OK no problem! My schedule is all of over the place so I'm not sure the exact time I'll be in next, but hopefully I'll see you soon.

Hi Donna! There are so many variables at play. Do you have any photos of the glaze results? Ned

Omg. Funnnny you mention Umoja. This is a quote from Jared in our slack channel, "I haven’t wanted to speak it into existence but Mar Sara has been behaving very Umoja like and it’s scaryyyyy" Haha. Sadly, I'm not sure if Umoja will every come back. We never changed anything about Umoja before it become un-usably flakey which was very mysterious. The likely cause is a materials substitution. Suppliers shop around for materials like clay, feldspars and frits. The good news is for Mar Sara is actually that it has a history of being flakey in it's early days, so we have a good idea of possible ways to fix it. Not the case with Umoja. But seriously...don't compare it to Umoja too much or it might happen 👻

Hi! We're mixing a new batch this week with adjusted materials. It probably won't be mixed, tested and ready for use until Monday of next week I'd guess. We're waiting for calcined bone ash to come out of the kiln today.

!Update! Hi Leila - you were completely onto something here! Jared came back from vacation yesterday and told me the Mar Sara has been behaving wayyyy worse than normal and flaking. It's been pulled from the floor in Watertown. The source of the problem in this case is a materials one. The industry stopped producing Glomax. It's a calcined form of kaolin (meaning it's already been fired in a kiln once) and so helps with shrinking behavior on application. We made a substitution with regular EPK and reduced our bentonite addition, but it clearly made a problem. We're working on a fix. Stay tuned. Thanks. Ned

Hi Laura! Yes, there is a glaze/food safety flyer posted on the wall at each studio. There's also a collection of helpful information sheets at the glaze area in each studio which includes a Glaze Defects sheet, and a 'Glaze Card' for each glaze. The glaze cards have a general description of the glaze which will include defect tendencies, a drippiness scale, behavior in the bucket, and application tips. Really though, the easiest way to assess your a glaze combination is to scrutinize the tile. If the combination tends to craze, it will show up on the test tile. In regards to your Archon/Assad pots, the primary issue with crazing is that bacteria can live in the cracks. If you put the pots through the dishwasher, that does a good job killing the bacteria. Have a great week! Ned

Hi Laura, Renee, and Carolyn. I'm happy to address all of this :) I just responded to two posts regarding flakiness/crawling which you can check out and should help you navigate that issue. We had a couple of kiln misfires in June that were frustrating. We fire our four kilns non stop and so maintenance issues are expected. With that said, there are definitely some design quirks to our kilns that we feel are challenging. Regardless, when a kiln fails to reach temperature at a particular range, it leads to extra crawling. It's the 1,800-2000 degree range. Whenever we have a misfire that results in this, we always group the work together and leave a note. @Laura Mintz, crazing is a chemistry issue. Glazes that have high proportions of alkaline metals (sodium and potassium primarily) have high shrinkage rates and result in crazing. In early IF days, I steered away from crazing prone glazes because they can potentially affect how food safe a glaze is. We've decided that there are too many awesome glazes/colors to ignore though. As a reminder, all of our glazes are considered food safe if the glaze is well melted and free of major defects. The glazes that are chemically prone to crazing are: • Amber Crackle :) • Archon Blue • OFF Pink • Assad Black It's also worth noting that crazing occurs more dramatically on white clay bodies. @renee zale, unless your pot was in a section of the glaze pickup shelf that was marked as a misfire, the kiln got up to the right temperature. There are always very minor temperature differences in particular spots of the kiln (mostly the top and bottom shelves) that we monitor. @Carolyn Emberley, in an attempt to alleviate the infrequent, but consistent bloating we were seeing when we first introduced the charcoal brown clay, we modified are firing cycles slightly. We fire very slightly cooler, with a longer hold at the top of the firing. We did many tests early on to determine that the glazes were all melting properly with this cycle. Crawling, running and pitting are all individual glaze issues, probably with unique causes. Crawling and running often go hand in hand of course because the glaze is falling off the pot. Glaze running is basically related to two variables(assuming the kilns aren't over firing which they haven't been): thickness and glaze selection. We have a lot of runny glazes and glaze combinations available. With the right glaze combination, sometimes the glaze is destined to run no matter how quick the dip. Remember that larger pots are much more likely to run because they soak up more glaze. And beware of the new OFF Pink! It's a runner. Glaze pitting and pinholing(or blistering) are challenging and slightly different issues. Pitting is usually the result of a rough surface texture that creates tiny air pockets when the pot is dipped. If the glaze isn't melty enough, that spot remains bare. Smoothing these areas can help, but often there's already a layer of glaze over the tiny bubbles. Pinholing is when air bubbles, either trapped or from off-gasing (it's a hot topic in the ceramics world) rise to the glaze surface at the top of the firing, burst, and are then frozen there upon cooling. It's a tough issue without a quick fix. Certain glazes and combinations are more prone than others. Pinholes after the firing don't correlate to the tiny pinholes you see after applying a glaze. As much as I have to say about glazes and firing, I often get stumped by weird, spooky results. So I'm always learning like you all are. Thanks for your feedback. Ned

Hi Carolyn! I just responded to another post regarding flakiness/crawling which I'll copy here. Of the glazes in our lineup currently, I believe that Dehaka Purple is probably the most likely to flake of them all. The light blue/purple color comes from magnesium carb interacting with cobalt, but the magnesium carb is a huge contributor to flaking. It the primary material in Lalone's Crawl that we use to force the crawling effect. I might try using a single dip of Dehaka Purple if you're going for that color. You might be able to get away layering it with small, thin pieces that you can dunk quickly with tongs. Good luck! Ned --- In general, a thinner application is less likely to flake. If a glaze is prone to flaking, it usually coincides with gathering thickly on the pot during application. You also want your glaze layer to dry quickly after application. For flakey-prone glazes, often the first layer appears to dry instantly. Underneath that glaze layer though, the clay is still saturated with water. This means the second layer will sit on the pot for a long time without drying and this almost always leads to flaking. So don't be tricked into applying the second layer of glaze too soon! Waiting 30-45 mins instead of the typical 10-15 can help. Flakey-prone glazes usually don't require two full dips. I like to do 1.5 layers, which means I dip the pot in the glaze quickly, lift it out, wait about 10 seconds and then quickly dip it again. I've been doing this for years with Mar Sara and consistently get the tomato red I'm looking for. If a glaze is prone to flaking, you should really only consider layering it with a second glaze that is known not to flake. Flakiness comes from certain glaze materials that swell with water (the main one being clay). The studio glazes that are known to sometimes flake are: • Satin White • Mar Sara (less so) • Dehaka Purple • Neo Steel • Thermal Yellow • Assad Black (less so) I'm also a believer now that flaking is a semi-seasonal issue that worsens in the summer. It must be connected to the humidity. Just this year we started making minor adjustments in our glaze bentonite additions to counteract it.

Hi Leila! Mar Sara is also one of my favorite glazes :) It sounds like you're already doing the right things to help with flakiness/crawling. In general, a thinner application is less likely to flake. If a glaze is prone to flaking, it usually coincides with gathering thickly on the pot during application. You also want your glaze layer to dry quickly after application. For flakey-prone glazes, often the first layer appears to dry instantly. Underneath that glaze layer though, the clay is still saturated with water. This means the second layer will sit on the pot for a long time without drying and this almost always leads to flaking. So don't be tricked into applying the second layer of glaze too soon! Waiting 30-45 mins instead of the typical 10-15 can help. Flakey-prone glazes usually don't require two full dips. I like to do 1.5 layers, which means I dip the pot in the glaze quickly, lift it out, wait about 10 seconds and then quickly dip it again. I've been doing this for years with Mar Sara and consistently get the tomato red I'm looking for. If a glaze is prone to flaking, you should really only consider layering it with a second glaze that is known not to flake. Flakiness comes from certain glaze materials that swell with water (the main one being clay). The studio glazes that are known to sometimes flake are: • Satin White • Mar Sara (less so) • Dehaka Purple • Neo Steel • Thermal Yellow • Assad Black (less so) I'm also a believer now that flaking is a semi-seasonal issue that worsens in the summer. It must be connected to the humidity. Just this year we started making minor adjustments in our glaze bentonite additions to counteract it. Hope this helps! Ned

Hi Sonya! We'll be bisquing right up until we close. The last day that both studios are open is Saturday, December 16th. We don't guarantee pots will be bisqued/glazed by any point, so there's no cut off date. The kilns definitely stay busy through the rest of the year though, so I'd count on a 1.5-2 week firing time. Ned

Hi Emma! Yes, that's correct. - Ned

Hi hi, I would be sad to see the clay go too. It offers the largest selection of matte glaze textures compared to our other clay bodies. It is definitely a possibility that a pot could end up in a hot spot in the kiln and lead to bloating. The scenario would be one where something is off with the firing. For instance a compromised element can make the other elements in the kiln work harder to achieve temperature. In a proper firing though, the heat is consistent. We don't use witness cones regularly, but if we have questions about kiln results or temperature readings we will. Ned

Hi Sarah - sorry to see your bowl falling victim to bloating, but thanks for voicing the issue. It's something we've been seeing since we starting using the 710 clay. There's been a consistent rate of bloating that frankly would have already deterred us from keeping the clay. There has been so much excitement at both studios though over the colors and textures this clay produces that we've stuck with it, and even invested the time and energy to create a glaze board in Belmont. Bloating in clay bodies can come and go if it's due to manufacturing impurities. In this case, the bloating is because of the high metal content in the clay which gives it the dark color. I talked to Julie at Standard Clay. She is their tech rep. She offered the idea of bisquing at a higher temp or glazing at a lower temp (like some of your pottery forum responses suggest). As a matter of principle, I almost never make system-wide changes in our firing cycles to accommodate a specific clay or glaze. The effects are cascading and it's not worth it. In this case, Jared and I will experiment with some adjustments. If we can make a change that's practical and doesn't throw off everything else, we will. In the meantime, our message to students is that you should use the charcoal brown clay knowing the risk of bloating. If you're spending a lot of time on a single piece, it might not be worth it to use the clay. For context, we've used approximately 5,000lbs of 710 between both studios since February. I'd guesstimate that each piece has a 2-4% chance of bloating. TLDR: We know about the bloating and are working on a solution. If we can't find one, we may get rid of it.

Hi Sonya - that's great! We'll try to keep the posts current and helpful.