neilestrick

Hi Lucia!
I agree with everything said above, and will add that you want to increase the depth of filed to get the back edge of the lip in focus. Also crop them closer, and I wouldn't mind seeing them a little bit brighter (although that could be an issue with my monitor, not your photos). I tend to shoot a little bit lower on the pot, so the back edge is just showing a little bit. As you get higher above the pot the form can start to distort and look odd. Shoot at the highest resolution you can so that I can resize to whatever is needed. Always keep the original big file.
You'll find that certain surfaces and colors make for better photos than others. Back when I had a much larger glaze pallet, I always used my matte glazes for show entries because they made for great photos.
There's a lot more leeway nowadays for what's acceptable in show entry photos. You don't have use the old school gray fading to black, but it's always a safe bet. I have a hard time getting that type of image to look good with the very glossy pots I make now, so I've switched to a solid gray background with a natural wood foreground (so that my pots don't look like they're floating in a gray void). I get into just as many shows with that setup as I did with the gray-to-black fade. On instagram you'll see a lot of really nice images with a plain white background, shot in a light tent. Ultimately they just want something that shows the pot very well and doesn't distract from it.

Even bone dry pieces contain water. Clay can't be 0% moisture sitting in a room that's 50-70% humidity. That last bit of moisture has to evaporate in the kiln before turning to steam, which takes longer for thick pieces, so a preheat or slower ramp is necessary. What speed did you use for the first firings? Never use Fast, especially for a bisque.

It's shivering, and it's not all that uncommon on low fire white bodies. Is this clay right out of the box or recycled?
Definitely try bisque firing a little hotter and see if that helps.

If the breaks are in the bottom row, just pin the big pieces in place, pin the elements to the floor if needed, and fire it up.

What Denice said. Explosions are caused by moisture. Even totally dry pots contain some moisture, which must evaporate out before it turns to steam and blows apart your work. When water turns to steam it expands 1700 times in size, so it's a powerful force. With thin pieces, the regular ramping rate of the kiln is slow enough to avoid explosions. But if you have large or thick pieces, it takes longer for that last bit of moisture to evaporate, so you need to do a preheat.

What Denice said. Explosions are caused by moisture. Even totally dry pots contain some moisture, which must evaporate out before it turns to steam and blows apart your work. When water turns to steam it expands 1700 times in size, so it's a powerful force. With thin pieces, the regular ramping rate of the kiln is slow enough to avoid explosions. But if you have large or thick pieces, it takes longer for that last bit of moisture to evaporate, so you need to do a preheat.

@Amanda Hummes What exactly made the first two firings unsuccessful?  Explosions? Cracks?

Yes, it sounds like they need replacing.

If the pieces look okay but underfired, then go ahead and re-fire them once you figure out what's wrong with the kiln. Do you know how to use a multi-meter to check your kiln? If not let us know and we can tell you a couple of other ways to check things out.

As long as it's not so rough that it's cutting up your hands, ignore it.

As long as it's not so rough that it's cutting up your hands, ignore it.

It looks like the PLOG errors are all circuit board/software issues, not anything that is a problem with the actual kiln system. Call Orton.

The epoxy will bond better if you rough up the areas to be joined. Like score them as though you're going to join them with slip. And yes, epoxy is pretty strong stuff.

Cone 6 is not necessarily the same in every kiln unless they have all been calibrated, which many aren't. Assuming you're using the same clear glaze and the same underglazes and the same glaze thickness, firing them cooler will probably stop the bleeding.

Cone 6 is not necessarily the same in every kiln unless they have all been calibrated, which many aren't. Assuming you're using the same clear glaze and the same underglazes and the same glaze thickness, firing them cooler will probably stop the bleeding.

I got my wheel first, but bought a kiln shortly after. In fact, I bought two kilns. The first was a big Olympic oval that was much larger than I needed, but I couldn't pass up the $300 price tag on a kiln that had only been fired a handful of times. The second kiln was an 18x18 Evenheat that I still have. Well, I have again- I sold it to a student who sold it to another student, who I then bought it from. 
Several of my students have wheels at home, which they primarily use for trimming and do the messy work and firing at my studio. IMO, there's not much reason to buy a wheel if you don't have a place to fire. It's a bit like making cakes but never baking them. You're only doing half the process.

How big are they?

Hi Lucia!
I agree with everything said above, and will add that you want to increase the depth of filed to get the back edge of the lip in focus. Also crop them closer, and I wouldn't mind seeing them a little bit brighter (although that could be an issue with my monitor, not your photos). I tend to shoot a little bit lower on the pot, so the back edge is just showing a little bit. As you get higher above the pot the form can start to distort and look odd. Shoot at the highest resolution you can so that I can resize to whatever is needed. Always keep the original big file.
You'll find that certain surfaces and colors make for better photos than others. Back when I had a much larger glaze pallet, I always used my matte glazes for show entries because they made for great photos.
There's a lot more leeway nowadays for what's acceptable in show entry photos. You don't have use the old school gray fading to black, but it's always a safe bet. I have a hard time getting that type of image to look good with the very glossy pots I make now, so I've switched to a solid gray background with a natural wood foreground (so that my pots don't look like they're floating in a gray void). I get into just as many shows with that setup as I did with the gray-to-black fade. On instagram you'll see a lot of really nice images with a plain white background, shot in a light tent. Ultimately they just want something that shows the pot very well and doesn't distract from it.

That's really high shrinkage for bisque. A typical terra cotta body is going to be about half that.
If it's starting to gloss up, then it's probably past vitrification and starting to melt. I'd test it again at cone 4, which is typically the max for low fire red bodies.
A common terra cotta body is 80-90% red clay and 10-20% ball clay, so I'd start with adding some ball clay and see what happens.

According to the data on Ward Burner, if the kiln is 9" IFB, it only needs 16,000btu per cubic foot, so about 256,000btu total.

Hi Lucia!
I agree with everything said above, and will add that you want to increase the depth of filed to get the back edge of the lip in focus. Also crop them closer, and I wouldn't mind seeing them a little bit brighter (although that could be an issue with my monitor, not your photos). I tend to shoot a little bit lower on the pot, so the back edge is just showing a little bit. As you get higher above the pot the form can start to distort and look odd. Shoot at the highest resolution you can so that I can resize to whatever is needed. Always keep the original big file.
You'll find that certain surfaces and colors make for better photos than others. Back when I had a much larger glaze pallet, I always used my matte glazes for show entries because they made for great photos.
There's a lot more leeway nowadays for what's acceptable in show entry photos. You don't have use the old school gray fading to black, but it's always a safe bet. I have a hard time getting that type of image to look good with the very glossy pots I make now, so I've switched to a solid gray background with a natural wood foreground (so that my pots don't look like they're floating in a gray void). I get into just as many shows with that setup as I did with the gray-to-black fade. On instagram you'll see a lot of really nice images with a plain white background, shot in a light tent. Ultimately they just want something that shows the pot very well and doesn't distract from it.

Hi Lucia!
I agree with everything said above, and will add that you want to increase the depth of filed to get the back edge of the lip in focus. Also crop them closer, and I wouldn't mind seeing them a little bit brighter (although that could be an issue with my monitor, not your photos). I tend to shoot a little bit lower on the pot, so the back edge is just showing a little bit. As you get higher above the pot the form can start to distort and look odd. Shoot at the highest resolution you can so that I can resize to whatever is needed. Always keep the original big file.
You'll find that certain surfaces and colors make for better photos than others. Back when I had a much larger glaze pallet, I always used my matte glazes for show entries because they made for great photos.
There's a lot more leeway nowadays for what's acceptable in show entry photos. You don't have use the old school gray fading to black, but it's always a safe bet. I have a hard time getting that type of image to look good with the very glossy pots I make now, so I've switched to a solid gray background with a natural wood foreground (so that my pots don't look like they're floating in a gray void). I get into just as many shows with that setup as I did with the gray-to-black fade. On instagram you'll see a lot of really nice images with a plain white background, shot in a light tent. Ultimately they just want something that shows the pot very well and doesn't distract from it.

Digital kilns don't always fire perfectly right out of the box. Some calibration is often necessary. You can either do a cone offset or try firing a cone cooler and see where that puts you.

Just giving this thread a bump, lots of new people here since the last post, hoping to see what some are working on.
For me, whats on my workbench today is a huge mess. 

Nah, I just don't clean my splash pan very often. That mess is from a lot of pots.
I work with cylinders rather than sausages/coils. For these I throw a 7# base slab with a 1" tall wall, then stack two 12.5# cylinders (all while wet) and pull and shape. After it stiffens up a little bit, I add another 12.5# cylinder to finish it off. So 45 pounds total.