Russian Roulette

One of the most haunting movies for me was The Deerhunter with Robert DeNiro. 3 buddies from Steel town in Vietnam. The torture and the Russian roulette left me with the feeling I never want to go to Vietnam. Slipping pots is a bit like Russian roulette. I have slipped teapots, gone upstairs to make a cup of tea only to come down and see them collapsed on the table. I slipped them too soon. I have also slipped them when they are too dry only to find next morning all the rims cracked. I think it was John Neely that said "Ceramics is the art of time management". Amen! The right time to trim, the right time to handle, the right time to bisque, the right time for glaze application, the right length of time to fire, the right length of time to cool and the list could go on. Thank you Liz "Grannie" Willoughby for your encouragement for me to use a brush. Robin Hopper started it all with presenting me with his quiver of brushes. I was afraid of them at first. Like most things practice and persistence build confidence. I've mixed yellow, blue, pink, white, green and orange slips. I would encourage people to use a line blend to develop different colours and shades of the same colour. I use small plastic cups. So you want green. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 yellow slip 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 blue slip My green slip is 6 cups of yellow and 4 cups of blue. My light blue slip is 6 cups of blue and 4 cups of white. Here is Robin Hopper's General Purpose Slip Cone 4-10 400 Ball 400 EPK 500 Nep Syn 600 Silica yellow 30% titanium Blue 3% cobalt White 10% zircopax pink 10% red stain Orange 10% orange sain Slips add depth to glazes. Not many people use them -Pity! Go ahead pull the trigger!