PeterH

I vaguely remember Ian Gregory (of fibre kiln fame) making a similar comment during a demonstration -- about being able to fire a kiln-full of freshly thrown pots without trouble. He then immediately said that with somewhat  dryer pots this  didn't work. 
The impression I got that there was a brief sweet-spot where this was possible (and then only for a kiln-full of such pots), not that the state of dampness wasn't important.
I've no coherent theory to explain/understand this claim. Although its possible that some sort of wicking process draws the water to the surface as the pot dries, and the large number of wet pots in the kiln limits the temperature ramp while there is still surface water to evaporate. Surface drying before firing could  prevent such wicking of water to the surface during firing.

2166 is logical for cone 5 and 1044 ought to be 10 hours and 44 minutes, “CPLT” means complete and no errors so it appears the controller thought it made it.  Max temp can be found in the “SFTY” setting p24 so theoretically the controller can go as high as that setting. But the piece severely under fired. I would still check to make sure type S is not errantly set (p 22) in the controller and it has a common type K. Apparently If someone hit the reset function the default is type R.  It’s my only thought on why it is displaying 2166 and complete. If the kiln is stamped 1700 degrees it may not ever make cone 5 though just because it’s very underpowered…… or did someone change the elements and it is drawing more amperage (30a)  / wattage (7200w) than the nameplate? Lots of questions……….
 

I vaguely remember Ian Gregory (of fibre kiln fame) making a similar comment during a demonstration -- about being able to fire a kiln-full of freshly thrown pots without trouble. He then immediately said that with somewhat  dryer pots this  didn't work. 
The impression I got that there was a brief sweet-spot where this was possible (and then only for a kiln-full of such pots), not that the state of dampness wasn't important.
I've no coherent theory to explain/understand this claim. Although its possible that some sort of wicking process draws the water to the surface as the pot dries, and the large number of wet pots in the kiln limits the temperature ramp while there is still surface water to evaporate. Surface drying before firing could  prevent such wicking of water to the surface during firing.

I rolled out a  7mm / just over 1/4" thick slab 2 days ago. Used a very soft white clay that contains some ball clay, silica, lots of kaolin and fluxed with nepheline syenite plus has some bentonite, no grog or sand, and ribbed both sides of it then stood it on end and bent it into a gentle curve. This particular clay dries fairly slowly, it will still be damp when I candle it. I've weighed and measured it, will preheat at the Bartlett rate then (after checking the accuracy of my kiln temp) will heat it to 240F and hold for 3 hours. 3 hours is just a guess, if it's going to blow up I think it will have by then. If there is still steam coming out of the top peep I'll leave it another hour and check it again. I'm not running a vent as many people don't use them. Trying for the worst case scenario, if anyone has some more ideas on testing this theory I'm happy to hear them.
I'm wondering if Mark's experience with firing wet pots plus what Babs and Peter remember is more about creating a very humid environment that allows the clay to dry out more evenly? Sort of how the commercial dryers work but without the air turbulence?

The boiling point of water changes with the atmospheric pressure above it so in general at about 500 foot elevation (Chicago)I it boils at 211 degrees but at higher elevation say 1000 feet more like 210 degrees. There is also truth  as they say that water boils easier on a cloudy day than on a clear one. Low and high pressure respectively. So I guess the point would be folks should dry their stuff with whatever risk is acceptable to them or has proven to be risk free. If you regularly fire your own things from a wet state to dry with no issue and watch steam coming out of the kiln, you are probably comfortable with doing it each time with whatever your schedule is. For many - 180 hold is conservatively safe for them. As to the boiling temperature of water, it varies. 
 
Teaching AC techs we always had the demonstration of evacuating the pressure in a flask of water and making it boil with the heat from our hand when we picked it up.

Since it displays temperature I think it would be helpful to understand firing rates. If you understand basic firing in ceramics, you can apply it to any kiln, anywhere.
 
First segment
I would suggest the first segment to be the “make sure everything is dry”:  So room temperature to boiling, we usually go very slow so any moisture can slowly leave the ware rather than converting a lot to steam suddenly which is the explosive part. So slow climb or a hold at 180 f for instance can allow this off gassing. This is particularly true for greenware, but also can be a factor for freshly glazed items.
Now that out of the way, bisque firings generally rely on time and temperature so they are slower. Normally not more than 200f degrees per hour and range from approximately 10-12 hours.
Glaze fires can go faster so often up to 550f degrees per hour and can be approximately in the 4-8: hour range.
Approximating a cone and the last 200-250f. degrees of firing. (The final segment)
With Orton cones, you will see an end of firing rate. The middle column is 108 f degrees per hour. This is a nice speed to mature glaze and clay so in the last 200 - 250f degrees make your kiln go 108 degrees per hour and it should heat to the appropriate cone. This is true for whatever cone you are firing, bisque temperatures as well.
So as complicated as it sounds, most manual kilns are ramped up slowly to try and get the approximate 10-12 hour bisque as well as something like the 4-8 hour glaze. Kiln size and power all play into it which is why folks figure out for their kiln some schedule like  2 hrs on low, 2 hrs on medium, then high until shutoff but with a sitter their task is easier as the kiln will shutoff at a specific cone.
It appears this kiln you will need to supervise and manually shutoff.
So when you fire empty, I would suggest taking readings every half hour at your settings and observe the rates as you go. Record these. Toward the end of firing you will need a higher amount of power for a given rate of climb. Figuring out what gives you about 108-110 degrees per hour near cone six or 2232 - 200 or 2032.  So from let’s say approximately 2000 degrees onward you want to be in that 108 - 110 degree per hour range and fire to 2232 for cone six.
If you understand the why part, you will be able to craft your own best schedule for your kiln. Some folks do not like firing rates so they simplify it to a low medium high schedule. Both work effectively and take some observation.
A change of 1 degree per minute = 60 degrees per hour, so 2 degrees per minute is 120 degrees per hour or almost perfect to get your cone to bend whether shooting for cone 04 or cone 6.

Perhaps of mild interest, despite cryptic translation.
https://patents.google.com/patent/CN1055278C/en
Method for making colour glaze natural leaf figure ceramic product
Abstract
The present invention discloses a method for making color glaze natural leaf pattern ceramics. Natural leaves or plant leaves are stuck to a blank coated with base glaze after particularly treated, and a layer of surface glaze is coated on the blank. Then, the blank is put in a kiln to be burned to obtain a ceramic finished product. The present invention uses ceramics as a carrier, and natural leaf patterns are burned on the ceramics. The leaf patterns are clear, natural and vivid and have beauty sense and very high appreciation and collection value. The present invention has no particular requirements for conditions of the base glaze, the blank, combusting atmospheres, etc. and has the advantages of simple preparation process and easy operation.
 
 
 

Setter is a name for types of kiln furniture which offer some protection against slumping/distortion.
https://www.earthwaterfire.com/products/setters/
Ceramic Setters are special items of kiln furniture which, in the ceramic tableware industry, are shaped (generally on their upper surface) to conform with the undersurface of plates and dishes and which serve to support ware and maintain its shape in the kiln during


 
Setters are especially important when firing bone china.
https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/pottery-making-illustrated/pottery-making-illustrated-article/Tempting-Transparency#
In cases where the bisque firing is much higher than the glaze firing, as is normally when working with the case with bone china (between 2246–2300°F (1230–1260°C)), it’s essential that the clay ware receives the maximum support during the firing process, particularly as most of the movement occurs when the kiln reaches its highest temperature. Due to the high distortion factor encountered with bone china, if the shape is to be controlled, any open form requires a setter of some kind.
If the form is circular at the top, it can be placed upside-down on a refractory clay ring, or setter, with an alumina wash to prevent sticking in the firing.
If the form is irregular at the top edge an individual setter needs to be made. In simple terms, this is an item that resembles a lid and is cast separately (the preferred making method for bone china). Its function is to contain the top edge, or rim, of a form during firing (figure 10) and is discarded afterward. If the piece has been successfully fired with no distortion, the ware can be glazed and fired at a lower temperature of 1832–1976°F (1000–1080°C), if necessary.

 

The small cones "...bend about 9 F hotter than the big ones."
Orton has corrected the online doc that contradicted this - there's detailed reference archived in this forum somewhere*...
My experience has been to place a small cone six in the sitter to get cone five witness cone to bend.
That said, witness cones are the way to go, and a pyrometer is super helpful - once the relationship between pyrometer readings and witness cone results are established, it gets easier, but stay on top of it as your pyrometer may drift with time and wear.
I would not want to rely on the kiln sitter for accurate heat work; I'm sure it can be done, but why?
If starting over, I'd place cone packs where they can be seen (eye protection vitally important, against harmful rays and Any Flying Bits) and stop firing once target has been achieved, noting pyrometer readings. Once repeatability has been established, viewing the cone packs during firing not as important.
The sitter/timer mechanism is a failsafe, imho, in case I fall asleep or somewhat, the kiln will eventually shut down on its own.
Within the next several years, I do expect/hope to start over, with a new kiln, numerically controlled. The new kiln will come with its own thermocouples, and so, since I would not want to ruin several loads whilst learning, I'll go back to watching cone packs and taking notes during firing, eh?
*aha!
Kiln Sitter cone for witness cone - Studio Operations and Making Work - Ceramic Arts Daily Community
Maybe start at the bottom and read up...

Do you still have access to the clay and wheel at college?
If so might be worth trying home clay wedged at home on the college wheel, and vice versa. It might at least remove some variables.
... and carefully consider any differences in body/arms/wheel/chair relationships in the two situations.

Mold Design decision - While you can make a multiple part mold for a complex form you need to also consider the usability of such a mold. Each part creates a seam.(That needs to be cleaned.) Each part needs to fit together, well, with its neighbor, so the mold holds together tightly.
If you have a mold with lots of small parts you then have to be really careful when you work with the mold. If you crack, chip, or break just one part does it ruin the whole mold?
For the aforementioned reasons it is best, if possible, to keep your parts to a minimum. (Less time spent cleaning, less worry about breakage.)
Undercuts - A way you can keep detail but reduce its impact is to design the undercuts so they face one direction, either front or back. If you alter the undercuts so they follow the "pull" of the mold, as you separate the two pieces, then you can keep detail but make it work for you and not against you.
Hope this helps.

Pedantically, as P=V^2/R  wouldn't a change from 12v to 16.5v to increase the power by a factor of (16.5/12)^2 = 1.89?
I've no idea how much this would change the operational life of the relay though.

Different methods of making handles for mugs https://tinyurl.com/yckrtf6r
Video: https://tinyurl.com/mrnwfa5b

I emailed Axner and asked for the SDS as I couldn't locate it on their site. Link they sent me is here , which, to me anyways, just makes things more confusing. SDS they sent me lists only silica and alumina and is for FR503 aka Axner Kiln Wash. I then questioned if the SDS was the same for Lee's Kiln Wash because I was under the assumption it contained some form of zircon. Received this reply back: 
"We haven't changed the formula.
The names are interchangeable since we bought Lee's recipe but we still make as he intended."
Curiouser and curiouser because being able to coat both top and bottom of the shelves it does sound like more than an alumina oxide + silica wash. 
For what it's worth when I was back in school the tech used a zircopax wash on the kiln shelves for the gas kiln. Both sides were washed, shelves fired with no flaking or bits falling onto pots. He would re-coat the shelves without removing the previous coats, shelves were really quite thick with all the years of built up layers.

notice the very uneven application that leaves the rims without whatever the white stuff is and very close to bare clay in some areas.   
they are being fired to cone 10 or so?  is it a flashing slip, not a glaze?  is there a different definition in her language that she is using the word glaze but means something we would have a different word for?
is she somehow using reduction in that kiln?   notice the elements, how did they get that way?

Denise, I use throwing sticks often for chalice bowls and the stems. 
As to the opening tool @Bam2015, you will find the video here:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=clay+opening+tools&type=E214US714G0#id=2&vid=7aadabeead3955026ce8618b0ce04609&action=click
 
best, 
Pres

I wonder if making it more convex would meet your needs. Seems like the piece is shrinking more at the top, thus seeming to slump, but if you give more surface to the top by making it more convex then you may meet your needs without the extra weight of the thicker top.
Just a thought.
best,
Pres

As the old expression goes the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Perhaps we need a ceramics version of that expression. Hypothetical argument / information versus real world experience. Lowfire talc bodies have been extremely popular because they are so easy to fit craze free glazes on. 

Suggesting/pointing-out that the talc wouldn't be acting as a flux is one thing. Suggesting that this means that a 50% talc body cannot have a high thermal expansion seems -- on Hansen's evidence -- just plain wrong. If it does have a high thermal expansion then claims that this cannot assist glaze fit seem misguided.
Of course, people may have been have been using erroneous arguments to explain why the thermal expansion was high. But disproving those arguments doesn't influence whether or not it actually is high.

Tuning properly can be extremely difficult. Auto tune helps a bunch but good PID loop process folks spend a lifetime becoming good at it.
If it’s several hundred dollars it is a control with faceplate, circuit board, built in relays, built in PID, etc…. If you intend to use SSR or mechanical relays you would use the output of the V6cf to drive them. You will need a box, transformer, fuse holder, cord, wiring, SSR’s heat sinks etc… regardless of which controller, even a Ras pi will require all the support stuff and probably more actually
A stand alone control will still need something to turn on and off which means relays, SSR’s box to hold them etc…. I am just saying, plan this out start to finish and I think you will have a better idea of how it all will work within your design. Right now there seems to be some confusion.
The Bartlett has a PID already tuned for the typical thermodynamics of a kiln and places to store programs. The RAs pi is all your tuning -100% and you need to write the entire program as well. Economical temp controllers have a PID and auto tune, else you are going to have to tune and they still require all the support: box, interconnect wire, relays, etc…..
I think if you define this completely an easiest path will become obvious.

I'm doing a little demo to show one reason why some recipes go to 2 or 3 decimal points. I'll use the first recipe Beebop posted as an example that pertains to the question in the thread of using a ball clay in place of kaolin in a recipe. 
I took the original recipe (example 1) then did a one to one swap of OM4 for the kaolin (example 2). See how the total is still 100 but them chemistry isn't the same. With OM4 ball clay the silica is now too high and the alumina is too low. (blue and red boxes) plus a tiny difference in the calcium. 
So to get the silica, alumina and calcium to be the same as in the original recipe I need to increase and decrease certain materials then retotal the recipe to equal 100. This is recipe example 3. Numbers are now down to the third decimal point to get the total to 100. Some programs will automatically round the numbers off, some don't but it's simple enough to do.
I then took the 100 gram batch and increased it to a 10,000 gram batch. Example 4. Decimal points are now down to tenths. If I was mixing this glaze I would just round them up or down and get rid of them altogether. 

 

Stumbled across this, which seems to confirm the point, and offer a mitigation of sorts:
to make it into a casting slip add 0.4% Dispex; to attempt a plastic body add 3% bentonite: I have used real bone ash and have not had the smell but I choose synthetic bone ash for it's chemical consistency batch to batch [my emphasis]

 

Hi Peter, yes one could do as you proposed to increase the thickness on the bottom of the mould, but for my purposes I don't believe this would prevent the slumping. 

The boards are* supplied by Minarik.
Registration is required to get the docs, here: minarikdrives.com
Mine exhibits same capacitor thing, however, within a few minutes, it's drained off.
My wheel has the pcmxp ("ssx") board; Skutt also uses the mm23001c board (as standard - it's perfectly suitable).
Minarik Drives
   XP Series
   User Manual
fifty page document has a chapter on calibration (trim pots); it's seven pages, however, several sections refer to other chapters for background info, etc. 
I bumped up the MAX SPEED and changed the IR COMP setting.

*or were; my Skutt will be coming up on five years old.
I haven't looked at their website, nor Minarik's, for several years.
...don't know why Skutt doesn't have the manual or at least some excerpts available. Oh well, their support is super, my bet is they would be helpful - I was able to find the doc myself - it was a Saturday, so.

Cast plaster?  Or cast from  plaster mould?
Personally, I think it looks like plaster.
If it's solid, it's 99.99% certain to be plaster.  It will be hard and resistant to rubbing with a wet finger.
If it's dried clay, it will be extremely fragile, and you will be able to rub/smooth bits off with a wet finger.