Very New to Firing - Cone 06 snapped during firing

[oldlady]

good, my concern was whether or not you had cloth covered cords.  with care, you should have years of use from it.

is the dark stuff on the shelves the kiln wash you purchased?  still wet or has it dried?    what brand did you use?

[neilestrick]

It's in great condition!

[Fred Sweet]

Elise-

Here is a link to the Jupiter manual kilns. Should answer most of your questions regarding loading and firing your JX-18.

https://hotkilns.com/sites/default/files/pdf/BookJupiterManual 9-26-11.pdf

 

Regards,

Fred

[Elise]

2 hours ago, oldlady said:

good, my concern was whether or not you had cloth covered cords.  with care, you should have years of use from it.

is the dark stuff on the shelves the kiln wash you purchased?  still wet or has it dried?    what brand did you use?

Excellent, that is good to hear! 

Yes the dark stuff was the kiln wash I just had applied, it was still wet. I was just setting up the shelves for the firing I’m going to run today when I get home from work. The kiln wash is L&L brand. 

[Elise]

I called L&L today to get some more info on my kiln and see if there is a manual I could obtain. 

Turns out, this particular kiln was built in November of 1977! I think it’s awesome that a 40+ year old kiln still works great  just thought I’d share. 

Thanks again to everyone for their help and advice. I will run the glaze firing tonight. Wish me luck!

[neilestrick]

30 minutes ago, Elise said:

I called L&L today to get some more info on my kiln and see if there is a manual I could obtain. 

Turns out, this particular kiln was built in November of 1977! I think it’s awesome that a 40+ year old kiln still works great  just thought I’d share. 

Thanks again to everyone for their help and advice. I will run the glaze firing tonight. Wish me luck!

On L&L kilns, the serial number is the production date. I was just looking at one yesterday that was made in 1972!

[Elise]

The glaze firing was successful, hooray!

I have another question that isn’t necessarily regarding firing, that I’m hoping you all could help me with. 

I only have experience with cone 04-06 in all aspects of making ceramics- building/throwing, glazing, firing (now ), etc. I would say I’m strongly intermediate in my abilities, give or take. 

For a long time I’ve wanted to branch out to mid fire, given that the range of glaze colors is amazing and doesn’t seem to be able to be achieved in low fire.

I went to Georgie's in Portland for the first time last fall and decided that I’m making the switch to mid fire. I was nearly out of clay at the time and was going to buy quite a bit since finding clay is hard in Montana, so now I have a ton a variety of cone 6 clays and glazes.

My question is what, if anything, is different about using mid fire materials that I should be cognizant of, versus using low fire?  Will anything be substantially or noticeably different in the process? 

Thanks for any advice

[neilestrick]

1 minute ago, Elise said:

The glaze firing was successful, hooray!

I have another question that isn’t necessarily regarding firing, that I’m hoping you all could help me with. 

I only have experience with cone 04-06 in all aspects of making ceramics- building/throwing, glazing, firing (now ), etc. I would say I’m strongly intermediate in my abilities, give or take. 

For a long time I’ve wanted to branch out to mid fire, given that the range of glaze colors is amazing and doesn’t seem to be able to be achieved in low fire.

I went to Georgie's in Portland for the first time last fall and decided that I’m making the switch to mid fire. I was nearly out of clay at the time and was going to buy quite a bit since finding clay is hard in Montana, so now I have a ton a variety of cone 6 Clay’s and glazes.

My question is what, if anything, is different about using mid fire materials that I should be cognizant of, versus using low fire?  Will anything be substantially or noticeably different in the process? 

Thanks for any advice

The process of making pots is the same for the most part, but here a few things to be aware of with firing to cone 5/6:

- You can get warping in the firing, since the clay is getting close to its melting point

- Clay can fuse to clay, so you have to use alumina wax between pots and their lids

- Kiln element life will decrease

- Don't use stilts, the metal pins will warp

[Elise]

6 minutes ago, neilestrick said:

The process of making pots is the same for the most part, but here a few things to be aware of with firing to cone 5/6:

- You can get warping in the firing, since the clay is getting close to its melting point

- Clay can fuse to clay, so you have to use alumina wax between pots and their lids

- Kiln element life will decrease

- Don't use stilts, the metal pins will warp

Thank you!

Regarding diminishing element life- are the elements difficult for a (very) lay-person to change or is that something a professional should do? And if so, would that professional be a standard electrician? 

Can anything else be used instead of stilts? Or, because I have kiln wash applied, I should just put pots directly on the shelves and not worry too much?

And if clay can fuse to clay- I should NOT bisque fire pots in other pots to save room?

[neilestrick]

44 minutes ago, Elise said:

Thank you!

Regarding diminishing element life- are the elements difficult for a (very) lay-person to change or is that something a professional should do? And if so, would that professional be a standard electrician? 

Can anything else be used instead of stilts? Or, because I have kiln wash applied, I should just put pots directly on the shelves and not worry too much?

And if clay can fuse to clay- I should NOT bisque fire pots in other pots to save room?

Elements can be done yourself. It's a slow process the first time, but nothing particularly difficult.

No stilts needed. Just leave the bottoms of your pots bare (no glaze).

Pots will not stick during bisque. You'll still be bisque firing at cone 04/05, so no difference there. Stack them up like always.

[liambesaw]

2 hours ago, Elise said:

The glaze firing was successful, hooray!

I have another question that isn’t necessarily regarding firing, that I’m hoping you all could help me with. 

I only have experience with cone 04-06 in all aspects of making ceramics- building/throwing, glazing, firing (now ), etc. I would say I’m strongly intermediate in my abilities, give or take. 

For a long time I’ve wanted to branch out to mid fire, given that the range of glaze colors is amazing and doesn’t seem to be able to be achieved in low fire.

I went to Georgie's in Portland for the first time last fall and decided that I’m making the switch to mid fire. I was nearly out of clay at the time and was going to buy quite a bit since finding clay is hard in Montana, so now I have a ton a variety of cone 6 clays and glazes.

My question is what, if anything, is different about using mid fire materials that I should be cognizant of, versus using low fire?  Will anything be substantially or noticeably different in the process? 

Thanks for any advice

Just in case you weren't aware, Helena is home to the Archie Bray foundation, they make and sell clay in addition to the studio.  You don't need to drive to Oregon next time!

http://www.archiebrayclay.com is their clay catalog.

[Elise]

13 hours ago, neilestrick said:

Elements can be done yourself. It's a slow process the first time, but nothing particularly difficult.

No stilts needed. Just leave the bottoms of your pots bare (no glaze).

Pots will not stick during bisque. You'll still be bisque firing at cone 04/05, so no difference there. Stack them up like always.

Wait a minute. So even though I got cone 6 clay, I should bisque fire it with a 04/05 cone? Now I’m confused!

[Elise]

12 hours ago, liambesaw said:

Just in case you weren't aware, Helena is home to the Archie Bray foundation, they make and sell clay in addition to the studio.  You don't need to drive to Oregon next time!

http://www.archiebrayclay.com is their clay catalog.

Thank you! I’ve heard of Archie Bray but I haven’t gotten the chance to go to Helena to visit yet. It’s about 100 miles from me, but obviously much closer than Portland! 

I am a wildlife rehabber, my focus is tree and ground squirrels. I take a trip to Portland every fall to release that year’s juvenile squirrels I’ve raised since infancy. The Squirrel Refuge is located there and they are gracious enough to work with me and accept my squirrels for release there. So I get to take a trip to Oregon every year! There’s also many more amenities in the “big city” versus here in Montana so I stock up on things like clay/glazes and whatnot. I will be sure to get up to Archie Bray though since I’ve heard wonderful things about them. 

[liambesaw]

Very cool

[Hulk]

1 hour ago, Elise said:

Wait a minute. So even though I got cone 6 clay, I should bisque fire it with a 04/05 cone? Now I’m confused!

Aye, bisque fire to lower temp than final/glaze fire is typical, see Tony Hansen's definition here:

https://digitalfire.com/4sight/glossary/glossary_bisque_bisquit_firing.html

excerpt: "Generally, bisque firing refers to the practice of prefiring ware without glaze to make it impervious to water, resistant to damage during handling and absorbent for glazing. The porosity of the bisque (generally more than 15%) makes it an ideal medium to absorb water from the glaze suspension and hold it in place, it is typical for the glaze to dry sufficiently for handling in just a few seconds. The temperature of the bisque firing can be adjusted to tune the degree of porosity, and therefore the glazing characteristics. Bisquit should be fired as high as possible. Some companies fire high enough to get some glass formation so the ware has extra strength to resist cracking during fast firing. Bisque also needs to be low enough to provide sufficient absorbency to make glaze application easy. Less porous ware can be successfully glazed by reducing water content of the glaze suspension, heating the ware before immersion in the glaze, additions of binders or flocculants, applying a thinner layer, etc."

[Min]

16 hours ago, Elise said:

And if clay can fuse to clay- I should NOT bisque fire pots in other pots to save room?

Some claybodies can fuse at cone 6, but they don't at bisque temperatures. If you are making pots with lids then bisque fire them with the lids in place then for the glaze firing use cold wax resist with a tiny bit of alumina hydrate mixed into the wax on only the parts of the pot and lid that are in contact with each other. Alumina wax isn't always necessary though, just the plain wax resist is usually enough for stoneware clay, alumina wax for porcelain. (approx 1 cup wax resist : 1 - 2  teaspoons alumina hydrate, mixed frequently while being used, add some food colouring so you don't confuse it with your regular wax resist) It's common to tumble stack greenware to get more of it the kiln than a glaze fire. If you stack things on top or inside of each other then be aware of how you are doing it, so the weight is supported and until you get the hang of it don't stack too high. If you are using a white or buff claybody then you can probably pack the kiln pretty tight for the bisque, darker claybodies require more venting for the organics in the clay to burn off so a more open stacking pile is a good idea.

Bisque fire is done to a lower cone than the glaze fire for mid and high fire claybodies so the clay remains porous enough to apply the glazes far more easily than on vitrified (or nearly vitrified) clay, so yes bisque your clay in the 06 -04 range. Low fire clay can be bisqued to a higher temperature than the glaze firing as the clay is still porous, even when fired to maturity.

[Chilly]

17 hours ago, neilestrick said:

 

- Don't use stilts, the metal pins will warp

Not only can the pins warp, but the pot can warp/sink around the pins too.    I have the evidence to prove it.

[Chilly]

Glazes can be harder to apply by brush, they can also settle much faster than earthenware glazes.  And they can run off the pot too, so cookies under any untested glazes.

And, you go deeper down the rabbit hole.

Enjoy......

[Elise]

On 4/12/2019 at 11:41 AM, Chilly said:

Glazes can be harder to apply by brush, they can also settle much faster than earthenware glazes.  And they can run off the pot too, so cookies under any untested glazes.

And, you go deeper down the rabbit hole.

Enjoy......

I generally brush on glazes but I recently purchased a spray gun and air compressor to try out. Is spraying the preferred application for midfire glazes? Any quick tips for spraying? 

So, I understand that I’ll need to bisque fire at cone 06-04 and then cone 6 for the glaze firing...right?

Thanks everyone 

[oldlady]

elise, it sounds as though you could benefit from a good standard book on making pottery.   one that is old but has good information was used as a textbook is written by  a man whose name was John Kenny.  thought i had one on my shelf here but do not.  do not think that it is useless because of its age and lack of color photos, there is solid information and a glossary of terms used every day by potters.   there are others but he wrote simply and understandably.  the original book was dated 1949 but there are a number of later updated editions.

your local library has books on pottery under dewey decimal 732.  

[Elise]

1 hour ago, oldlady said:

elise, it sounds as though you could benefit from a good standard book on making pottery.   one that is old but has good information was used as a textbook is written by  a man whose name was John Kenny.  thought i had one on my shelf here but do not.  do not think that it is useless because of its age and lack of color photos, there is solid information and a glossary of terms used every day by potters.   there are others but he wrote simply and understandably.  the original book was dated 1949 but there are a number of later updated editions.

your local library has books on pottery under dewey decimal 732.  

Sounds like a great idea, I’ll head over to the library today or tomorrow! Thank you!