So my buddy & I just finished the last of these urns.  They are for a certain building over in Fort Collins, Colorado. They ordered 10 of them total.  We ended up making 19 total when all was said and done & delivered. We had breakage issues and a few glaze issues that we had to work through. In the beginning I was helping throw sections, but in the end I just helped get the clay wedged and took the torch to the sections and then I fired them & glazed them.  Just glad it's all…

So the last couple of weeks during some down time at work, I was able to mix up a bunch of glazes and do some test tiles...  Now how do I get them home w/o ruining them!?!

Mission accomplished!!!!…

So Simon was in town last night, well, actually for a few nights but he gave a demo at our local supplier, Capital Ceramics.  It was quite interesting & it was fun to meet him.  Learned a few tricks even though I don't do much small stuff.  A good time was had by all!!!  jhp

A few years back I had bought this used Skutt KM 818.  It was in decent shape when I bought it but after changing the elements a few times, I started to have to use way too many element pins and the bottom & sides had had a few mishaps, so when I found this L&L J18 on our local wants ads, I snagged it up.  The only place this kiln looked worn is on the top, the inside was pristine!!!  So, I took the controller & S-TC out of the Skutt, took the manual controls off the L&L and…

This is the first pot out of the new LLutt.  It's the combo of Frogskin over Magic.  When I refire it in the bisque, it should turn nice & red.  jhp

Check out the new Coyote glazes.  3 macros, an Aventurine & an Iron Red.  All slow-cooled......jhp

So this was my first attempt at a chemically reduced copper red of my own making.  Still fine tuning the formula & application, but was pleased with this first effort.  Many things still to try to work towards the perfect look!  jhp

I have been testing for weeks & weeks & should have done the tests last summer, but I am finally almost there.  Fairly acceptable results, just a few months too late!    jhp…

Hi Michael,

    here are the 2 tests that I fired for him.  On the brown one he had a run of glaze that he should have wiped off.  It ran & made the test pot tip over.  We fired them on just thin strips of brick.  jhp…

OK, so I scored BIG today!  I was at one of my not so local suppliers & they let me go back & look on their shelves, 'cause I had been asking about lead products and I was able to snag 18 lbs. of lead bi-silicate & 15 lbs. of red lead oxide.  I know, I know!  I wear gloves & a respirator when I mix & spray and I don't make anything utilitarian.  I only use this stuff in crystalline glazes and am very careful to keep it high up & put away.  In fact, I think I will go…

Does anybody have an inexpensive source for elements? L&L, Euclids & Duralite are all too expensive!  My regular source is on hiatus....  jhp

Well, after 380 firings, my e18t errored out and it was time to put new elements in.  I have been waiting for months for this, especially after hitting 300.  Did I say that I love hard ceramic element holders?  Not only do they give some protection from mis-haps, but they make changing elements such s breeze!  They just come right out.  I did however break a couple bolts on the ceramic terminals, so I had to order those.  Ordered a few extra so that I'll have them on hand.  Still beats…

Here are a bunch of Mayco layering tests(112 to be exact)  What a pain, but a lot of good info!  jhp

 A while ago, some of the buttons on the control panel on my little Skutt KM-818 stopped working.  I asked around & ended up sending it to Bartlett to have it repaired.  Just this last week I was able to get it all put back together(I upgraded to an S-tc at the same time).  Well, instead of repairing my old board, those nice boys at Bartlett sent me a re-furbished 700 board.  Now how cool is that!?!  In the menu, you can set it to prompt you for a pre-heat time every time you do a Cone…

So after doing some tests, here are the 1st couple real pots.  This is how they came out of their first glaze firing.  Next they will be re-fired in a bisque & then they will be sprayed with the wash & re-fired in another glaze firing.  I will post pics after each firing to document the process.…

Does anybody know what the story is with Eric?  He has not posted on his blog for over a year now & I thought he was a member of this group as well, but can't find him in the member list.  I have been using some of his wash recipes with great success & was wanting to ask him what other directions he had gone with them before I start experimenting more with them.  Any info would be helpful.  Jeff

A while back somebody posted a photo of a pot with a white matt glaze with a light green glaze over it  The white matt had rutile in it & was very nice layered under other glazes.  Several of us asked about the recipe.  It was given  I mixed up a 100 gram test batch & did several tests under a lot of different glazes, most of which came out very nice.  It is time to mix up a larger batch & I cannot find the recipe, nor can I find it here on the forum, not even the picture!!  I…

I was just notified that I won a "Special Merit" Award from Mayco.  The only caveat is that you had to use only their glazes & of course they own the piece now. They will photograph it for real & use it in their marketing.  I apologize that this is only earthenware, but it was fun to enter & of course fun to win.  I used their Copper Aventurine with Black Cobblestone over it.…