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Bowl edges? Flat lap? Why not a belt sander? I would never use the SW machine I once had to do bowl edges, for the Bee belt sander was so much more forgiving. If you want flat bottoms on warped bowls or vases made of Baroque which has uneven thickness, then the lap is the way to go. Brian's system i...

I know of one studio here on the west coast that claims, using cullet they are having specially formulated and batched for themselves, to be able to use a wide range of COE colours and still have compatibility. Kevin in Tofino

Soft sponge rubber hockey pucks are great to stand noisy equipment on. Just be sure the machine cannot walk off them. Kevin in Tofino.

Be sure when you are wiring to take into account voltage drop over the length of the wires feeding your sub panels, kilns etc. Don't skimp or try and go cheap on the size of your kiln feed wires. Also there are different ways of installing sub panels. It is best not to try and save money for in the ...

Geri for instant displays check out http://www.nomadicdisplay.com Spendy but truly beautiful to use. An 8ft x 10ft wall in seconds.
Kevin in Tofino

Simple answer to the problem is to not make sinks. Kevin in Tofino

Graham's book is available at Artisan books in Australia. It will take a month or so to get to North America (had a sticker on the box saying held for security inspection). They take airmail seriously down there. I complained I hadn't got the book after a month and it arrived the following week. Wor...

Cheaper is a box of washing soda, hot water and a piece of aluminum foil. Mix the washing soda with the water in a bowl, put the aluminum on the bottom and touch your dirty silver piece to the foil. Instant cleaning.
Kevin

I have ten small kilns for the flexibility it provides. I can fire them 2 times a day and if I want to work around the clock and crash cool and then open the kilns at 700, I can do 4 firings a day. However each speeding up of the process increases the risk of producing cracked works. How fast do you...

Who designed the kiln? Sounds like they needed some more knowledge of the expansion of materials. Welding everything together on the bottom of the kiln will not allow for expansion to take place. Watch out for new problems. Kevin in Tofino

The copper foil from Michael's is probably coated so it does not tarnish in the store. Any suggestions for coating leaf so that it doesn't turn black? My tests on variegated leaf have been disappointing. For those of you in the cold, the daffodils are up about two inches in Tofino but winter isn't o...

Get an odd-job (that isd what it is called) Canadian made cement mixer for mixing mold materials. It is a small plastic barrel with baffles inside that is designed for a full bag of redimix cement. You dump in your materials lock on the lid and roll it across the floor. Works fast. They are under $4...

Air filter companies can supply ready made frames for standard size specialized filters. They can also supply something known as tack oil that can be sprayed on filters that will continually encapsulate the particles in the air. Air brush spray will stay in the air for a phenominal time. How are you...

Re Brock's idea of crushing light bulbs.

Probably the judges would take a dim view of it seeing as the bulbs didn't work. Kevin in Tofino

Rubbing alcohol can leave an oil film behind that can interfere with glueing. Kevin in Tofino

The danger of running cold kilns is not the cold so much as condensation that can form on the controller circuitry that could possibly cause a malfunction. Kevin in Tofino.

The fact that the controller "may" have to compensate during the firing schedule is what I am talking about. People using the irrid glass are looking for possible reasons for their problems. I just wish to point out that some things everyone thinks are the same are not always exactly the s...

Firing shedules at this time of year are longer as the supplied voltages are commonly lower owing to the massive power consumption of colder weather and holiday lighting demands. This "invisible" extra firing time could be allowing more bubbles to form. Try firing after midnight when gener...

The question is what names and addresses they are giving you. Look in any phone book and you will find a "bunch" of gift stores. Only a small percentage of them are what you most likely would ever want to have represent your work. Old phone books from the area in which you wish to sell can...

Beach sand is dull, not sharp for blasting. The dust is incredible. It can be used but it isn't a good idea in terms of health and working time which is much slower than using a commercial abrasive like aluminum oxide.
Kevin