[Clayart] Great Pottery throw down/ mending big lamp base w/ glaze

[Snail Scott]

On Jan 28, 2022, at 9:52 AM, Corinna Laird <ceylaird at gmail.com> wrote:
> ...The teacher wanted me to load still-damp pieces, even ones that were still squishy! I asked, are you serious?? He said, yeah, just put it all in. I asked, how long do you preheat for? Turns out the program preheats for 15 hours…


I have had to do this, when teaching. I simply can’t wait until things dry naturally, or return to campus to load a day or two later. I try to never load actual soft work. However, once it’s turned pale at the edges, most of the shrinkage is over with. I can fire the work faster and get it back to students sooner, if I do a very long candle (8-12 hours, then a brief ramp and a fast firing, with a brief soak at peak. Never had anything blow up this way that wasn’t over an inch thick, and I can get the work back to the students two days later in the next class session. Class schedules do not always favor clay’s ideal timeline, so we make it work as best we can.

-Snail