Pat Fleming6 hours ago1 min1-20-2021Decided to test my cone 5 clay for water absorption. it weighed 55.5 grams dry. We'll see how much it weighs after being soaked. Also ...
Pat Fleming4 days ago1 min1-16-2021Someone should kick me in the head. For 14 years we mixed clay from powder at Kamiakin High School and it never occurred to me to dry sc...
Pat Fleming5 days ago1 min1-15-2021Loaded the re-fire of cone 01 today to fire tomorrow. The bonzai guy contacted me and he wants to come over and pick see them. I told h...
Pat Fleming6 days ago1 min1-14-2021I think cone 01 is going to work. I am re-glazing some already fired pots and am holding my breath. I really like the clay and think I w...
Pat FlemingJan 101 min1-9-21Wednesday was interesting. We saw a bunch of MAGA folks invade the Congress and vandalize the place. On a good note, I have figured out...
Pat FlemingJan 51 min1-4-2021I am making bonsai pots. I decided to make room in the shed where I am blunging Othello clay now, en mass. I found a partial bag of sil...
Pat FlemingJan 31 min1-2-2021Wow, 2021! Only 18 more days until we, hopefully, get rid of the current resident in the White House. It's been a tough 4 years. I fir...
Pat FlemingDec 25, 20202 min12-25-2020Merry Christmas. The weather here is cold and wet so the clay is drying out so slooooowly. I am also struggling with a glaze for cone 1....
Pat FlemingDec 14, 20201 min12-13-2020WOW! The vitrification test is going great so far. The pot with water in it has not leaked and might not. The cone 2 test with 5% extr...
Pat FlemingDec 10, 20201 minDecember 10 2020It is really getting tiring waiting for pots and clay to dry. I have been running the kiln with the lid open for 30 minute intervals try...
Pat FlemingDec 7, 20201 minDecember 6, 2020I mixed some Othello clay with 2% bentonite, 5% sand and 5% silica. Wouldn't it cool if that made a marvelous clay? The problem is that...
Pat FlemingDec 5, 20201 min12-4-2020Did another bird painting and did a cone 8 test today. I think it is wrong to switch clay bodies at this time. I have a bunch of cone 5...
Pat FlemingDec 4, 20202 min12-3-2020Well this is troublesome. The Othello clay has 17% shrinkage and almost 3 % water absorption. I might add some Si and some sand to try ...
Pat FlemingNov 28, 20201 min11-27-2020Delivered soup bowls to Carol's today. I will start new ones tomorrow with "Thank You" on then for charities in Prosser. Also finished ...
Pat FlemingNov 26, 20201 min11-26-2020Happy Thanksgiving Day. It has become obvious that the native clay needs to be screened through the 80 mesh. I might have to add sand a...
Pat FlemingNov 26, 20201 min11-25-2020I am really excited about the native clay. I mixed a bunch of it and have made a mug with the new batch with the larger particles. I th...
Pat FlemingNov 24, 20201 min11-23-2020Interesting day. I had tested the glaze for the entire kiln load and opened it today. I immediately unloaded the larger kiln and re-gla...
Pat FlemingNov 22, 20201 min11-21-2020I just found out that a friend wasn't making a friendly suggestion but was ordering some soup bowls with handles. OOPS. I texted her to...
Pat FlemingNov 9, 20201 min11-08-2020We're still having trouble with cone 5 glaze. It seems fixable but it is a pain. The dirt glaze works Ok some of the time but is not re...
Pat FlemingNov 3, 20201 min11-2-2020Doing some clay sculpture. Also testing some cone 8 dirt glazes. The dirt just isn't working. I put too much borate in it. Did anothe...