Stoned...

[HorseloverFat]

You’ll “click in”.. lose yourself in the miniaturization-style construction and you’ll BLINK.. and it will be done...

..it’s been 3 hours!?

...I’m thirsty!

 

[CodeMonkey]

then while you carve/texture the pieces, they will becoming mors plastic, closer to leather-hard

I've wondered if putting something like a damp towel or sponge in the bucket with the structure would keep it from getting too hard, seeing as it should start to equalise to the humidity in there.

Have you tried anything similar, or do you always manage to complete the structures before that point?

 

[HorseloverFat]

I've wondered if putting something like a damp towel or sponge in the bucket with the structure would keep it from getting too hard, seeing as it should start to equalise to the humidity in there.

Have you tried anything similar, or do you always manage to complete the structures before that point?

Yes!! I use to have to go “backwards” sometimes.. like stall or ADD to moisture content... I used cotton balls.. I’ve used damp paper towel as well..

Also used fingernail sized bits of OVER moist clay WITHIN the environment to stabilize moisture.

 

[TinyArt]

I picture you making a raised-bed planter for a BIG saikei landscape/pre-bonsai nursery, with pockets of REALLY nifty scenery

 

[HorseloverFat]

I picture you making a raised-bed planter for a BIG saikei landscape/pre-bonsai nursery, with pockets of REALLY nifty scenery

I’ve considered that too!!

Like from the Chinese Penjing Scrolls!!

 

[HorseloverFat]

I’m thinkin’ also... like an orchard house.. like a little shack at the front of the orchard, with a bar counter where you buy apples?

Or is that just called a farm stand?

 

[TinyArt]

You've jogged my memory -- they're probably gone by now, but I remember some really old pocket-sized citrus groves on the back roads, with really beautiful & distinctive old trunks -- always meant to go back w/camera or to do sketches. "Big(-ish) trees that look like bonsai..."
A handful of crusty ol' bonsai, with a little "honor" stand? Absolutely!!!

 

[Crawforde]

I’ve seen some of those old orchards. Really cool trees. They usually look their best right before they succumb to blight, or get replaced with new varieties, or get destroyed.
watched one own the street get bulldozed and now it a housing development.
there is one of those stands near a mango grove not too far from here. Great mangoes.
mine of the plots near the road often looks like a grove of Minecraft trees.
mice been tempted to do a similar bonsai since seeing that.
maybe a boxwood.
sorry

 

[HorseloverFat]

@CodeMonkey , sometimes planning it out, to scale, can give you an idea of the amount of clay and pieces you’ll use. As well as size/number of “slow-drying apparatuses.

 

[CodeMonkey]

sometimes planning it out, to scale, can give you an idea of the amount of clay and pieces you’ll use.

Good idea. it certainly beats my, just roll out some clay and hope for the best approach!

 

[HorseloverFat]

Good idea. it certainly beats my, just roll out some clay and hope for the best approach!

That can work too.. AFTER you have a few structures “logged” in the muscle memory, and “under your belt”

All in time...

 

[HorseloverFat]

Your skill level increases quickly with this small detail work.. you learn things that help your process of “events” so that you can take more time to focus ON those details..

Like.. TinyArt. Has the first structure I ever made... pit-fired ..carved from a tiny, semi-hard block...

This one.. is the first structure I made that got a proper firing..

Local clay.. I have many “recipes” I forget which this is..
THIS is the first structure I made using stoneware.
BOTH are not, in my opinion, “up to par” with my structure building NOW.. but were only made like 9mos-1 year ago.

For comparison.. I made the above chicken coop two days ago.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Some pieces, from my texture experiments (Also got into textured, over-slip imprinting).. past slow dry.. into open air.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Working on this Fire Damaged Cottage..We’ll see how the different clays react.. I TRIED to construct it so that even “worse case scenarios (pertaining to the union of the clays)” would not affect structural integrity TOO much.
There is black slip brushed into those “fire-damage texture” areas”.. I’m excited to see how the colors mature.

 

[TinyArt]

Fire Damaged Cottage

interesting experiment -- I'm interested in how different colored clays behave together!

 

[HorseloverFat]

interesting experiment -- I'm interested in how different colored clays behave together!

Me too!! We’ll see!

 

[HorseloverFat]

All wares at least sat 180 degreesF for 8-10 hours.. pieces that were to be glazed, were glazed... no issues... stacking the kiln with a new-ish top-shelf arrangement to alleviate the “loss of energy” i experienced last fire, Shall fire tomorrow or the next day. Then bring my kiln in for some bricking “touch up” (will have many more questions at that time )

 

[HorseloverFat]

Also planning on using an electric blanket, or submerging my tanks.. to keep my pressure during the final 1/3 consistent... my lines don’t freeze, due to the regulator hose I use, but my tank starts icing up towards that last 1/3.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Uuuhg!! Off to a smashing (somewhat injured) start!

 

[HorseloverFat]

In Wisconsin, “No chance for rain!”.. meeeans...