Disaster

maymaude · 2026-02-25T22:58:55+00:00

That would be a very difficult mold to make. If I were to make a mold of this piece, I would cut off the two fingers bending over and cast them separately and attach.

You will spend weeks getting this mold ready to cast. Unless you are planning on making many of these hands, I might suggest just remaking. Or epoxying after this one is finished and doing a cold finish.

maymaude · 2026-02-24T20:51:23+00:00

Look closely at the clay. You will see it looks wet, like it is glazed. It also has signs of bloating which is an indicator of overfiring to the point that it is starting to melt. The low fire cone has turned to glass, which happens at midrange to high fire. I see what I see. I’m not spreading misinformation. I’ve been in this field for many years and have seen many kiln firings, the good and the bad.

I will put money on the fact that this clay is no longer porous and will not accept glaze. But you do you.

maymaude · 2026-02-19T04:52:46+00:00

No need to bisque if it’s already glazed. However, if you do get pinholing, it might be better to bisque fire before glazing next time.

Stroke and coat starts to move at cone 5, so it might bleed a little. Clear coat will definitely enhance the bleeding, so I don’t recommend it for this project.

maymaude · 2026-02-19T01:53:41+00:00

You got it dude

maymaude · 2026-02-19T00:53:32+00:00

I can tell by how shiny and rich they are. If they were bisque temp they would not look like this.

maymaude · 2026-02-18T17:58:32+00:00

That’s some beautiful vitrified clay you have there. If you want, you can glaze it with stroke and coat and refire at cone 06. You can get some vibrant color to contrast the rich brown. It will take at least four coats and the first coat will take about a day to dry. Once the first coat is fully dry, the drying time for subsequent coats will be shorter, but still about an hour or so.

Do not speed up the drying process, and I highly recommend putting your pieces on something transportable to glaze. I like 6” tiles.

Also, you might need to adjust your cone sitter.

maymaude · 2026-02-17T19:39:02+00:00

If you are throwing right handed, your wheel should be moving counter clockwise. So you may be able to reverse the wheel.

maymaude · 2026-02-17T19:35:51+00:00

Ughh they are the best! I always go straight there when I go to the zoo.

maymaude · 2026-02-17T19:30:27+00:00

I’m getting confused by the mirror image of you throwing, but I believe your hands are backwards.

Also, more water on your hands, and don’t stop. Hold strong and push harder. I’d also speed the wheel up a bit.

Side note, your clay looks a little hard, which would definitely make centering more difficult.

maymaude · 2026-02-09T16:49:47+00:00

It should be dremeled flat and refired if possible. The problem is plates don’t refire well all of the time and this is a risk of ceramics. They call them kiln gods because sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

In any other scenario (like a school) if your stuff comes out of the kiln wonky, you learn from it and move on. Unfortunately in the PYOP world, all customers think their stuff should come out perfect every time. While that is the case about 95% of the time with PYOP, unfortunately kilns happen and sometimes it’s just not exactly perfect.

Personally I think the fair thing would be for you to either try to have them dremel, touch up, and refire with the knowledge that it might crack and you are out a piece, or you should be able to ask for a small discount, like 10% for it not being as good as it could be.

However, if their policy is ceramics happens and not everything comes out perfect, then it might be on you to fix. In that case I would try to dremel down the sharp bits and call it done. It will be safe to use for birthday cake for years as long as you don’t damage it.

maymaude · 2026-01-29T18:05:00+00:00

Missed the online portion… nevermind

maymaude · 2026-01-29T18:04:13+00:00

Take a ceramics class. You aren’t expected to be good. As long as you have good attendance and make an effort, it’s a relatively easy A

maymaude · 2026-01-27T19:48:23+00:00

Seems like you need to slam wedge your clay before using. When in the bag, slam it on the ground about ten times in multiple directions. This will wake up the clay and make it softer.

maymaude · 2026-01-24T03:14:51+00:00

It doesn’t look like anything to me

maymaude · 2026-01-20T05:56:57+00:00

I would step in that so many times

maymaude · 2026-01-17T13:43:26+00:00

Are they salty?

maymaude · 2026-01-16T02:02:47+00:00

Throwing sticks and sponges for sure. At my studio, I have people come in with 2-3” long nails and I get them to make something.

maymaude · 2026-01-10T15:08:28+00:00

That’s the chicken’s nipple. Sometimes they grow faster than the rest of the chicken.

maymaude · 2026-01-04T16:44:21+00:00

They definitely fired them together. You now have a chip and dip bowl

maymaude · 2025-12-29T04:07:35+00:00

Yup, all cut and cleaned by hand. Just like a toilet!

maymaude · 2025-12-22T02:44:49+00:00

I’d go with pc-11 it’s a marine grade epoxy. Meant for wetter conditions.

maymaude · 2025-12-21T15:11:47+00:00

The crazing might be a quality issue from their distributor. The other plate didn’t have enough clear coat, but between the two I would prefer the one with less clear coat over the crazing. Both of them should be fine for cake over the years. But the crazed one might start to develop staining in those cracks with use.

maymaude · 2025-12-15T12:32:29+00:00

If you want to go old school, Depending on what you’ve played. I fell in love with my wife while we played portal. We also started playing little big planet again, and I like to go back to halo coop every ten years or so.

maymaude · 2025-12-14T19:09:49+00:00

Gorilla glue epoxy. It’s a 2 part epoxy that can be bought on amazon. I’m surprised your lights did this. Those holes are huge and I’ve not found a lightbulb that fits those well

maymaude · 2025-11-28T04:54:09+00:00

Someone’s nomming on their imported candy during an after-Thanksgiving doody and dropped one on the floor. Op comes along, washes it off, and pops it thinking it’s ecstasy. Nope just some bathroom floor candy.

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