I feel like cones are probably one of the strangest parts of ceramics jargon to beginners/non-potters, especially with the arbitrary and variable temperatures and the 01/1 numbering system.
But they're actually an ingenious way of standardising a measurement of heatwork, which is a crucial firing concept that would be quite vague otherwise. Cones are made using a glaze recipe that would melt fully several cones hotter than their target firing. If you've ever accidentally put an 06 cone into a cone 6 firing and come back to a puddle where the cone used to be, that's why. You can make them yourself fairly easily if you wanted, or make your own version with different chemistry, but the standardisation and consistency is part of what makes them so valuable.
They have their limitations, but for the most part it's not an issue with the cones themselves, just a misunderstanding of what the cones can and can't tell us. They're a great way to measure a variable, but that's one part in a far more complex picture.
Modern kiln controllers/thermocouples mean that the physical cones are often not required for consistent firings, but I still periodically put the physical cones into firings to check that the schedule is firing in the same way it used to. They're also great for understanding the variation within a kiln. Some shelves can fire hotter/colder than others, and knowing exactly how your kiln behaves is valuable to avoid firing disappointments.
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Food colouring can't be used to colour ceramics in the same way that stains or oxides can, but that doesn't make it less useful!
In my experience, most things will burn off completely in a bisque firing, but some coloured pens/pencils will use red iron as one of their colourants. It can be a cheap way to get a pen/pencil that can mark clay in a way that survives the firing, but that's only an upside if you were expecting it!
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There are several different ways the coloured slip (liquid clay) can be applied to a mug and they'll produce different results. This more controlled chaos is one of my favoutire approaches.
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Drippy Glazes - They're one of my favourite things to look at pictures of, but can be more frustrating to attempt! They're walking a fine line between too little and too much, which can be a very delicate balance sometimes.
You can make life easier by controlling the drips. This can be through the application, the chemistry, or the physical setup you use in the kiln. Any of these can make success more likely.
The main thing is to just put enough glaze on. Depending on the glaze and firing, this can be a LOT more than you're comfortable with.
Once you reach the point of getting the drips you wanted, there's the risk of going too far and sticking the piece to the shelf. Drip catchers with a raised center are great for this, as they give a little more space for the drip to form. You can kiln wash them, or even fill the recess with silica sand. This will prevent the drips from sticking to the catcher. The drips can be easily sanded back with a diamond grinding disc.
This will vary from clay to clay, and probably based on how much you work the clay when throwing (although I didn't find a noticeable difference when I tried to vary this in my tests).
The clay will stretch out as it's thrown, but some of this will reverse as it dries. So if you're throwing with an anticlockwise wheel, the top will essentially turn a few degrees anticlockwise as it dries.
In theory, you can compensate for this when attaching handles. But even with a laser guide to help me, I'd say that I'm doing well to get within 1mm of perfectly aligned anyway. So the untwisting effect is probably smaller than my margin of error!
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A drip catcher is similar to placing a flat slab of clay underneath a piece, but the raised center can make a big difference to the effectiveness.
I throw mine with anywhere from 25-150g of stoneware, and I can reuse them dozens of times without issue. I generally do bisque them before using, as it makes them easier to load into the kiln with a mug on, but it's not essential.
And you can brush kiln wash onto them to help the glaze release. Also not essential, but can be worth the effort.
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Edit: Giveaway closed, the winner is @preaface . Congrats!
Giveaway! I've posted the 3D print files for these sieves to Makerworld, and also made them available to order premade through my shop if you don't have access to a 3D printer.
They are designed to fit onto multiple sizes of Amaco and Mayco glaze containers, so it's easier to sieve directly into them when reusing the pots.
The raised sections on the outside are there to allow air to flow out as the glaze passes through, to prevent an airlock from forming.
The three different colours each have a different mesh size, from 80 to 120, and they can be bought from me separately or as a set of three.
To win a set of three, just comment below and tag someone else who might be interested. I'll ship the prize sieves anywhere in the world for free.
Good luck!
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If you don't want to design your own, I've just posted the stepped two finger version to MakerWorld (link in bio).
These are really fun and easy to design, so I'm happy to put a selection of designs up on MakerWorld if anyone is interested. The only other design I have ready to go is the one finger version of the stepped handle shown at the end, but let me know what other shapes you'd want and I can throw a few different designs together.
And if you want to use Plasticity, you can try it for free and should be able to get 10% off the one time cost (no subscription!) using the code OLDFORGE
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A few suggestions for ways to set up your studio and life to minimise the chance of an injury.
I've been lifting weights for around half my life at this point (with varying degrees of regularity and effort, depending on what else is going on in my life (e.g. having a child)), which definitely makes it easier to move bags of clay and buckets of glaze, but it's still worth making sure that I store them somewhere that doesn't involve twisting awkwardly. In my experience, you can deadlift hundreds of kilos safely then injure yourself when carelessly unloading the plates from the bar and reracking them in an awkward position.
So if you take nothing else from this, I'd highly recommend looking critically at your workspace to see if there are any changes you can make to reduce the awkwardness of heavy or repetitive tasks. These are the changes you make once and don't have to think about again, the benefit of a sensible studio layout is entirely passive and will add up to a significant amount over time!
/blog/pain-free-pottery
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If you use a two finger grip when holding a mug, you should try out a handle like this (especially if you're a potter, and can make one yourself!)
It doesn't work at all for other grips, particularly not the one where you hold the mug body with your fingers inside the handle (but I'd argue that grip isn't actually using the handle at all anyway, so buying something with a handle was a bad choice in the first place if you want to do that).
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