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Thank you so much! This is very helpful.

A typical firing schedule is 1 hour on low, 1 hour on medium, high til done. Done typically means when the Sitter shuts it off. Instead, you'll need to put witness cones in the kiln near a peep hole, and watch through the hole for the cones to bend. If you're firing to cone 6, I would use something like cones 2, 4 & 6, so you have some warning. If you want to get fancy, use two packs, one low and one high, so you can see if it's firing evenly. Use Large cones, set into a piece of clay, and put a bunch of holes in the clay with a needle tool- it'll help them dry out faster and keep them fro

Thank you sir!

Thanks. This really made my day.

Hello, I am a beginner potter and just bought a used Paragon A-88B kiln that does not have a kiln sitter or timer. It only has three switches that you can set to High, Medium or Low. How do I bisque fire on this thing? Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Yeah, just a personal thing really, else I would need tested results. It generally is not worth my time to test and slow cooling adds another potential for varying results. I really don’t have time to be testing combinations and testing with reasonable confidence in itself takes lots of time.. For me, I always feel I can create acceptable aesthetic results in known regions fairly easily so making it a base glaze is personally not in the cards. I also end up feeling the excess boron becomes a raw material waster but again all personal preference stuff not necessarily how others view it.

High calcium matte glazes like the Hesselberth and Roy High Calcium Satin Matte glazes are supersaturated with calcium. During cooling the calcium forms microcrystalline structures (with some of the silica and alumina). Given that the flux ratio of this glaze is 0.1:0.9 using calculations this shouldn't be a durable glaze but in practice it is. Since some of the calcium is precipitating out of the glaze to form the microcrystalline matte surface I question whether using calc alone is enough to judge whether a microcrystalline glaze such as this one will be durable. My thought is the calculated

I think two different glazes were used in this case which in itself can be an issue if the coe’s are significantly different. Also biggest momentary thermal gradient will likely be on the inside so filling with hot coffee often stresses the interface. At least that’s the theory.

Yep, popular. Google armatures for clay.

I have been playing around with needle felting and got to thinking I might be able to makes some really neat animals with clay using the same armatures that I use with the wool. I have been using 12 and 14 gauge aluminum wire. I have cone 6 clay.

As Min said above, adding colorants would be the way to make this white. So white would be zircopax, Tin, titanium or a mixture of same as well as mason stains. With respect to these glazes generally slowly removing silica will turn them matte so you can try that in a line blend. The personal problem I have with these recipes is they have very low flux ratios 0.1: 0.9 and relatively high boron amounts for cone 6. My foundation glazes or base glazes if you will sport flux ratios in the range of 0.2:0.8 to 0.3:0.7 for durability reasons. While not a perfect indicator, this range is generally

I'd like to think a well fitting glaze (well fitted to a particular clay) allows some leeway in glaze thickness? A glaze that's close to a fit doesn't craze at all on the single dip portion of a test tile, but shows a few craze lines on the double dipped part after a few days, and perhaps about the same on the ware - some pieces show a few lines after a few days, most exhibit at least some crazing it time, and sensitive to a bit thick, where a good fit doesn't show any crazing on test tiles, particularly the double dipped portion, nor anywhere on the ware, excepting, perhaps, a very thick

My cone 6 cones only bent to 1:00. When I first got the kiln, I spoke to Skutt because it was firing hot and they coached me through a program change. I was too new at it to fully understand what they did. The mug that crazed, I put a glossy clear glaze on the inside before putting a matte on the outside. I think the inside may have gotten thicker because I was trying to control the pour. The company that makes the glaze states on their website that if its too thick, it can craze. It is rated cone5/6. The clay is cone 6. I think my plan of action will be to call Skutt to guide me in

Thanks, everyone! Making my shopping list now.

Just curious how much do they bend? Not sure if you use a cone pack such as 5,6,7 if so then does the 5 fully bend? If only a single witness cone that bends to the three o clock position would be really really close to cone 6. Just thought I would mention as I have seen folks struggle with accepting anything other than the cone touching the shelf. The three o’clock position is basically cone 6. If the cone itself is well hidden and buried by the wares it may bend slightly less. The remedy for densely packed kilns would be to slow down the final segment firing rate so everything he

Hamer also! I greab that book all the time. Alwayz nr my favourite chair. Latest dive was to read up on Plasticity. Purchased tonne of clay onlyto find it a whole lot shorter than evr before. Waiting for supplier to open up from annual break. Really not wanting to deal with bag after bag of short clay. Cracking on wedging for goodness sake. Hands cramping tonight, Excellent book.

Well you could try dropping tobacco juice onto slip...is that called Mocga diffusion???

That looks like a dream of a studio! And about 3 times bigger than my house! Very cool, I'm jealous as heck

That is for sure. Stinks that my wife and I are camera shy. Mosa on the other hand....attention glutton!

darn, am i a little too late to suggest mocha diffusion?

if readers will look at the last album page, 4, and last photo, that is the start. use back arrows all the way to the first, actually last, photo. i have had the same problem so i recognize the pattern. you need to add one more photo, your wife, dog and self smiling in front of the whole fabulous place.

Thank you all for the great input! I'm getting the impression that these babies are tanks, virtually bullet proof! So excited that there is something that our many and extreme hurricanes can't destroy!!