Denice
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Posts posted by Denice
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I put a large bowl in a soda firing and it came out of the kiln with the most beautiful glaze. It was a big hit, I still have it I refused to sell it. Denice
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Paragon has a repair cement that you can use on the cracks. I am lazy so I use a simpler solution, I usually have a broken shelves laying around. I use to put it directly on the bottom, I have my kilns set up for the Skutt Enviorvent now and have that hole in the middle. I make sure it isn't covered, If the break is in the right place I can leave it on the bottom. If not I raise it with half inch stilts. I try to make it as sturdy and steady as I can, I am really building a new bottom. You can purchase a new bottom but that can get quite pricey. Vacuuming your elements and making sure there is no glaze on them is a good place to start. If you have a manual fire check your weight and clearance on your kiln setter. Denice
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You would need to test the elements and make sure that they are able to reach the Cone you want to fire at. I have tested my own kilns that have glowing red elements only to find that they are not getting hot enough. They may look good but are actually worn out and needs replaced, check costs on those elements. Is the top brick edge of the kiln broken up? If it is I would only use it as a bisque kiln. little sandy piece of brick would fall onto your glazed pots and ruin them. Rebuilding a kiln that old could get messy, my old Paragon could no longer be repaired. When I took the metal bands off the bricks turned into sand, good thing I was throwing it away. Denice
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I wouldn't consider myself extremely tool handy but I know more that most women. I have spent my life handing tools to my dad then my husband, I could change a tire and the oil and check the antifreeze. I am much better with wood, I draw up plans and buy the supplies for any furniture I want built. I do all the sanding, staining and varnish on wood work projects. I did all of the interior finishes on our new house, even remuding all of the corners. You have to know how to tile to live my house, my prized tool is a commercial tile saw. I had to learn to use a lot of different piece of equipment in sculpture classes including welding. In one class I had to build a table that showed movement and time passing.. My husband is always bragging on the clay extruder I made and continue to modify. I don,t work with electricity a lot, my dad was always messing with the old knob and tube wiring in our house. You never could tell when you might get a bad shock. I have never gotten over the fear of it, I always have someone else rewire my kilns. Denice
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On 9/21/2024 at 8:18 PM, grackle said:
Have dreamed about building a gas kiln. We have something called live oak decline here in the TX Hill Country, and almost every oak tree on our five acres died in the past two years. So, firewood out the wazoo. I know we would both enjoy BUILDING a kiln, we love to build things (built our dome house and all the out buildings), but the long hours firing a wood fired kiln are daunting.
That said, both in our seventies, so not likely to happen. I wish one of my kids was interested, but that has not happened.
Don't give up on your children and art, my son and his wife moved to Costa Rica and all he does is art now. He doesn't work with clay but seems to create with everything else available, he is even working on inventions. Since you are in Texas I am sure you have heard of Maria's black ware, I watched a video of her loading her pots among the cow dung on the ground. And then covered with tree branches and some galvanized metal on top. I think they checked on it during the day and let it finish burning out during the night. You would probably have to buy some raku clay, it might be fun to do. We have driven through Texas hill country it is beautiful, we were picking up logs for the ceiling of our Spanish Mission house we were building . We also bought some narley curvy cedar posts, it took us four hours to drive from the log cabin we ordered them at to pick them up. They told us it wasn't far, pointed west and said it was far as the crow flies. Denice
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Marc You had to clean the shelves! Everyone had to clean shelves at my school, they would have a day where every class had to spend class time grinding, scraping and kiln washing shelves. The only time I help unload a gas kiln was when the college was making a commercial, I was working in my area when they grabbed anyone there to unload a very hot gas kiln. Cameras rolling we were climbing in out of the kiln handing out pots with sweat rolling down our face and arms. Maybe that is when I decided to go oxidation firing instead of reduction. Denice
- Pres, Wildflower NP and Rae Reich
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Cone 5/6 feel hard but can be soften up easily. I have a tall 5gal bucket, I put the bag of clay in it tied end up, I fill it with water and leave the tied end of the bag sticking out of the water. It depends on how hard the clay on how long you leave it in the bucket. If it is really hard add a half cup of water. I have revived some really dry old clay, it takes more water and a longer soak, clay I just purchased only takes a day. When I take a bag out I will check and see if I have more that needs to be soaked. The water has never gone bad, I usually have to add more, if I do need to dump it I roll it out and dump it in the driveway. I use to do the slamming method or dropping it 4 or 5 times on the floor to soften it. I like the the texture of the soaked clay better, perfect for throwing. The water pressure rearranges the alignment of the clay and water with in the bagged clay. I have a lot of different clay's in my studio, I keep my bucket filled with water and on a 3 wheeled caster so I can move it around. Bought a bunch of them on sale at Menards, perfect size and will handle heavy loads. Right now I am working with a black clay that is really stiff, I didn't soften it because I am working on a sculpture. It takes a lifetime to learn all of the secrets of clay, when I was four years old I made a mosaic tray and got hooked on clay. I will be 72 in two weeks still learning and hooked on clay. Denice
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I hope your potters sell all of their pots. Have fun! Denice
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I have had my L&L for a year, I bought boxes of the large cones for the 04, 5,6 range and tested bottom, middle and top. It was about a half cone off so I did the adjusting on the controller and ran another test firing. Still having great firings but I sure have a lot to cones, during Covid I couldn't find any. Denice
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Sounds like your elements, a 12 hour firing for Cone 5 isn't that bad but you couldn't call it fast. My new L&L standard preset firing for Cone 5 is 12 hours, my old Skutt I manually fired when I had fresh elements took 9 hours. When the Skutt elements were just about worn out it would take 12, I knew it was time to change them. I haven't bothered with a quick fire on the L&L, I am not having to run out to the garage to turn it up so a extra three hours is fine. I decided that L&L built it they would know the best way to fire it. Denice
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I bought my first kiln in 1974. my husband and I had purchased our first house. Everyone buys a new sofa or bed for a new home, I bought a used Paragon kiln. my husband wired it in. I had never fired a kiln before but I can learn anything from a book. Couldn't help my high school pottery teacher he fired on weekends and a young girl shouldn't be around him all alone. A few years after I graduated he divorced his wife and married a student. After 50 years of use it was too old and crumbly to put new elements in it. When we took the rings and stainless steel wrap off of it the bricks turned into dust. Denice
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I also seek out other potters booths to buy something from them. About 5 years ago my husband and I drove a old car to a show, we weren't allowed to stay because we had a custom bumper. We were a few miles from KC so we decided to spend the day there. I checked out the newspaper and found a ad for the big crafts fair and art exhibit they have every year. The only potter I found was a well known potter in KC for his glaze layering. He had a mug display and was selling them for $50, I was willing to pay that much but my husband wasn't. I didn't get a mug but I will always remember the encounter. Denice
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My pots remind me of the different stages of my life and phases of my life working in clay. I have displayed are the ones I considered the best of that phase. More coiled pots were put out this year. Believe it or not, I have visitors complain that I don't have enough of my work displayed. I have some smaller bowls and mugs that I have purchased from other potters. They are scattered around the house, when I come across one it triggers a pleasant memory of that person and their work. We recently put away the stoneware set of dishes I made 15 years ago. They are to heavy for my arthritic hands to lift, fortunately working with clay loosens up my hands. When my hands are hurting I head out to my studio, it is hard for me to think about the day I will have to give up clay. Denice
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I don't belong to the forum for help but I do learn something new now and then, I also like to help people learn. I am not a theory/formulae/graphs and numbers potter, I am a simple potter who loves clay. I like to fill in the missing areas of answers with common sense knowledge that I had gained over the last 52 years as a potter. All of my new studio equipment I have purchased has been recommended by potters on the forum. Twenty five years ago I was wanting to purchase a slab roller. Marcia Selsor and several other potters recommended a Bailey, my new L&L kiln was purchased from Neil after all the raving reviews. Even my electric pottery wheel was found by Mark, I have always had a kick wheel. He thought I was getting to old to still be kicking. He found one on Ebay for sale. a 15 minute drive and close to the area I grew up in. The owner was so excited that I was a long time potter and I from the area he took my offer that Mark recommended immediately. Amazing people on the forum, a potter in California finding a wheel for a potter in Kansas. Denice
- Bill Kielb, Pres and LeeU
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One last thing use a backer board that is concrete, Hardy Backer first line was made of pressed paper. I understand they have some made with concrete now.. I have concrete backer on the walls of my kiln room. My kiln room is in the garage but backs up to a wall in the house. It isn't necessary but this is the first time I have ever had a kiln that close to our living quarters, most of them have been in a garage or basement. If you have a concrete floor and your kiln on a stand you won't need the backer board. Denice
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Our garage is insulated and sheet rocked with one window and two garage doors. When we built our house we were required to insulate and use fire resistant sheet rock on the wall connected to the house and the ceiling by county code. Since we both work in our shops all year long we decided to sheet rock my studio and the rest of his garage. My husband and son did the hanging and I taped and mudded. I also painted and wallpapered my studio, vinyl wallpaper doesn't stain and is easier to clean than paint. Denice
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My studio is next door to my husbands garage, there is a whole house fan in west window. My studio kiln room is on the east side of the house, I open all of the windows in my studio and turn the fan on exhaust. The windows are 60 feet apart, they would have to be closer together if it was a smaller fan. One time he decided to paint a car with the fan blowing in and my windows open in my shop. It was a good thing I had a dusty shop, it was covered with orange paint and we had to replace the window screens. Denice
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I have been around kilns that had low fire clay and high fire glaze. One was a electric the pots melted into a puddle, the other was a gas firing C10 the pots turned into a liquid and dripped all over the other work and shelves. Denice
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It is a nice shot. but it doesn't give you that wow factor when you realize how it was configured. I still miss my Cannon and my son developing and printing them for me. He made me some great prints from photos he took of my work. My son is a techno geek so he left the stone age printing behind and creates on a 3D printer. Denice
- Pres, Bill Kielb and Rae Reich
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I consider it a new type of art, it is just one evolutionary step towards man's development into a big head, tiny body in a space suit. I watched a commercial for new shoes that you slip on and didn't have to bend over. They have had fake tied shoes for years, I have seen a lot of other products come out that eliminate the use of your hands, legs or arms. I realized how fast this is happening the other day. I was visiting my neighbor she is 45 years old, she had to leave to get her daughters school clothes hemmed. They had never owned a sewing machine or knew how to hand hem. I grew up with four sisters, there was a waiting line for the sewing machine we made our own clothes. This couple doesn't know how to do anything themselves, everything is hired out. This must mean their parents were clueless, and they are raising clueless children. In my youth a song by Zager&Evans IN THE YEAR 2525 was on the radio, I had a feeling then they were predicting the future. I better end this now before my arms are hanging useless at my side. Denice
- Rae Reich, Bill Kielb, Pres and 1 other
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I use a flexible duct that is metal not plastic like the ones for dryers. The only store we have found it at is Menard's, the duct got brittle after using it for 10 years and had to be replaced. I fired a kiln in a basement with no windows or ventilation system. This was before the Enviorvent systems were manufactured. I would find something else to do and only go to the basement to turn up the kiln. Denice
My 50th annual North Country Fair-its been a long windy road -selling ceramics at the North Counrty Fair
in Business, Marketing, and Accounting
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Loved the music and dancing, great crowd and plenty of booths to shop at. Did you sell out? Denice