New User Guide

Welcome!

After a long period of dormancy our little network is finally showing signs of life. New members are joining and others are contributing. With this new level of activity there is a possibility of the network becoming extremely disorganized. By providing the members with some basic guidelines we may be able to keep the content on this network more coherent.

The content that you add will determine the level of success or failure of this network. Should you have any trouble using the features of this network, just send me a message by going to my member profile page (George Lewter) and clicking the "send a message" link in the left column.


Your Member Page ( Tabbed "My Page")

  • This is your personal space on our network and you can do with it what you like. On your page you can change the appearance and theme of the page, bring in applications, and really make it your own.
  • You can have a blog on your page and post your current thinking on just about anything. A blog is a place where you think out loud. People can comment, but it's more about you.
  • You can start a discussion and your page will maintain a list of all your discussions. They will also be accessible on the "Forum" tab at the top of all the network pages. This is where you go when you really want to know what others are thinking about an issue that is of common interest. Note on 5/10/2010. There is a new WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) text editor for creating discussions. It has more capabilities for formatting your text than was previously possible. There is an in-depth HELP topic on the editor if you want to learn more about how to use it.
  • You can post up to 100 pictures of yourself, your work, and other work you're interested in, or that inspires you. Be aware that posting copyrighted images could get you into legal difficulties. Your images can be high resolution with file sizes up to 10 MB. For the benefit of your viewers please add some text explanation to your pictures, so they have context. Your pictures will form a slideshow on your page, and they will rotate in with all of the rest of the members' pictures on the group slideshow on our main page. Clicking on a slideshow image should call up a larger higher resolution image with the creator's notes, a place to rate the photo and to comment about it as well as seeing others' comments. Clicking on it one more time should bring up the photo at its highest resolution, enabling you to zoom in on its fine detail.

Pictures

You can add pictures (usually of your work) quite easily from the photos tab at the top of all our pages, or from the "My Photos" section of your profile page. Just click on the "Add Photos" link and a box will open, giving you options for adding photos. Generally you will browse to where the pictures are stored on your computer, and then upload them to our network. All the pictures you add in this way will end up in your "My Photos" collection.


Comments

Most of the features on the network are followed by areas where members can comment on what they've just experienced. Whenever possible respond in these areas, so the conversation stays together. If you respond to a discussion I've started in the forums, and you put your comment on your or my profile page, then the context and continuity of the discussion will be lost.

The text boxes where you can type in text usually have a small tool bar at the top. You can select some text and click one of the first four buttons to format your text in Bold, Italic, Underlined, or struck through styles.
If you want a hyperlink in your text:

  • Open a new browser window and navigate to the page where you want to direct your reader.
  • Select the Web address (URL) of that page and copy it to your clipboard.
  • Back in the text box you are working on, type in and select the text that you want the reader to click on (the text that will become the hyperlink).
  • On the tool bar at the top of the text box click on the little chain icon. It will pop up a dialog box that will prompt you for the URL of your destination Web page. Highlight the "http://" that is already there, and paste-in the URL that you copied earlier.
  • HTML code will replace the text you had highlighted in the text box. Do not disturb any of it. You can continue typing normally after the last ">" in the code section. If you know HTML you can enhance your writing by adding in the appropriate tags.
  • All of the "Comments" text boxes on the network will accept html tags that you can use to format your text in more complex ways than the few buttons at the top of the comment box will allow. Basic HTML is quite easy to learn and put into practice. There are many free tutorials online that can get you putting together web pages quite quickly. http://www.w3schools.com is one source with many html tutorials

Comment

You need to be a member of Electric Mid&Hi Fired Ceramics to add comments!

Join Electric Mid&Hi Fired Ceramics

Comment by George Lewter on November 29, 2009 at 6:57pm
Re: Peggy's, "Teach us all you know to set this up." I'm not sure what it is you wanted to set up?
Comment by George Lewter on November 29, 2009 at 6:50pm
Badges? We don't need no steenking badges! ;-)
I have been playing with them just a little and it appears that facebook is blocking the graphic part of the badges, but the link will appear on your facebook profile page in a tab called Boxes (near the top of the page). If you click the boxes tab, it will show you a list of your links. If you click the pencil at the top right of the Boxes window a menu will open allowing you to post them to your wall.
Comment by Roz Weinberger on November 29, 2009 at 2:29pm
I am curious, joan and jess, did you get a answer? Roz
Comment by Margaret Thompson Arial ''Peggy' on October 7, 2009 at 5:25pm
I spent way too much time trying to send the badge to Facebook,sorry I coud not make it happen.I had hoped to use it to direct my contacts to this site.HELP!
Comment by Margaret Thompson Arial ''Peggy' on October 6, 2009 at 11:24pm
Teach us all you know to set this up as it is not our usual strength.Thanks.

Videos

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Use These Links to Support Us

Low cost flat lapping disc can be used on you potters wheel if you, drill bat pin holes in it, and provide a trickle of water to cool it. At amazon.com, 120 grit for aggressive material removal. Click the image to purchase 

Members have had great things to say about John Britt's new book, Mid-Range Glazes. Click the image to buy from Amazon.com

Purchase Glazes Cone 6 by Michael Bailey, The Potters Book of Glaze Recipes by Emmanuel Cooper, or Making Marks by Robin Hopper, all available at amazon.comMastering Cone 6 Glazes by John Hesselberth & Ron Roy is now out of print.

Harbor Freight is a great place to find unbeatable prices for better HVLP spray guns with stainless steel parts and serviceable economy models, as well as detail guns, all tested by our members for spraying glazes, as well as compressors to power the guns. As yet no one has tested and commented on the remarkably inexpensive air brushes at harbor freight.

The critter siphon gun is a spray alternative that is well liked by some of our members, and is available at amazon.

Amazon is also a competitive source for photo light tents for shooting professional quality pictures of your work. They also have the EZ Cube brand favored by several of our members. You might also want to purchase the book Photographing Arts, Crafts and Collectibles . . .

If you are up to creating videos of your work or techniques you might want to invest in a flip video camera

Following are a few scales useful for potters. Ohaus Triple Pro Mechanical Triple Beam Balance, 2610g x 0.1g, with Tare $169.00

And finally a low cost clone of the OHaus. The Adam Equipment TBB2610T Triple Beam Mechanical Balance With Tare Beam $99.62

ebay is a great alternative for many tools and the equipment used in the ceramics studio - kilns, wheels, extruders, slab rollers are often listed there both new and used.

Tips for Members

If you just want to spout off, it is best accomplished as a blog posting. If you want to get more guidance and ideas from other members, ask a question as a new discussion topic. In the upper right corner of the lists for both types of posting, you will find an "+Add " button. Clicking it will open an editor where you create your posting. 4/16/2014

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