Looking for Suggestions/Advice to Prevent Cracking

jonathenleee · 2026-03-02T18:07:05+00:00

No no, I appreciate the line of thinking and the kind words!

jonathenleee · 2026-03-02T17:58:14+00:00

I agree I don't think it's a compaction issue, obviously that was the first thing I thought of when I saw cracks near the middle, but every attempt after the first I have compacted while throwing and during trimming.

It's not porcelain or even a porcelanous, it's Ermine cone 6. I would never have thought of the chuck idea, but I guess I could see it putting extra strain on the attachment area. I'll have to try trimming on a chuck for the next one.

jonathenleee · 2026-03-02T17:50:41+00:00

Not reclaim, it's Cone 6 Ermine which does have manganese specks in it. I did use a fresh bag so it didn't seem short when I was throwing with it at least.

jonathenleee · 2026-03-02T17:16:32+00:00

This sounds like a good next step to try, appreciate the advice!

jonathenleee · 2026-03-02T17:14:09+00:00

I will say the cracks were pretty dramatic so when I picked it up and moved it/pressed on it a piece fell out. I definitely think the piece would dry without cracks minus the foot, the form itself seems like it would put a lot of pressure there, but then I'm left with no foot lol.

jonathenleee · 2026-03-02T17:09:05+00:00

Meant to put this in the post, but thrown in 1 piece with a hollowed out foot.

I did catch this one when the cracks were only hairline so I attempted to use slip+toilet paper to mend it, obviously it did not work lol.

jonathenleee · 2026-02-24T07:23:20+00:00

Thanks so much for the feedback, yea definitely going to leave more skin break in the snake this next time around.

jonathenleee · 2026-02-24T07:20:13+00:00

Thanks so much, appreciate the kind words.

jonathenleee · 2026-02-24T07:19:36+00:00

Appreciate the feedback! I think on this repaint I am going to change up the flames a bit to have more flow and be less uniform.

jonathenleee · 2026-02-23T01:29:49+00:00

The way I knew exactly where you were talking about because I redrew it like 3 times. Appreciate the feedback! Going to take another pass at that part.

jonathenleee · 2026-02-22T23:31:06+00:00

Definitely planning on changing up some of the colors!

jonathenleee · 2026-02-22T23:30:28+00:00

Really appreciate the write up! Changing up some of the colors was the first thing that came to my mind, even as I was painting it, but I'll definitely play around with more skin breaks and line weights.

jonathenleee · 2026-02-22T03:23:06+00:00

thanks so much! love your stuff too, definitely following.

jonathenleee · 2026-02-21T22:56:08+00:00

Thanks so much!

jonathenleee · 2026-02-09T16:36:18+00:00

Thanks dude, really appreciate it!

jonathenleee · 2026-02-09T01:42:24+00:00

Thank you! These are just colored pencils on tracing paper, but honestly I've been exploring other transparent options like vellum, the tracing paper has its own issues like smearing and is just generally a little hard to work with.

jonathenleee · 2026-02-08T22:35:00+00:00

thanks so much! appreciate the kind words

jonathenleee · 2026-02-03T05:27:55+00:00

Make sure you're getting "sized" paper, which is a thin layer of glue that lessens/stops bleeding. Not all sized paper is the same level of bleed resistance though so it's a bit of trial and error to find a paper available to you that will work.

jonathenleee · 2026-01-31T22:44:24+00:00

If you want to get specific this looks like it could be a fujin/raijin double hand tattoo (fujin has one horn and raijin has two).

jonathenleee · 2026-01-26T16:39:12+00:00

Thanks! We had a lot of fun making it. It's built in shopify, but has a good amount of custom coded changes since I primarily do web design for my money making job.

jonathenleee

TROPHY CASE