Karen Gatti Foster
  • Female
  • Spring, TX
  • United States
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Karen Gatti Foster's Page

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What is your experience with ceramics in general. (Long answer encouraged)
I began with lessons in 1998, with two separate mentors, very different in their styles and approaches to clay. My love was the wheel, and by 1999, I had built a Home Studio addition to my home. Over the next couple of years, I gathered equipment. My first wheel was one of dubious origin...manufactured somewhere, we think, in South America, and from a Convent, it's about 60 years old. I followed that fairly quickly with a Shimpo. Due to a large failure rate of glazes and firing with my mentors (bless them), I began to formulate my own glazes and decided to buy my own kiln. I then built a Kiln house, adding a used manual, small kiln, followed the next year with a Skutt KM-1227, or Big Bertha, as I call her. I began small, as we all do, but then fell in love with bigger pots. I began to make Composite Pots, large Urns that speak to my Italian heritage. At some point, around 2003, it all ended, many reasons, many issues, I guess I had an Artistic Breakdown, mostly connected with my Angst around Sales, Pushy Gallery Owners, etc. I recently have returned to Throwing. Glazing is a big issue with me. The glazes I made, back in the day, are still there, I'm in the middle of remixing, sieving and all the 'fun' parts of that. I'm experimenting with purchased glazes, but that would force me to stay small...and that's just not my thing. How to glaze the large pots, going back to Glaze Formulation for the new look I'm wanting...it's all just making me tired. Help!!! A little encouragement would be nice...maybe some new ideas for this old head. My family, Bless them, hasn't a clue, not an artist in the bunch.
What is your current involvement with electric fired ceramics? (long answer encouraged)
At the moment, I'm experimenting with purchased glazes, on a shoe-string budget. I have, from my past in formulation, pounds of raw ingredients, but i just don't have the room or the patience, really, to start that process again. Plus, I had about a 10 year hiatus, so I'll have to relearn what I did know...yawn. I'll probably change my mind, but that's another process. LOL
All our content is viewable by the public. Why do you want to be a member, when you can already see everything as a non-member?
I'd really love to get in there and discuss issues/solutions, to encourage others, to share my tips and tricks as well as to get a few pointers I haven't thought of.
Where do you work on your ceramics projects?
home studio
How did you find this network?
search engine

Karen Gatti Foster's Blog

Begining Agan

Posted on October 3, 2014 at 2:51pm 0 Comments

I'm officially down the Rabbit Hole. After a 10 year hiatus from Clay, but not from Art, I've come back to the Wheel. I'm starting where I left off, in a way, because my interests are very similar, Large Pots.

Yes, I make tiny bowls, that's another love, and a challenge to trim in the perfect foot, and keeping up with the fast drying time so I can carve in some details, another love. These are a Max of 3" wide, mainly used as Ring Catchers or for condiments, like Soy Sauce, or Hot Sauce,… Continue

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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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