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New Studio Set Up In Montana


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I finally got a window replaced that the previous owners broke on the way out. Now I am heating the studio. 

I set it up so my view from the wheel is the ski runs on Red Lodge Mountain. If anyone skis, this is a great place for skiing. Lots of powder this year. 

My kilns are in a separate building. The electrician will install a separate  200 amp meter. The shed had some shelving in it. Shelves are off the concrete. I am putting things together. Still need to mount the extruder and assemble my slab roller. I am loving the space. My husband helped to install over hanging storage, mostly bubble wrap and other packing.

I still have some bulky items in Texas. will brig them up in the Spring. I will be building a new large raku kiln to be fired outside.

 

 

Here are some pictures: kiln shed, half unpacked studio, view from the wheel. I am so excited to be here. Will be getting clay next week. 

 

Marcia

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No. We have a gas boiler for the house. It is easier to stick with electric for heat and firing with electric and propane for my raku kilns.

Can't dig in frozen ground covered by 3-4' of snow. I have been firing the same way for the past 16 years. No problem. My production lines are mostly raku and saggars. I bisque my large slabs in the big oval. Gas would more then likely warp them. 

If I eventually want to build a gas kiln, it is a possibility.

Marcia 

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Today I am designing an insulated storage for clay. I have several plywood boards to canalize and some garage door insulation.

Want to have shelves for various types of clay. Also have some excellent lumber from the kiln shed hanging above the kilns.

Have peg board painted and ready to install as well as more shelving. I have been a bit under the weather with a serious cough.

Feeling a little better today.

Marcia

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Yes much colder. It was -20 a few weeks ago. It has been nice with the sun out. I do have a lot of moving blankets but I am going to use a simple system of a n insulated box with a lightbulb in it. the bulb can hang in the center and boxes of clay around it. Then I may have to do the same for my large rubbermaid containers of pugged clay. I am still working it out. I may just get dry mix in Helena the week after next and put it all in those containers.

I think next summer One of the garage doors will be replaced with a glass patio door. The passive solar will heat up the entire studio during the day.

 

Marcia

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Probably won't be able to raku during fire season. usually late summer and into October. But firing in cold weather has given me great color response, so I am ok with that. My electrics will be able to be fired any time. I would think the sagger firing and obvara will be allowed anytime too.I am trying to find the can with my nuts and bolts for the extruder and slab follow. Still have some undiscovered boxes in garage, shed and house.

 

Today I decided to put my glaze area on the other side of the garage and get a counter top for the work area. I have plenty of shelf space but few outlets. I may need some additional or plan carefully.

Marcia.

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marcia, plug in one of those 6 foot long cords with 5 or 6 outlets on it.  plug another one into it. use 3 or 4 all around the room.  that might allow you to plug in a number of appliances or lights.  since you are only one person using one tool at a time, you will probably not overload anything,  task lights draw few amps and should not cause a problem either.  stay well.

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Good idea Alice. There is one of those multi outlet plug-ins in one fixture already. I really don't need that many. I use blenders when doing glaze tests. My big items are the clay mixer and pug mill. They are used less often. I am trying to use the built-in shop furniture, definitely want my wheel near the west window.Thinking of putting the glaze chemicals on the East wall and clay storage between clay mixer ann wedging table...logical order.Hope to find my container with all the nuts and bolts for the slab roller and extruder today.feeling a little better from my cough and finished the huge pot of chicken soup.

There are some outlet in the ceiling and I want to replace the incandescent bulbs with shop lights.I have 2 in the kiln shed. I am very happy to putz my way through this organizing. I am by myself and switch gears frequently. But it is really a lovely place to be. Thanks for the suggestions.

Marcia

 

thinking of ways to store boxes on open shelving to circulate heat. Also may have a roll-in container for the garbage can size containers.

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marcia, plug in one of those 6 foot long cords with 5 or 6 outlets on it.  plug another one into it. use 3 or 4 all around the room.  that might allow you to plug in a number of appliances or lights.  since you are only one person using one tool at a time, you will probably not overload anything,  task lights draw few amps and should not cause a problem either.  stay well.

 

I had to do that in my studio. I plugged a 10 foot power strip in at the wall and ran the cord along the underside of my  8 foot work table and attached the strip to the leg. Now I have 6 outlets near the middle of the room.

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Marcia if you get floresent fixtures you can use LED bulbs for about $12 each delievered and they do not use the ballest they are 110v wired directly.

Its easy to wire the fixtures

I get them from Ledking on e-bay with clear covers-they are plastic not glass.

I replaced all my inside and outside lights with them-super low cost to operate-super long life (50,000 hours)-they come on instantly and fork well in cold.

check them out

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I use power strips too, makes a lot of sense. Its getting hard lately to find ones that have a cord longer than 6ft, it would be worth the effort to locate one.

 

Its not a good idea to plug a power strip into another power strip (called daisy chaining power) it can create an electrical fire hazard.

 

I know you don't have to worry about OSHA, but if you did and they found this they would smack you with a not-so-nice fine. Some if not most insurance companies would not pay on a claim if they felt daisy-chaining was the cause of a fire.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Almost done. One more overhead storage shelf to install and a cart to work with my slab roller. Then I am done. Electrician will finish the kiln shed by the end of the month. I'll be back in business.I have 100 pounds of porcelain to start working for pieces for a wood firing. And about 4-500 pounds of raku clay mixed on a nice sunny day in my Soldner mixer.I installed 5 of the 400w panel heaters. I use 2 to keep my clay warm. I turn the others off overnight. It is comfortable to work in there. And my electric bill was $67 for the house and studio. The kilns will be on a separate meter.I am so happy to be back in Montana. Start my day with a dog walk and watch the sun light up the mountain tops. The turkeys are still up in the trees some days.

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My son moved from Texas to Alaska, from the heat to the frigid cold. He has never felt the cold as a problem. When they visit us in St George, UT. We have turn down the AC. I can just imagine you out in your kiln shed in Texas in August, melting away and longing for the cooler weather in Montana.

 

Jed

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Marcia, you must be having such a nice feeling from all the good endorphins this pleasurable hard work judst has to be provoking daily. So many in these forums have such truly blessed situations, I get some vicarious pleasure, and inspiration and of course knowledge, from their posts and pictures, such as yours-this wonderful studio in such an awesome location, and this incredible turn-of-life you and yours are building. (My "likes" hit the quota so instead of the simple single-click version of "like this", you got the whole inner dialogue LOL.)

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marcia, i love all the photos you post, i just cannot see them well.  i know you think you have reached a limit, or are about to, and reduce the sizes of what you post.  if you could just use a little larger photo, we could all see the remarkable things you post.  sometimes the thumbnail is larger than the photo! 

 

the forum has only one year of your posts available at a time.  so each year you get more photo space since the one from 366 days ago is gone.  not permanently, you can still look things up from way back.  but the current "year" varies every day.  i do not know how to find out what is still available but i can post a photo. 

 

i discovered this in december when i tried to post another photo and the website said i had no room.  a week or so later, i did.

 

please make these a little bigger, using the control and mouse to enlarge them puts them out of focus when large enough to see.

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