neilestrick

@Sher-lene I moved your post to the appropriate section of the forum. If you know it's not food safe, then don't use it for fruit. The peel of an orange probably has some of the same acidity as the fruit itself, and that's what causes the glaze to leach. It's probably a small risk, but why take any risk when there are plenty of other options in the world?

With most glazes the simplest way to lower the firing temperature is to add or increase the source of boron in the glaze. In that case of this glaze, Frit 3134. It may only take 2-3% to get the results you want. I'd run a test batch, increasing the 3134 by 2% starting at 2%, so 2, 4, 6 and 8%. Since this is a crawl glaze, I don't really know how it will respond. If you find it melts better but ruins the crawl, then you may need to increase the magnesium carb a bit, too, as that's the main thing causing the crawling. Your other option is to simply find a cone 6 crawl glaze.

Red clays will never be as red and rich when covered with a clear glaze, except with terra cotta. But at cone 6 and up it's the nature of the beast. It shouldn't necessarily be murky, though. That's due to the clear glaze. A clearer glaze may give you better color from the clay, but never as rich as the raw clay.

@enbarro There are now unemployment funds available for the self employed, whereas before that wasn't the case. The money is coming from the feds, but the states actually implement it. You'll need to check with your state unemployment office. In my state (IL) they still haven't gotten the details worked out for the self-employed to be able to apply for unemployment benefits, but they have acknowledged that they are working on it.

@Brandon Franks Also look at @Callie Beller Diesel instagram page. She has a lot of good clean images on her page, done very simply with a wood base and a neutral background. That's how I shoot mine as well, although I don't have all that many on my IG page for reference. A cheap fabric light cube with inexpensive lights can also make great pictures, especially if your wok isn't too glossy. Also put up pictures on work in process, as people like to see how the work is made. The occasional personal image doesn't hurt either, as people like to have a sense of who you are as a person.

I think those recommendations only apply to the large oval shelves for glass firing. Glass kilns typically only heat from the top, which puts different stresses on the shelf than in a pottery kiln, where the heat is from all sides. It sounds like it has trouble when there are large areas that aren't covered by glass, and small areas that are. The uncovered areas heat up a lot, the covered areas don't, and that uneven expansion across the top of a large slab with much less expansion on the bottom causes problems. I've used 14x28 Corelite shelves for years in my pottery kiln with no problems, and have never paid attention to how my firing schedule may affect them. I even start the kiln with slight damp kiln wash on them and have never had a crack. I use a small Corelite on my gas grill for making pizza. Just like with clay and glass, large slabs have more problems than small ones. corelite-manufacturer-guidelines.pdf

The trick with any of that is going to be getting it cleaned out of the airbrush quickly, before it gums it up. Water based would be easiest.

IR definitely work well in other situations. I keep one in my tool kit for testing relays and outlets that may be overheating. I also know a lot of people who use them for cooking

The thing I like about thermocouples that stay in the kiln is that I can set it where I can just walk by and see what temp the kiln is. I don't have to do anything to get the measurement.

Crazing can be beautiful, but you need to have a well vitrified clay under it to prevent weeping. Refiring to cone 10 may help, but you don't know for sure if it will be tight enough even then without testing.

Without a kiln you can't do anything with actual clay and glaze. Oven Bake clay does not harden to a permanent state. Polymer clay is going to be your best bet.

If that's a Corelite shelf it'll be fine.

Most likely your clay body is not fully vitrified, and the liquid is seeping through the crazed glazed and through the semi-porous clay body. You need to run an absorption test on your clay body to see if it's tight enough. You want an absorption rate of under 2%, ideally under 1.5%. To do the test, make a bar of your clay body about 11cm long and 1cm thick and fire it to the cone you normally do (raw, no glaze). Weigh it, then boil it for a couple of hours or let it soak for a couple of days, then weigh it again to see how much water it absorbed. Again, you want under 2%. More than that and it's too porous and will weep. As long as you're doing the absorption test, it's also a good idea to do a shrinkage test. Mark a 10cm line on the bar when you first make it, then measure it once it's fired to see how much shrinkage you're getting. It won't have any affect on the absorption issue, but it's a good thing to know.

It looks like you've to a 4" splitting into two 4", correct? I would reduce them both down to 3", redo the kiln side with 3" all the way to the kiln. Then leave the one side open. If you have the upper one open with them both at 4", you'll ruin the pull from the kiln. Even at 3" you'll want to check the pull in the kiln, you may only want the upper open part way.

@ronfire That's a sweet little cabin! I wouldn't mess with moving the kiln out there. Expensive to wire, and hassle to carry pots out there.