Babs

Morgan
Post placement still needs to be about the same. Its not about warping but the thermo load.When loading the bottom the stilts need to be lined up as the thermo load is great with all that weight at bottom, as you get to the top of the kiln it is not  as critical. Its always best to line them up when you can. Even advancers cannot take huge offsets due to weight at high temps. They can break from that stress of uneven thermo loading.You have been lucky so far would be my guess.I have had corners crack odd from uneven sharp posts even thougfh they are lined up underneath. Of course my cone 11 load is often 5+ feet tall so the weight is great .
In terms of more wares from this shelves you now know they pay for themselves pretty fast with extra space. And your back is better from less weight loading. Its amazing really as they are all upside other than the cost which is recouped the more you fire.

Something a little different just finished up in my studio this week!  'Smitten' medallion (small plaque) , sculpted by Rebecca Turner, produced in earthenware ceramic by Marge Para, and custom glazed by myself as a show donation for Clinky Mania Live 2024 in Titusville, FL this May.  All work done in the kiln using underglazes, then satin clear, followed by some overglazes to punch up the colors in the cat.  This ceramic medallion measures 3.5 by 5 inches and is going to public auction to benefit the show.    Photo displayed is MUCH larger than the actual piece!
I don't do many donation pieces anymore as I am just too busy but this is to help support a good friend's last year of hosting this show series for equine ceramics.  With all the heavy storms up here we've had in these mountains the past week it's been hard to fire either of my kilns with so many power outages and all the lightning.   But I finally got it done!  

The posts must align vertically all the way from the top of the kiln to the floor. The shelf may warp or crack if a post is sitting on the shelf but is not supported in the same spot below the shelf. You can usually get away with it if there's only one shelf above, or if you're putting in a quarter shelf, but I would not expect a shelf at the very bottom to carry the weight of multiple shelves above it without a post aligning underneath. You can't tripod the full shelf and then have 4 posts sitting on top of it, because only 1 post would align and the unsupported areas would carry most of the weight.

You have to use 4 posts under the full shelf so they line up with the half shelf posts. This is the problem. With 4 posts there's a good chance the shelf will rock, leaving one post not making contact and putting a lot of stress on the shelf there, resulting in cracking or warping. I really don't understand using a full shelf on the bottom and the rest half, but it's the way many people think it should be done. There's no benefit to having a full shelf on the bottom.

How are you stilting the full bottom ahelf given the half shelves will need different positioning?

I have fired many large pots and sculptures that filled the kiln.  Taking the kiln apart and candling over night is the way to go,   I also use a shelf to  build  and fire it on,  I pick one that is not in the greatest shape.  I am getting ready to work on new sculpture,  I have already figured out a way to make it in two pieces so I don't have to take my new kiln apart.    It only has 16 firings on it and it is bigger around than my old skutt but shorter.    The rings are harder to manage,  I am not ready to bump, scuff and chip the edges yet.   Denice

Definitely build it right on a kiln shelf. I'd also put it on a waster slab. It's okay if the waster breaks, it'll still work. Keep the kiln shelf up on bricks or something that will allow you to get your fingers under the edge to pick it up without having to tip it.

Yes, you just have to make sure they're sitting evenly. A waster slab across the joint is also helpful.

I Have only been in An Olympic gas kiln for the past 30 years. We installed a tankless H2O system, and our pressure is now been upgraded to commercial levels. I can easily overfire the Little Beast. I've had a couple of cone 11 cones puddles. I’m Doing a bisque Fire Now with a full load of heavy and big fermentation crocks. I started at noon yesterday  and Will finish up at about 03:30. At 1800 Now.
William
The Kracked Pot,
Washington NC

You can get small digital pyrometers, hand held devices, not very expensive in the scheme of things.
I would install a timer set at about 1/2 hr post target cone drop. This is a backup, essentialimo, inxase the sitter bar doesn't drop for some reason.  Long time potters, eg @Pres can guage the temp according to colour if kiln interior but until colour shows you're in the dark. :-))

Search Joseph Fireborn on these forums , Gallery and elsewhere, he posted some great pots using an electric kiln as have many, many  others. I suggest getting to know a potter who uses gas and spend time in their studio.
John Britt has extensive material online showing and teaching the effects possible in an electric kiln at C6
Still missing my gas kiln here after many years though....

No permit and easy for gas then I suggest gas but I am a cone 10 gas potter myself so I am a bit bias. Learning with gas and cone 10 is a big learning curve but very doable.

Are you brushing, spraying or dipping your glazes?
Are you waxing the bottom?
Damp piece of short pile carpet is effective to rotate the pot on, or used as a batt.

@Hulkhas a good solution for your situation. He uses blue tape, used for masking woodwork when painting, to tape off where he wants the glaze to end and peels it off while the glaze is still slightly damp. You could do that, brush your glaze on the lower portion, remove the tape and proceed glazing the rest of the pot.
@Babs carpet covered bat works well, too, allowing you to slop on glaze at will while the pot sits on the dampened carpet, then turning the dry pot slowly by hand on the carpet to rub off accumulated glaze at the base. I would moisten and trim off any chunks of glaze with a fettling knife or trimming tool before turning on the carpet.
Waxing the bottom before glazing could help to keep any glaze from seeping under the base and sticking.

Are you brushing, spraying or dipping your glazes?
Are you waxing the bottom?
Damp piece of short pile carpet is effective to rotate the pot on, or used as a batt.

From the little bit of exposed handle it is a rough clay or had a grogged slip brushed over. The colouris the glaze breaking on these areas imo.

Damn @neilestrick!!!
Best low fire work I’ve seen in a long time. So good I could eat it.
To @Biglou13, bisque anything will tolerate that kind of abuse better than a clay close to maturity. Lots of grog, kyanite, or even spodumene (gotten a bit expensive lately) will help. Unglazed flameware sounds better than any other clay body, but I haven’t tried that.
It can be done in the studio, ordinary clay products that handle the extreme temperature swings of cooking, but that’s far from saying it should be. I’ve made several earthenware pots that survive the stovetop, experimenting with clay formulations and bisque temperatures. Though I used them regularly, the maintenance was unforgiving (mold will not be denied if given a habitat to grow), and sooner or later they will fall apart despite all best practices. You didn’t bring this up, but I would never try to sell such a thing. Too complicated. 
Pottery used for cooking is largely disposable, in places it’s actually used. Manufacturers like Le Creuset and Wiliams-Sonoma create ceramic ware that’s functional in a contemporary kitchen, but they are carefully engineered first world conveniences. If people can afford to use metal they do. 
I’ll confess, I’ve never had better beans than those I cooked in clay pots. I don’t want to discourage anybody, I just think they should know what they’re in for. 

When we produce a ceramic material that allows "light" to pass through that material we are working with a "glass" even though us potters call the material a clay body or a glaze.  
Todays "Ceramic-Tech-Today"  article: Colored glass: From alchemy to empirical chemical design  
https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/education/colored-glass-from-alchemy-to-empirical-chemical-design/   
has some useful information and background that might help determining why the bone-china pots show a color when seen in a light source.  Remember that the source of the "light" is also an important variable.  
LT
 

It's my zero3 fritware clay, kiln is just a 40 litre rust bucket.
 
 
I would go with the cone program as it may dynamically alter the firing depending on how it keeps up with the rate of climb. Do skutt controllers do that? 

Not knowing the clay you use, or the kiln, here's my bisque in °C.
And, Callie the expert, so listen to her.
If bisqueware dry and of good thickness i.e not thick sculpted pieces
50°C / hr to 100°C
100°C/hr to 600°C
150°C/hr to 1000°C 
Soak for 10 minutes.
Target is C06. 
I pack bottom shelf with taller stuff, rest of kiln is tumble packed. Soak at end for me is to allow kiln temp to even out and tumble stacked ware to get to the cone target. 
Seems brutal but works

Now sounding like, in my brain, " what's on your table" topic at start of Covid lockdowns.
Amazing bread, Neil. Wouldn't last long around here

Density of the load has an effect on the way heat moves in the kiln. Kilns are heated by 3 different forms of heat transfer: Radiant, Conduction, and Convection.  Understanding these will help you to understand the need to pack the kiln consistently. Radiant heat is occurs first in the kiln as the elements radiate heat to heat up the air and the pottery. The pottery on the outer edges will heat up to radiate heat towards the center of the kiln. Please note that while Radiant heat is going on Convection is also occurring in the kiln as air heats up and begins to move to the top of the kiln forcing cooler air downward. Overly tight loads will inhibit the movement of air in the kiln causing areas that do not get air to not reach expected cones. However, as this is going on Conduction, where heat is moving through a solid, is taking place, Conduction is a slower process but it allows the pots to heat up from the outside to the inside, and the kiln from the inside to the outside. This good reason to have proper distance from the kiln to outside walls or other materials that could ignite.
Hope this helps to answer some of you concerns.
 
best,
Pres

Thanks @Babs! My bread game drastically improved during Covid lockdown. My 2 teenage boys and I were home every day for 3 months, and we went through 3 loaves a week. I figured out a lot with all that practice.

The sharing that goes on here is even more valuable than I had realized.  I am the lucky pottery who met up with Mark in St. Louis a week ago.  I knew I had absorbed a lot of his tricks of the trade from this site, but I did not fully realize how much.  As we talked for an hour or two in my booth, almost every aspect of my pottery has some mark of his influence.  From the way I wax my pots to the design of my display shelves - Mark's influence and generosity are  everywhere.  Helpful potters like Mark and Neil E. deserve a lot more credit than they get. 

I use Peggy Heer’s orIgInal Spooze, which is, essentially, 1/3 ea. clay, vinegar & corn syrup. Sorry-too tired to find the recipe, but it's online.  I use this when I want to join or mend something or fill in a crack  on dried greenware. It works great for my purpose. (which is not production/retail/professional). It has never failed!