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two studio tips from mel that have made things easier

updated sat 1 jan 11

 

John Post on thu 30 dec 10


Two things I learned from mel that have made a few tasks a lot easier
in my studio...

The springwire wedging table tip is one of those things. I haven't
replaced my cutting wire since I added a spring and turnbuckle to
mine. Of course mine is twice as springy as mel's because I have a
spring attached at each end of the wire. It's gotta be at least an
octave or two higher than his.

The other tip is weighing out glazes by the pound. My wife got me a
digital butcher's scale at a garage sale for $50. I put an old
stainless steel cooking pot on top and then hit the tare button to
zero out the scale. I converted all of my 10,000 gram batches of
glaze into pounds.

I have a bucket of water with a lid on it right behind the scale and
after weighing out each ingredient I dump it into the bucket and
quickly lower the lid. The fan through the wall behind the bucket
sucks any dust outside instantly. The butcher's scale is nice because
if a glaze calls for 2.39 pounds of an ingredient, there's no need to
estimate because the scale is digital and reads down to the 100th of a
pound. 2.39 pounds is just as easy to weigh out as any other amount.

John Post
Sterling Heights, Michigan

http://www.johnpost.us