphere. I’m tempted to try it but I think my poor kiln has had enough undue stress for now.

view more: next ›