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Lets Do The Happy Dance


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First bisque firing went well.. been on edge all night at work , is our work going to break into pieces or did we do ok? were new so I was hoping for at least 50% of the load to make it through.. I think that's a fair % because anything can happen ... I was worried about my wedging as I do both mine and Cindy's , I wanted her work to survive more than mine to be honest.. I was on pins and needles over my handle work, not that their great looking but im kind of fussy about how I attach things.. well I got home and yes the kiln was still warm but I had to take a peak and get a picture after my mind was at ease..  soooo do the happy dance with us :)

 

 

 

 

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Oven picture, yea that's a funny one.. we made those last weekend and was concerned about the bases being a little thicker than normal, cant set them base up,  so we helped them out a little bit .. we were trying to plan the firing with everything being bone dry without having to wait or putting them in the kiln not knowing for sure...

 

You guys n gals have been a lot of help to us.. we been reading a lot of older posts etc. and I feel its paying off.. Confidence builder, that's what this has been.. That's what we needed ...

 

Now the glaze firing, Thanks Marcia you know how to put us at ease :)~

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Could someone please give me some instructions on using an oven to dry greenware.  I recently "lost" a piece bisque fired at a community studio and was told the piece was not dry when put into the kiln.  Another potter said that there was an air bubble that caused the piece to break.  I don't know what to believe as I had used new clay.  (I threw the piece out so I can't provide a picture.)  Are there any cautions I should be aware of it I oven dry greenware?  Thanks for your consideration.

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Thanks-

Stephen, we might glaze fire them Saturday.. I will not be mixing until I feel more comfortable and have a better understanding of glazes.. it definitely seems they way to go. Mastering cone 6 glazes is a book we want to get very soon...

 

350 to 400 in the oven , you have to watch out for oven splatters popping on your ware.. Happened to me so I rubbed it off, tasted like Lasagna .. :)

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You guys are cruising along. That's a good book, we use a couple of the rutile glazes from that book. You might also check out digitalfire.com. I use their glaze software and the site is loaded with great info. Part of the subscription used to cover a couple hundred paged e-book which I remember as a nice primer. 

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Crusty congratulations on the firing. It looks like you have some great stuff in there.

 

Florence, air bubbles/ pockets do not cause explosions in clay, only moisture. Air pockets can trap the moisture, which is one reason they are undesirable. The other reason, is that they are a structural weakness. If I want something dried fast, I just put it infront of a standard box fan. The moving air, plus room temperature air, dries things quickly. Using an oven works, but it is really no different than candling the kiln. The lowest setting on my oven isn't too much below the boiling point of water. So if you are not careful, you can cause explosions in a standard oven too. Does your instructor candle fire the bisque loads?

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Thanks Crusty and Benzine for responding to my question/problem...  Here's the thing - the person who controls the kiln is all knowing and doesn't like to be questioned and said that the piece was "shattered because of air bubbles in the clay."  However, in the past another potter's pinch pot type kritter exploded the bottom out of the largest bowl I had ever made.  (Isn't that always the way!)  I know that my bowl was bone dry, new clay. The recent loss looked like the same type disaster judging from the same way the piece shattered.  Again, I know that I used new clay and that the piece was bone dry as I also use a box fan to dry my pieces.  I wonder if again another piece of greenware that wasn't bone dry was put on top of my piece.  Long time potters at this studio have advised me to "just buy a kiln" adding "That's what I did."  However, I just don't have a safe place to locate a kiln. I belong to the studio for the pleasure of working there, for the strong friendships that have formed over the clay, to learn and I already spend way too much time in my basement throwing clay.  BTW, this studio is a 102 mile round trip drive from my house.  I really want to be there so I guess I'll just have to put up with the situation.  Thanks for listening.  End of rant.   

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Florence, it is definitely possible that a stacked ware, could have damaged your's.  Also, it's not just the physical water, "steaming out", that you have to worry about.  If the clay is heated too quickly to around 900 F, the chemical water that is forced out, can also cause issues.  So you could have the driest, bone dry ware in the world, and it wouldn't matter if the firing was rushed.

 

I don't find the latter to be likely, otherwise there would be significant losses, I'd think.  

 

One hundred mile round trip?!!!  With that, I'd find a way to make a kiln work at home.  

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Florence,

 

Don't apologize for the "rant". Working in a community setting definitely takes patience, judgement and stragegy. Strategy first: you will always be at the mercy of someone elses techniques when people load their stuff into your work, or beside your work. I agree with you: bone dry is bone dry and doesn't burst, so if you're sure it wasn't you work, then the explosion came from somewhere else. I have learned to fill my own large items with other smaller items that I've made, and stack them together right on the waiting shelf. I weigh them all together (we use a weight/ticket system), and then it's easier just to put my package into the kiln. (That said, the people that load where I currently work are great about separating kids stuff/thick work onto different shelves, so I'm lucky that way.) Judgement: It's better to rant here than risk conscious or unconscious retribution. I left a studio where it was clear that the more someone else requested or expressed concerns, the more likely their stuff was left on the shelf not fired. We're talking months of waiting. So, better to "rant" here than there within certain limits. Finally, patience. Simon Leach says somewhere in one of his videos not to take each pot too preciously. The gist is to get over it and make 10 or 20 more. Just do. Begin again. Each time something breaks or is disappointing is simply another invitation to go back to the studio. My partner actually encourages me: "don't you want to go to the studio tonight?" when I'm feeling cross about a loss. Lovely person.

 

So, if you're controlling your own clay source, (not using the community bin), you are at least reducing some of the risk of "stuff" in the clay. Beyond that. make more stuff. Good luck.

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drmyrtle:  Thanks for your kind, instructive and very wise suggestions.  I'm going to print them and post them in my home studio.  (And I'm going to work on patience and keeping my big mouth shut too.)  She knows me well enough to know where my buttons are...  Also thanks for the "good luck" as I'll need it! 

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Wow - a 102 mile round trip.  This must take you 2.5+ hours of non productive time once you factor in driving, set-up and clean-up.  You must be really motivated to do clay and not have any alternatives to this studio. 

 

My thoughts on community studios are if something unchangeable becomes unbearable to you, then its time to find another studio, build your own, or do something else.  Until then, you have to make the best of the studio you have. 

 

In that light, is there any way to turn the "kiln nazi" into an ally (or at least not an advesary). One possible way to do this is to appeal to her "superior knowledge" and seek out her advice before hand (approaching it from the starting point that your technique or pots are the problem).  You may have to bite on your tongue a bit, and it may take a while, but it could result in a workable truce with this person.

 

Dr. Myrtle offers some other good strategies and is also correct in that you can't love an individual pot.  In pottery there are too many opportunities for things to go wrong along the way, especially in a studio situation where you don't have control.

 

Good luck,

 

-SD

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