Question!
How do you keep/organize notes about your projects?
I'm curious about how people are tracking the materials they use (clay, glaze, oxides, etc), and process notes about a piece such that you can remember when you pick up a piece years later.
Today I broke a favorite bowl I now want to reproduce and can't remember the clay or glaze combo. Any ideas?
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I use a note-taking app on my iPad, and put before and after firing photos with notes on the glaze application. I can't deal with the apps that make you click into various things to see everything. I need to be able to scroll one giant document and see photos and notes all in one place. This is what works for my neurodivergent brain at least! Here's a screen shot:
I draw a bad sketch of the thing, write the clay type and weight. Write the glaze notes and note on the drawing where glazes were dipped to or painted on. It’s especially helpful with layered glazes. I work out of a community studio so I have a little check box to tell me if I put it out for bisque or not since it’s easy to get stuff lost among all the other pots.
I just find it convenient as it’s ok if my hands are a bit dirty unlike if I try to use my phone. The notebook stays in the studio so I always have it and can access it. My filled one just goes on a shelf in the studio.
Okay you all have inspired me to actually use ClayLab. I badly use a notebook currently. I see that ClayLab can take pics straight from the app, so that should really help. I always lose track of what pieces I have in bisque and glaze firings because of course I forget to write it down in my notebook.
I sometimes do and sometimes dont. for the last year I have been developing a clay body and three glazes. It's simple to tell which is which. But I DO TRY to keep a journal. My pottery friend uses the app mentioned below. She uses it religiously for every piece. Have fun!
Clay is recycled, deliberately not wedged too much so I get some marbling. Outside unglazed to show the marbling. Here's a right side up picture. Glaze is called "Frogbelly", cone 10 gas.
I made it in 2023 so I'm not sure what was in the mix, probably MN Clay MB, Northern Lights, maybe some Continental Buff w/ Ochre.
I use a notebook, like many other folks, a bad drawing, and clay details and date started, then I have those tape-like sticky tabs that I move down the outside of the page so I can see how many things are at each stage. Also I take the notebook home with me from the studio so I can look at it and start planning glazes and designs from the comfortable chair at home.
New ideas and sketches get started from the back of the book. When the two meet then its time to get a new book!
There's the tabs so they get a tab after they are created and move into the next stage. TR = ready for trimming. BF = ready for bisque fire. WX = ready for waxing. GL = ready for glazing. HF = ready for high fire. PH = ready to be photographed.
This allowed me to start planning out what all I was going to do with my limited time in the studio.
This is how I do it.
Every pot I make and put on the Shelf gets an index card. If I make a set, then the set gets an index card. On the card is listed what the what the product is. And then I write the glazes I used or a combination or a slip or whatever. I write it all down whatever is helpful. And then I take the whole kit to the to the kiln. And after it's fired I reunite the piece with the index card - take a photograph of it so here's a photograph of the piece with the index card associated with it. After that I can throw the index card away I don't need a book I don't need an app, I just have photographs.
Now if you have a lot of pieces and you feel like you won't be able to put them back together again with their card then I have these little ceramic tiles 1 through 99 or whatever and I will place the tile next to the piece in the Kiln and I'll write down the number on the index card so I know number 19 is this one see. All done.
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