Denice Posted January 13, 2019 Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 Starting to load a glaze firing, suppose to have a decent day Tuesday. I like to open the window in the kiln room when I am firing. I have a exhaust fan in the ceiling and the Skutt vent system on the kiln but when I am firing my big Skutt I need a little more air. Denice Rae Reich 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 13, 2019 Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 1 hour ago, Hulk said: Aaah, memories! Our first home had a low crawlspace - get between joists to roll from front to back. The word "swell" reminds me - suggest long shirtsleeves and pants, both secured with rubber bands (plural), and pants tucked in socks, collar fully buttoned up, and look look look before entering. I find both black widows an' fiddlers (brown recluse) in the oddest places, e.g. in the garage/studio, right where I'd put my hand; tucked up in the garbage can hand hold; outside the front door, between knee and forehead level. Full body tyvek coveralls with a hood, respirator and goggles. We don't really have dangerous spiders where I live, more likely to find a coyote or bear under there than a black widow Bill Kielb and hitchmss 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rae Reich Posted January 13, 2019 Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 If you haven't pulled yourself along by your elbows lately, be prepared to awaken some muscle groups! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 13, 2019 Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 30 minutes ago, Rae Reich said: If you haven't pulled yourself along by your elbows lately, be prepared to awaken some muscle groups! Yes, I'm very sore... Mostly shoulders and knees. The knees are all bruised up from crawling, didnt think to get some knee pads til I was far too gone for it to matter. My wife is already tired of hearing my groaning haha Rae Reich, Bill Kielb and Marcia Selsor 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 20, 2019 Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 Alright we have waited long enough, time to brag about your first firing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 2 hours ago, Bill Kielb said: Alright we have waited long enough, time to brag about your first firing. Haha, I'm bisquing a full load of mugs as we speak. It's 18x23 and I think I've got around 60 mugs in there. I need to get a couple new shelves for it, the ones that came with it were well beaten with lowfire glaze and cracked/broken, and the shelves from my old kiln are too small. No big deal, the shelves for this one are 40 bucks a piece. Other than that, the elements seem to be fine so far. The bottom element is out of it's channel, and seems too small, I pinned it as best I could but it won. New elements are on my list but will have to wait a bit, 200 bucks for a complete replace. The good news is, it's getting hot and anything else that comes up will be a whole lot easier to handle than crawling in my crawlspace and running wire. Rae Reich, shawnhar and Bill Kielb 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 Nice work! Congratulations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 3 minutes ago, Bill Kielb said: Nice work! Congratulations. Haha, 80% of the work goes to you and the other helpful people around here. I'm just so grateful for all of the wonderful folks that make this website into a community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 25 minutes ago, liambesaw said: Haha, 80% of the work goes to you and the other helpful people around here. I'm just so grateful for all of the wonderful folks that make this website into a community. Appreciate the kind words but the community helped with a variety of well meaning opinions and you crawled in and did the work, so hats off to you. Sometimes ya just gotta take the credit. go first successful bisque firing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denice Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 Nothing on my work table at the moment, I straighten out my studio and stuck the new self adhesive labels on my chemical containers back on with some Gorilla tape. I decided to try out my new pottery wheel stool and do a little throwing. It seems to be alright, I need to do some more throwing before I am positive. It is so cold here I can't work in my studio until after noon, it takes that long for my heater to warm it up. It is suppose to start warming up tomorrow, it is still suppose to be around 15 tonight. BRR Denice Rae Reich 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEP Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 (edited) 10 hours ago, liambesaw said: Haha, 80% of the work goes to you and the other helpful people around here. I'm just so grateful for all of the wonderful folks that make this website into a community. So how do you feel about the $780 electrician’s quote now, after seeing how much work and expertise was involved? Edited January 21, 2019 by GEP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 3 hours ago, GEP said: So how do you feel about the $780 electrician’s quote now, after seeing how much work and expertise was involved? That I should have gone to electrician school. I actually did the $1250+tax quoted work, saved myself 800 dollars. Crawling in my crawlspace was a pain in the butt but definitely not worth 800. If I had done the short run I originally planned on, it would have been CAKE! I'm just glad to see glowing red coils, can't wait to open the kiln and see whats inside! Rae Reich 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeU Posted January 22, 2019 Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 Making some multi-purpose holders for an April anagama fire. Need another shelf and a half worth of pieces for a bisque fire. I only need a full shelf for the wood fire, so the rest of the load will be various mid-fire bodies. Gabby, Rae Reich and Hulk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 22, 2019 Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 This week I'll be throwing 3lb bowls, 1 lb bowls and candle holders. Did my 3lb bowls last night, tonight will be 1lb bowls. I also have a full kiln full of freshly bisqued mugs, will glaze, decorate and fire those this weekend! I have enough stuff to bisque, so much actually, I should really start doing daily firings til I'm caught up, would save from having to dance around all this greenware. Rae Reich and Hulk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnhar Posted January 22, 2019 Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 Heisenberg's Uncertainty pots, they are both awesome and terrible at the same time, until the plastic is removed and the wave form collapses Pyewackette, Rae Reich, Callie Beller Diesel and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hulk Posted January 22, 2019 Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 That table looks new; you build't? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnhar Posted January 22, 2019 Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 It's not new but I did build it a few months back when I set up the studio. My wheel is behind it and the table is open on the back side so I can slide it over the wheel for space saving. Bill Kielb and Hulk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hulk Posted January 22, 2019 Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 Over th'wheel, that's a great idea! I'm looking at repurposing a small workbench to a wheeled cart (a set of 2" casters on Amaz-ing is ~sixteen bucks) - will it fit over my wheel? hmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnhar Posted January 22, 2019 Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) We have a tile floor in that room and I decided against casters, instead I cut sections from a scrap piece of that interlocking dense foam flooring and attached to the bottom of the legs, slides easy, takes a little more effort with 300 lbs on the table, but no risk of damaging the grout and/or tile. Edited January 22, 2019 by shawnhar LeeU and Rae Reich 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 27, 2019 Report Share Posted January 27, 2019 (edited) Got a glaze firing in, was able to fit 40 mugs. This is a representative sample! So happy to finally have an electric kiln working! This week I have a bunch of candles I'm working on, gonna be great! Right now I have a bunch of lidded containers bisquing, big stuff I have to fire alone, can't really pack it too tight. Y'all that grew up on electric have no idea how easy youve got it!!! Edited January 27, 2019 by liambesaw GEP, Bill Kielb, glazenerd and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 27, 2019 Report Share Posted January 27, 2019 (edited) Hmm a skilled potter and talented electrician. Nice glaze! Just finished our Rays Cream to get rid of pinholes and dial in the perfect amount of movement with trapped titanium crystals. Funny, just pulled this out of the ELECTRIC test kiln today. (Sorry, I know I have it made, but couldn’t resist) Edited May 7, 2020 by Bill Kielb liambesaw, glazenerd, Rae Reich and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 28, 2019 Report Share Posted January 28, 2019 Is the Ray's cream just the creamy part or is it breaking blue like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 28, 2019 Report Share Posted January 28, 2019 (edited) @liambesaw The Rays cream is actually the first layer glaze. It’s only colorant is rutile (titanium) so it has always been an overfired matte where if you were lucky you would get a runny matte in which the crystals collected in the runs and at the bottom where it would turn shades of blue. Old recipe, pinholes most of the time, bad chemistry and also started out as a Bristol glaze back in the day to get this to melt around cone 4 ish. To answer your question Rays cream was the base and I have a blue fur over the top (rim dipped to 2”) in a very half hazard manner for this test piece. The rework was to lower the temp with boron, reduce the zinc to only as needed and eliminate the pin holes while bringing the flux ratio to a durable one. They like this glaze because as a runny matte anything over it or it over a smooth glaze has movement. It usually looks pretty good with minimal effort which is what everyone wants Updating this to a more boron controlled melt allows easy dial in of how much run. From there we just need to dial in the thickness for one dip, two dip, three dip. So SPG for the interns after testing is important for consistent results. Right now this works fine at 140% water to dry glaze at mix time. I think the final dipping thickness will be 135 - 138 ish so a bit thin. three second dips are the norm in our studio. I will message you the write up to the resident artists if you want the test recipe to try, just drop me a note. some generic pics of what this can do depending upon application thickness. All the pinholes, crazing and imperfections have been designed out of it at this point and it works on low expansion porcelain. Now time for the studio artists to figure out what they don’t like about it. Edited April 2, 2020 by Bill Kielb LeeU and GEP 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 28, 2019 Report Share Posted January 28, 2019 Very nice, almost bone-like. Was the pinholing from high loi? When I put my glazes into insight I know that the loi figures are a rough guess, but I try to keep mine low by subbing out whiting and fiddling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeU Posted January 28, 2019 Report Share Posted January 28, 2019 I was trained on a large gas kiln and never used electric until a few years ago. Having occasional opportunities to get into community wood firings and raku firing, I'm a happy camper. I finally got OK with the fact that as much as I loved making my own clay bodies and glazes, and was pretty good at it, my situation just doesn't accommodate that today. So I am using commercial bodies and glazes and find I like them just fine. I did a head-adjustment on myself to get out from under the old tendency to think gas/wood was superior to electric and that not mixing your own stuff is sort of a petty crime. Now I'm working to get Ok with limited throwing facility and getting into an appreciation of the conceptual and process aspects of hand-building. My workbench today has a thrown and altered bowl form, then hand-worked with stamped, paddled, & incised techniques. I like how much work actually goes into making something look "other-than" a properly, nicely, thrown bowl. Bill Kielb, Rae Reich, Gabby and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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