Spin-Off Magazine articles for potters

Spin-Off Magazine as it relates to Ceramics;

Spring 2013 Issue

Although I have had a few book reviews on this site I've never reviewed a magazine edition, so this is going to be a bit different.  Because I make drop spindles, I started subscribing to Spin-Off Magazine a few  years ago.  It has one article each month on a breed of sheep, the history of the lineage, the characteristics of the animal, and other interesting facts.  After reading the sheep article every quarter, I am determined (for a few hours) to go out and get some Gotland, or Jacob Cross or some other breed of sheep right away.

The spring, 2013 issue of Spin-Off Magazine is somewhat unique, though not unusual.  In this issue the editor, Amy Clarke Moore concentrates on the small business aspect of the cottage industries around the fiber arts craft and trade.  At t his point Ceramics artists have a lot in common with their brethren (and sisters I imagine) in the fiber and spinning crafts.  Both groups of craftspeople need a fairly specialized studio,  both groups have a challenge in finding customers and figuring out what the customers want, both groups have a hard time determining the price to charge, how to market their wares, and how to run a small, cottage industry style business. 

Alpaca hand spun yarns plus some color

So, I’m writing this review primarily aimed at ceramics artists because if you are a fiber person you probably already subscribe to Spin-Off (one of a number of magazines and books published by Interweave Press (interweave.com).  Lets look at three articles in the Spring/13 edition of Spin-Off and if you want more info on the actual articles I’ll end this post with a description and links

Page 16 of this edition has an article titled “Handmade: Business or Hobby” (By Patti Graver).  Right off a ceramic artist will notice the title and I can assure you that any one who attemps to sell ceramics or crafts from a home studio will find this article interesting. Patti reviews four books and I’m going to simply list the titles here to illustrate how all of these books have points of interest specifically for ceramic artists.  They are;

(1) “How to Price Crafts and Things" by James Dillehay,

(2) “How to Sell your Crafts Online” by Derrick Sutton,

(3) “Grow your Handmade Business" by Kari Chapin, and

(4) “”How to Make Money Using esty” by Timothy Adam. 

Finally, a drop spindle, left back, and a smoke fired jar

The second interesting article in this  edition is “At Hellow Yarn” by Adrian Bizillia.  It talks about a fiber business and had lots of tips about developing a studio plus the struggles and triumphs of developing a small, crafts centered business.  This article is inspiring!!! Again, Ceramics artists will find lots here of interest.

The Third article is “So You want to Start a Business” by Liz Gipson.  I don’t have to give much description to convince any crafts or ceramics artist that there will be some interesting information here. 

I think this hat is still at Oak Hollow Gallery, 

a blend of hand spun tops and socotta sock yarn

Next article is “10 tips for Starting a Custom Spinning Business" by Kaye D. Collins.  Substitute the word “home ceramics” for Spinning” and you get the idea.  The "10 tips" are a good working list of things to remember in starting any small business and some pertinent discussion of each. 

The rest of the articles are all dealing with fiber crafts business approaches and I found them all interesting, particularly the ones about labeling and mail ordering.  And the sheep specific article in this issue is about the lovely Shetland sheep, amix in a diverse flock.  Also, if you’ve ever worn clothes (and potters aren’t the best audience on this one) you’ll be amazed at the access and information in the advertizements and business listings throughout all issues of Spin-Off. 

Hand spun hats knitted by Pat Moran

If you want to get this copy of Spin-Off, or find more about Interweave magazines and books contact “spinoff.com” or <http://interweave.com/Magazine/> or find an older copy of Spin-Off and visit one of the yarn shops that handles the magazine.  You can buy individual copies of spinoff, subscriptions, or books from this amazine outfit.  

Ceramics, fiber,,,, can't really tell the difference? 

VW Vanagan, testing pressure cap

Testing the coolant pressure cap 

on a water cooled VW Vanagan

WATER COOLED VANAGANS (1984-1990) can drive you crazy when the coolant system malfunctions as the resulting system peculiarities are not easy to diagnose.  However, one thing you always know: If you pressure release cap is not working (almost perfectly) you are going to have all kinds of coolant problems, too numerous to detail here.  Let’s just say if the pressure is to high you’ll get leaks and fluid loss, and if it’s to low the system won’t cool efficiently. 

coolant pressure cap, getting ready to test

After buying a new pressure cap that didn’t seem to work properly I resorted back to my parts box and found four more old caps of various vintages.  One came on the van used, one was a new replacement three years  ago, one I’d just bought, , one clearly didn’t hold pressure, and the last one was an extra of unknown origin and function in my parts box.  I started switching them in and out for short trips and discovered that I got all kinds of different engine behavior with the different caps, indicated by leaks and illogical coolant reservoir levels.  I therefore needed a way to measure the pressure of the caps myself.  Of course VW service shopswill do this for a fee, but I wanted the flexibility of testing the caps on the van once I knew what they were. 

 Here is my custom pressure cap tester:  Find an old Vanagan (or other VW  pressure tank) for this project.  The vanagan pressure cap must fit the  screw-on filler cap hole and screw in tight.  Into one of the side hose holes adapt a water pressure gauge that goes to 30 lbs. On the other hole adapt a garden hose connector outside of a water valve, preferably 1/2'”.

water flowing out of the cap nozzle at a determined pressure

Test the cap as follows:  Hitch up and turn on the garden hose with the valve off,  screw in the cap to be tested, slowly release the valve watching the nozzle on the cap. It will probably dribble a bit for a while and then start full release at some pressure.  Note the pressure when the dribble starts and when the full stream starts,,, those are both important functions.

gauge working, water flowing, check pressure

 When the engine cools, the coolant contracts and pulls coolant back into the engine.  There is no tester for this return function,,, simply notice if coolant sets at a lower level in the overflow tank when the engine is cold then when it is hot. If that happens the return feature of your cap is functioning adequately for our purposes. Four of my five used caps perform this important function so most caps return coolant to the system when cooling.

cap working, gauge indicates pressure, water valve shown

Water not flowing at 25 pounds, cap clearly malfunctioning

The water can start dribbling before 14 pounds and in fact, It’s my  opinion that it should start to dribble at 10 pounds or so.  Keep turning up the water and the full stream should commence out the cap spout before 17 pounds.  If it goes higher for a full stream, the cap will probably cause problems in the form of leaks.  Discard all caps that don’t’ hold pressure or that hold pressure to a release point above 17 pounds.  If your van is old you want lower release pressure, but still some pressure.  If you engine is rebuilt, you can go as high as 17 pounds for release but not higher.  Test all new caps before you install  then (I found new caps that malfunction).  If you can’t get a cap that works correctly, buy some used ones from a wrecker yard, test them and install the best one.  As you can see, it took me 5 caps to find one that works on my van.

I dont' have a picture of a cap that opens at a pressure below 14 pounds but you get the idea.  Our van (L'l put-put) has run perfectly since I installed the "mikehilerfiredclay certified cap".  The beauty of this tester is it tests water pressure for cold water.  I dont' like the official VW tester as it doesn't test the pressure the cap starts to dribble.  

Hope you liked this post, it was fun to put the pressure tester together with spare parts laying around (had to buy the 30 lb water gauge).  If  you need help putting the tester together, just read the post again and talk to your mechanic.