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Setting Up Studio In Basement


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I carefully transport a few greenware pieces every few days in boxes from home to the studio where I have them fired. I nestle the pieces in some bubble wrap and/or crumpled up plastic shopping bags for cushioning. I glaze everything at the studio so I don't have to transport them back and forth again. For now, this is my only option as I don't have a kiln at home and I haven't damaged anything yet.

 

Paul.

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prankin, which i think sounds much more fun than paul, i used to live in union city nj and the owner of the rental house promised i could have my kiln installed.  he never allowed it so i took my beautifully and painstakingly made and carefully packed tiny houses to brooklyn for firing.  never having driven that way before, i could not believe the awful conditions of the streets.  when i arrived in flatbush i had a box of various roofs and walls, each lovingly nestled next to each other, none vertical. :(

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Guest JBaymore

I've posted this before....... this is the short version:

 

When in undergrad school at UMass we had a year when they "turned off the gas".  Professor built a kiln at his house we used.  About 18 miles away from the campus.  We transported all wares green and glazed.  Best solution found.... cardboard boxes with DRY fine sawdust.  Doesn't scar the work at ALL, stabilizes it very well, is re-useable....... and any that adheres to the surface burns off starting at about 451 F.

 

best,

 

................john

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First on the transportation of pieces.  I'm in a simular position to what your in and transport my pieces up and back.  Bubble Wrap is the answer I found that works fantastically.  Each pieces is wrapped in bubble wrap then put into boxes for transportation.   I find this more critical for the green ware though as I do not do heavy glazing.

 

On the electrical issue if your house was built in 1927 it probably had the electricity updated a long time ago.  But Our house built in the 1980's had an electrical fire and i will say they are not fun.  If you do not have at least 100 AMP service in your house please consider the investment.  Not so much for your Kiln as for your own safety.  . Today we are living in an electrical era and what we have in our houses today using power would not have been dreamed about 40 years ago.  The more power that is needed to run these devices the greater the risk electrical fires especially on older wiring. 

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actually, it is easier to buy a 200 amp circuit breaker panel and probably cheaper than a 100 amp panel.  they make 200 all the time and make few 100s anymore.  just because it has the capacity does not mean you need to use every space.  though i can't understand how someone might have an electric stove, an electric dryer and a hair dryer on less than 100 amps.

 

upgrade so you can add stuff you have needed but do without.  check the wires to see if someone installed aluminum wiring and get it out.  new wire is 6 strand and you should upgrade if you can.  

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I agree with Paul's suggestion of crumpled plastic shopping bags.  They do not mark the greenware at all and if you have some people save them for you, the supply is endless.  And...it feels good to use the darn things for something!

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(actually, it is easier to buy a 200 amp circuit breaker panel and probably cheaper than a 100 amp panel.  they make 200 all the time and make few 100s anymore.  just because it has the capacity does not mean you need to use every space.  though how someone might have an electric stove, an electric dryer and a hair dryer on less than 100 amps.)

ols lady has this spot on get the 200 amps if you upgrade-cheaper in the short and long run.

Mark

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I'm in the same "transporting stuff to and from a kiln that isn't in my house/studio" boat, and have had to do this since 2012.

 

I use plastic bags from the store, plus those produce bags. I wrap each piece (glazed or green) individually in a bag, lightly, and pack the pieces into an old clay box or a large insulated tote bag (the kind with a flat bottom and a plastic panel in the base to keep it flat). Extra bags get wadded around in the spaces so they don't jostle around in the car. Sometimes I can "nest" one bowl in another, if they aren't too fiddly.

 

Then again, my work is pretty sturdy...I don't do super-thin wares, because I'm still a beginner and, y'know, beginners do everything thicker than the pros. So maybe that helps me -- I have maybe had one piece break in transit in the past 3 years and maybe one other that broke because I mishandled it while taking it out of the tote bag.

 

I also only transport about 5-7 pieces, max, at a time. This works for me, because I just go once a week and do a dropoff/pickup over lunch.

 

As for glazed pieces, I don't use any kind of hairspray or starch or anything other than the plastic bags and the only time I've had chipping is when my glaze layer was unnecessarily thick. I just make sure the pieces have completely dried (usually overnight) before I bag them up.

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actually, it is easier to buy a 200 amp circuit breaker panel and probably cheaper than a 100 amp panel.  they make 200 all the time and make few 100s anymore.  just because it has the capacity does not mean you need to use every space.  though i can't understand how someone might have an electric stove, an electric dryer and a hair dryer on less than 100 amps.

 

upgrade so you can add stuff you have needed but do without.  check the wires to see if someone installed aluminum wiring and get it out.  new wire is 6 strand and you should upgrade if you can.  

 

When I was between jobs I work for a construction company that a lot of rebuilding of older homes.  I had seen houses with only 30 AMP service as well as 60 Amp service in them.  If it had 30 Amp we usually brought it up to 100 AMPS. but seldom upgraded the houses with 60 Amp service.     As far as the Cost goes in most cases the bigger cost was having the utility company run wires to the house that could handle the extra load, compared to the breaker box.  

 

While we have 200AMP service at times I wish we had more.  And I do not have a Kiln yet.

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why did you have to pay the utility company?  i have built 5 houses and they are eager to let me have what i want so i can pay them for the rest of my life.  except for Charles Town, wv where i asked for 400 amps and was given only 200.  filled the breaker box and left the basement unfinished when i sold it.  the new owner had to ask for more to put an AC  and kitchen and on an on into the apartment he put in the basement.  gee.............how strange..................

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why did you have to pay the utility company?  i have built 5 houses and they are eager to let me have what i want so i can pay them for the rest of my life.  except for Charles Town, wv where i asked for 400 amps and was given only 200.  filled the breaker box and left the basement unfinished when i sold it.  the new owner had to ask for more to put an AC  and kitchen and on an on into the apartment he put in the basement.  gee.............how strange..................

This a probably a difference between state Regulations.  Our lines must be put in underground per local codes.  They Charge on the bases of distance from the Utility box to the House and I believe the first 60 feet is free here but anything over 60 feet you have to pay for.  In our case the distance was around 200 feet.   I inquired about putting in 480 Volts but was told it was not available in our area and the max I could get on a single line was 200 Amp 240 Volt, with 480 Volts only available in areas zoned as industrial. 

 

Our breaker box is almost full.as well and I would like to put in several more breakers.  With the 240 Volt 200 Amp service it comes out to a max of 48 kw of power.  But the breakers add up to more than that considering they anticipate that you will not be using all of them at max at the same time.  One thing to my advantage is that I have a 240 Volt line in my garage for a Welder and Large Air Compressor.  If I put a kiln in the garage I could just plug it in to that circuit as the possibility of using more than one of these items at the same time is extremely doubtful.

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