Babs

Post a photo of what you want discussed. Makes it easier.

Yes, you have a wide firing range clay so I would be surprized if fully vitrified at lower temp of range. You may think of changing your clay into the future. clay and glaze maturing at Cone 6 or 7 would be a more economic and popular firing range. Google Midfiring glazes. Bisque firing is low at 950degC ,go for Cone 06, 1000degC , becoming more popular, cone 04, 1040 deg C.

A friend made an interior shell which fitted smack against the bricks then filled with packing matterial , this was to stop the bricks juggling and possible dislodging of the elements, it also supported the lid from inside if, that makes sense..may be overkill for you but with the roads around here, and distances travelled, made perfect sense

The glaze and clay. The clay needs to vitrify if being used for liquids and domestic use. The glaze has to "fit" te clay. The glaze you have, if fired to the temp which matures your clay, would probably run off your pots and ruin your kiln shelves. Lots of other considerations but that is th basics

But as Callie said ,you will not get the uniformity of colour and it may drop to bottom of glaze bucket

Hmmm, not sure, none dropping off the perch yet. Live in an agricultural area where run off from cropping land not the best. Poor soils also , trace elements, copper manganese and cobalt licks a spreading to promote healthy stock and plant growth, but I get your concern. Maybe I should use for fruit bowls, humans being a more abundant species.:-○. Being flippant here.

I have a friend who has a metal lathe and so has filings of copper, fine and not so fine. I have drizzled them onto the textured base of a birdbath, the texture is a swirl made by my finger across the base of the bath. It is first coated with a tin based white glaze and so the filings turn turquoisey green with black where chunky filing landed. I've thought of rolling out clay on some filings also and glazing with above glaze but haven't yet. Non functional stuff. Fun to play stimes. Some brass in there too.

Wow, you may be able to have a longer diving vacation! She must have loved your work. It is a bit humbling.Imagine if she could have visited your studio!

The wax will burn out way before the glaze starts to react to the heat process so should be good to go that way. A small band where glazes overlap may be an interesting transition... Let's know how it goes

If another firing sorts some of the prob, slow down your last hour of fitinv and soak at end. @Hulk sorted some issues. Spraying entire pot with asater prior to applying slip can help with a better evenness if application. Have you tried a white clay slip instead of engobe? Slip is different, as you stated engobe translates to slip in Sp. So perhaps try a slip. I use a white stoneware on a midfiring iron rich clay successfully. A "second" from my old stuff, don't make these anymore. White is reflection.

John Britt has free online videos in Youtube. Excellent teacher.

Keep them away from yur controller, dont think they like magnets. So they elease from the glazed ware ok?

Until waiting to crack a kiln!!! Yip, brain chatter quelled, multi tasking stopped in its track, time goes away, the total rhythm required feeds the soul. The imprinting of these qualities is healing.

Photos would really help.A kiln sitterr is just a device which, depending on the cone you place between the prongs, will shut off the kiln after a certain amount of heatwork. Make a log book and note everything you do.Time turned on .position of switch, starting temp temp after 1hr. Temp range, for every hour. Put a set of cones , one below target temp , one on target temp and one sbove target temp. Place them where you can see them through a spy hole. Towards the end of firing , take out bung to see how the cones are faring. The cones wil reflect what is happening more accurately that temp. If you ramp up fast it'll take a higher temp to mature the cone, and your glazes, and turn off your kiln. Some glazes won't like that. If you ramp slowly your cones will drop at a lower temp. By recording what you do every hour you will see what you need to do. Photos of kiln and pots overfired will let folk help you more. Good luck, keep at it!

Glazes coloured with stains, not sure about that. Maybe these days, with lots of folk buying commercial glazes My shelves still full of the mineral chemicals needed for the colours. Been firing midfire forever it seems. Amazing the effects using an electric kiln, though I pine for my gas one still. Electric kiln a good starting point if you're doing it by yourself. Enjoy it all!

What state is the roof or the lid of your kiln. Is this occurring only on the top shelf or on different shelves? A photo would help. As @neilestrick says could be a disintegrating thermoc. Are uou stacking shelves flat when not in kiln . Maybe stuff adhering to underside.

Vacuuming the kiln thoroughly after each firing and checking edges of shelves and underneath each shelf as removing from kiln helps. How are you storing your shelves? O you have kiln wash on undesides or edges of any shelves? Top or front loading?.top, vacuum top edges of bricks carefully before starting your load. Is your kiln brick or fibre? Electric or gas?

Is the thermocouple sheathed or unsheathed?

@Gazal Given you're using Walkers , in Oz?, wax resist , I use unbranded, decanted by my supplier I guess. Clear but if that is a prob, add a drop of food colour. Coat your brush with green liquid detergent, dip in resist and paint. Wash brush out immed when finished with the resist. Or if you want to go in again and colour your flowers, latex allows you to peel it off after you apply the underglaze to add colour to the flowers. Both products need to dry before brushing over them. Clean brushes immediately. Spritz the whole pot with water for even application Rims dry faster so will grab more underglaze. Good luck

Are you reusing the wire? That may be the prob. Ask what they used where you used to get them fired, and their method. Anything else changed? How are you making the holes in your pieces? What are the underneath of your shelves looking like? What is the roof/ lid of kiln lookIng like? I have to throughly vacuum roof and spy holes before each firing as there is a fallout of black specks from the spyholes if I don't. Ask at the other place first. Contamination of glaze or brushes or work space?

Matt?, shiny ?, satin oatmeal? What is that glaze

Orders for unknown forms need to be avoided imo. Wondering why the need to be glazed underneath. I'd be checking low fired glazes as if you dont have time to redesign, you're risking complete failure to continue with C6. Supported with wrong height due to unk own shrinkage may well mean the ends move out, in . Hard to know, eh? Not worth the angst and time you're wasting on this. Good luck.

Re wax, I still use melted wax for most pieces. A bit of damp carpet, in shallow plastic container, placed next to the warm wax pan , tip from @oldlady, is used to wipe any glaze goobs from bottom of pot

Guess there's technique and optimal glaze properties for good glaze application to learn about in all techniques. Test all, keep notes There's also the pouring of glazes. Form ,size, quantity of glaze available and end result wanted dictates the technique used also. Have fun

A spray of titanium dioxide on upper third ontop of a glaze can cause some interesting movement