neilestrick
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Posts posted by neilestrick
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Which program are you using? If you're doing a Cone Fire program, try a custom program or vice versa and see if that works. What exactly does it do when you press start- do relays click? It reads 'Idle', not complete or something else?
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9 minutes ago, Paulo316 said:
My guess is that my finished bottle is too porous and that I need a different / stronger glaze?
Welcome to the forum! This sounds mostly accurate to me. The issue is more than the glaze, though. If you have a porous clay body then the glaze must fit perfectly. Any crazing (crackles) in the glaze will allow the liquid to seep into the walls of the porous pot, where it can grow mold, as well as just evaporate the liquid. While you can find a glaze that fits well, the better solution is to find a clay body that will vitrify and a glaze that fits it well. You won't have any weeping issues that way. What temperature are you firing to, and what type of clay are you using?
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Even if the materials aren't rated high enough, they shouldn't change the insulation factor all that much until they've really shrunk up. If you're getting gaps, then that could definitely be a problem, though. Only the hot face would be an issue, not anything above it. Looks like you could put another layer or two of blanket on the top.
Have you checked to make sure the burners didn't get some crud in them during the rebuild?
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I would just leave the stuff on there and put it up under the kiln. It's really just there to hold the gasket in place while placing the cup. Once it's in place the gasket won't move. The heat of the kiln will likely dry it out over time, but even if it doesn't it shouldn't affect anything.
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I would not use it for a direct vent for the kiln. It's likely much too powerful for that. For a hood it could work very well, though. The fans used on Vent-A-Kiln hoods are 250-500CFM.
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Think of cones and heatwork like cooking a roast. You can cook it at 350F for an hour, or you can cook it at 275F for 4 hours. Both get the roast cooked through, but the slower cooking tastes better.
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@cspindler How was the original ceiling constructed?
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5 hours ago, elenab said:
If I fire fast with a witness cone 6, would my wares warp and glaze bubble?
Cones react to heatwork, which is temperature over time. But just because the cone melted doesn't meat your glaze will be happy, because firing too fast can cause problems. When glazes melt, they bubble up and then settle down and smooth over. If you're firing too fast they may not have time to smooth over, and they end up cooling with bubbles. You can also get bubbles from over- firing, however in my experience glazes are more likely to simply run when over-fired, unless it's an unstable glaze to start with, or two layered glazes that don't agree with each other. Warping can be caused by over-firing, but it could be related to the construction of the piece, thickness issues, etc.
Witness cones are the most accurate method of measuring heatwork, so trust what the witness cones say. The reason we use 3 is so we can see just how under- or over-fired it is. Was it a half cone or a full cone too hot? Having the next cone will help us answer that.
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Glue will burn off. You can glue it on and then glaze it, and the glaze will fuse it in place, but only if it's a small piece and it will sit in place without any glue. If it won't wit in place then once the glue burns off and the glaze melts the piece will just fall off. It has to be able to stay put with just gravity.
- MeowMixMuncher and Rae Reich
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7 hours ago, elenab said:
But why would the kiln sitter allow overfiring?
If the sitter isn't calibrated properly or the sitter rod is bent then it could over fire. It really shouldn't be more than 1 cone at the most, though. If you're loading the cone wrong that could also cause problems.
I would try the pyrometer with witness cones and see how it goes. Leave the kiln on medium as long as possible, like until the rate of climb drops below 50C/hr, before turning it on high.
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@Arimajol That vent should have come with an angled bracket for the motor that you can use to mount it. Also, the bracket should have feet so it won't rattle if you do set it on the floor.
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Yes, just set it on the floor and it'll work fine as long as your vent duct doesn't have any holes in it. Inspect it a couple times a year. There's nothing difficult about this, just tape your duct joints and use hose clamps and it'll work just fine. It's designed to be simple.
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I believe the RCD is essentially the same as a GFCI, and kilns will trip those. They are not recommended for use with kilns.
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Clay shrinks as it dries, especially from wet to leather hard. You have to get it off the form before it sets up too much. The wood will pull moisture from the clay and dry it out.
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You don't have to mess with 3 different containers. Take 1 gallon, or whatever smaller amount you want to work with, add 4% silica and dip a tile. Add another 4% and dip a tile. Repeat up to 20% silica added. Personally, I'd use a quart and mix it with a stick blender with each addition. Just math out how much dry material is in that quart based on the size of the original batch, assuming you have precisely 5 gallons. Another way to do it is to weight the bucket of glaze, subtract out the weight of the bucket, then weigh 5% of that into a smaller container. Then take 5% of your original batch size and math out the 4% silica.
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Once long ago Etsy was a good place for people to find your work. Now there's so much stuff on there and so much of it isn't really handmade that it's nearly impossible for your work to be found unless you have a very specific niche that people can search for. If you simply make good work that doesn't have unusual search criteria, it'll just get lost in the mix. A search for 'blue mug' will result in thousands of options. But if you have a blue mug with a mouse on it, then people can find you. Etsy works well as a shopping page that you can direct people to, though. Their interface is pretty easy to use, and everything is secure, but you may need to use social media and other means to direct people there. You'll have to math out what their fees will cost you vs setting up your own shopping site.
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Stilts with metal points do not hold up well at cone 5/6 or higher. The metal points soften and bend. A good glassy porcelain will deform on stilts, because the clay gets very soft in the firing.
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42 minutes ago, Christy Ann said:
Should I keep the peeps in or out during low, medium and high?
If you have a downdraft vent you need to keep all the peeps closed. If not, keep the top peep open for the entire firing.
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1 hour ago, Yvonne badoni said:
I just got a new bottle of hot tamale stroke and coat. Seems to have tiny crystals in it? Will it still work?
Hi Yvonne, welcome to the forum. Can you post a picture of the crystals? Are they flat flakes or round bits? As far as I can tell this isn't a product that should have crystals in it like some glazes do. As to whether or not it'll still work, that would require testing unless someone else speaks up with the same experience with that glaze.
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On 1/9/2024 at 7:24 PM, Kelly in AK said:
Then I put it in the microwave (empty) to see how hot it got after two minutes. Before the time was up I heard an audible crack and stopped it.
I don't know the science here, but my gut tells me it cracked because it was empty. Could simply be that any liquid in it would slow down the heating and make it heat more evenly.
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14 hours ago, Bill Kielb said:
Looks like masking and looks like the shadowing may have been airbrushed underglaze. That’s what strikes me
Robin didn't do anything that fussy. It's probably just solubles creating halos.
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Also, pound the clay out into a slab until it is close to the thickness you need, then finish off by rolling. The less rolling you can do the better. Fire it on silica sand or on a waster slab. Firing on edge may or may not work depending on the type of clay you're using, especially in the cone 5 firing. For porcelain or other bodies that fuse pretty tight it's likely to warp.
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@tim209 220 doesn't really exist in the US anymore. Service voltage will be either 208 or 240. Residential voltage is 240V single phase. The kiln must be set up to run on the same voltage and phase. Typically you have to change the kiln elements to accommodate the different voltage. Also, kilns must be installed on a breaker that is 25% greater than the draw of the kiln, but no more than 50% greater. So a 24 amp kiln needs a 30 amp breaker, a 48 amp kiln needs a 60 amp breaker, etc. If your 50 amp circuit has the 6ga wire that it's supposed to have, then you can swap that breaker for a 60 if needed.
It sounds like a good polygonal (round) top loading kiln will work just fine for your needs. Don't limit yourself to a Cress, as there are other brands that will work just as well, and probably be easier to maintain. Skutt, L&L, Evenheat, Paragon, etc will all work just as well. Something in the 5-7 cubic foot range would be good.
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19 minutes ago, tim209 said:
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i/tim209394/Screenshot_20240112_195858_Messages.jpgHello my name is Tim and I want to buy a kiln for my dad. A used Paragon dragon 24 came up for sale, but he noticed some damage to the bricks. The person is asking $1800, is it worth it?
I'm not great with computers, I hope the photos are accessible. Please let me know and thank you for your kind wisdom.
That's a weird place for breaks, and a difficult spot to repair. You can't just mortar a piece of brick onto the surface in the break, it just won't hold. You would have to cut a recess into the brick and mortar the new piece into that recess, so the patch is supported in the wall. It's a real pain, especially with the breaks being in the corner, but you may be able to get in there with a chisel cut out the recess. It won't be easy, though. The other option, which is less ideal and more likely to fail, is to just use a bunch of element pins to support the elements across the breaks. There's a limit to how long they'll hold, though, and replacing them will just make more holes in the brick. It's really only a temporary fix. The price seems good, but you need to fix the broken spots at some point.
FYI, I don't know your experience level with kilns, but that kiln is not terribly easy to move. It's big and heavy (400+lbs) and requires a pallet jack to move it around. You can't easily get it into most studios. It may not even fit through the doorway. You also need to check what voltage and phase electrical service it's set up for, and if your dad's service can handle the amperage draw of that kiln. Looks like it probably needs a 90 amp breaker, which is a lot if this is a home studio. Tell us more about your dad's studio setup.
Ceramic Arts Studio Supplies up for sale, where an I go the post the studio itmes??
in Community Marketplace – Buy/Sell/Trade/Free
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You can post them right here.