First firing what should we do?10vs6

[JohnP]

I am a high school ceramics teacher just started at my current school which happends to have a small cantanary arch kiln that has never been fired was built about 10 years ago. I am about to get it hooked up and checked out and really considering 6 reduction. I fire my on work to 6 and my thought is that most of thoes glazes would melt and work in reduction. I also think economically its better and I really dont want to be sitting at school waiting for 10 to drop while my family eats dinner. My questions are would firing schedual be the same I do a body reduction around 08 and would keep in light reduction till 6. Do most oxidation glazes work in reduction. Does anyone have a good cheap base glaze for cone six reduction. Anything else you might want to add about 6 reduction vs. 10 in a classroom setting would be a big help.

Thanks Jpeel

[oldlady]

[see susan greenleaf's work. she was at the Torpedo Factory in alexandria, virginia for years. probably still is. she gave our guild a wonderful workshop on cone 6 reduction. her pots are spectacular.

[bciskepottery]

Bill Schran at Northern Va Community College has done work at Cone 6 reduction (http://www.creativecreekartisans.com/creativecreek_cone6cry.htm), also Marcia Selsor has done a lot of Cone 6 reduction. Both of their sites have glazes, test tiles, etc. http://www.marciaselsor.com/

[perkolator]

sounds like you kinda answered your own question with your comments on making your time and fuel consumption more efficient. recently, the trend for schools seems to be a preference to head in the low-fire to ^6 range, although the die-hard stoneware people will always argue that ^10 is preferred. both have their place, just depends on what you're doing. i know a few teachers who do both, but more biased to the ^6 for time savings, etc. and save the ^10 for just a few times a year or for their porcelains, etc.

 

yes, many glazes will work in either ox/red firings, but you'll have to test both ways to really know since there are literally thousands of possible glazes. if you've got some ^6 glazes you are familiar with, stick them in and see what the outcome is. there is a decent article floating around regarding proven ^6 oxy/red glazes that you can pull some recipes from. otherwise, surf the net and you'll find many more. as for your question about "base glaze" do you mean a commercial base glaze or an inexpensive base glaze to make and do different color-ways? i'd say the latter really depends on what materials you have access to currently.

 

for firing, you can take pretty much the same approach you would for your ^10 red and start your reduction around 1700*-ish/^08. to me, the only difference really is when you shut the kiln down.

 

hope this helps! good luck!

[Marcia Selsor]

I fired Cone 6 reduction starting in the 1980s and believe in your situation it would be beneficial for you to do the same. You save roughly 50% in fuel and you also save time. Going to Cone 6 still produces a vitrified Cone 6 body and glazes look like stoneware temperatures. I have several of my tried and true Cone 6 glazes in Michael Baliey's Oriental Glazes book including celadon, copper red, tenmoku, Ohata Red, etc. John Britt published quite a few in 2008 in CM.

I would not mix cone 6 and. Cone 10 in a class room environment. Just pick one and stick with it.

Marcia