neilestrick

I like to use a darker clay for the mug, and white clay for the medallion. That way I can dip one glaze on the whole thing and still get good contrast between the two. Just make sure the two clay bodies have the same shrinkage rate.
I roll out 1/16" thick slabs for the medallions. Anything thicker than that looks pretty bulky. I've used simple rubber stamps that you can order online from any number of places for very little money, and I've used more expensive stamps that make a raised emblem (I think I got them from 4clay.com). I spray the slabs with cooking spray to keep the stamp from sticking. After stamping, I cut out the shape and set the medallion on a rolling pin or pvc pipe so that it can dry in a curve that roughly matches the curve of the mug, and clean up the edges once it has set up. You want the medallion to be as close to leather hard as possible when attaching it, otherwise you risk it cracking as is dries. Also, the stiffer the better so you don't mess up the image. To attach, I do some very light scoring (can't do much since the medallion is so thin) and coat the entire backside of the medallion with slip. I like for the slip to ooze out around the medallion so it gives a really clean edge where it meets the mug. No little voids.

A downdraft vent is good because it will increase element life and decrease corrosion of the kiln's metal parts. However, like Bill said, having it blow out into the hood is probably not very effective at removing the fumes from the room. With big powerful hoods it'll work pretty well, but not so much with a cooking hood. The hood is not going to catch everything. I would run the downdraft duct all the way to the outside. As for whether or not it needs more fresh air holes, you'll need to measure the temperature of the air in the duct. It should be under 140F. It's a balance between pulling enough air from the kiln to remove the fumes, but not so much that you're bringing too much cold air into the kiln and making it work harder. Ideally, the fresh air hole in the duct should be right at the kiln. Otherwise you're pulling really hot air through that flexible duct, which isn't safe and will degrade the duct very quickly. You're trying to keep the ductwork cool as well as the vent motor.

I like to use a darker clay for the mug, and white clay for the medallion. That way I can dip one glaze on the whole thing and still get good contrast between the two. Just make sure the two clay bodies have the same shrinkage rate.
I roll out 1/16" thick slabs for the medallions. Anything thicker than that looks pretty bulky. I've used simple rubber stamps that you can order online from any number of places for very little money, and I've used more expensive stamps that make a raised emblem (I think I got them from 4clay.com). I spray the slabs with cooking spray to keep the stamp from sticking. After stamping, I cut out the shape and set the medallion on a rolling pin or pvc pipe so that it can dry in a curve that roughly matches the curve of the mug, and clean up the edges once it has set up. You want the medallion to be as close to leather hard as possible when attaching it, otherwise you risk it cracking as is dries. Also, the stiffer the better so you don't mess up the image. To attach, I do some very light scoring (can't do much since the medallion is so thin) and coat the entire backside of the medallion with slip. I like for the slip to ooze out around the medallion so it gives a really clean edge where it meets the mug. No little voids.

@Anna MWelcome to the forum, we hope you find some answers to your questions while visiting with us.
I fired an electric kiln for years in my garage with no ventilation. It wasn't a major problem, but it had its bad spots as many hand tools in the garage needed extra care to keep them from showing rust or getting tarnished heavily along with woodwork and such needing more paint and care than other outdoor structures. However, last year I replaced my kiln with a newer kiln that had a controller and a downdraft vent system like @neilestrickdescribed. Actually Neil helped me pick out my new kiln, don't tell him I said so, but he's a great guy. I have noticed that the tools in the studio do not rust or tarnish as much, and the new kiln seems to be firing very clean. I run a vent out the window, and the system has a blower that keeps the kiln interior cleaner, and moisture from bisques gets ducted outside, not in the garage atmosphere. Venting highly recommended.
Once again, Welcome to the forum!
best,
Pres

Do you have access to a powered downdraft vent system, like the L&L Vent-Sure or the Skutt Envirovent? Either of those would do a better job than putting a duct by a spy hole. A powered downdraft will do a much better job of reducing kiln corrosion, and it will increase the life of your elements. The downdraft will also run cooler, so you don't need any special double wall ducting, and you can run the duct out a window instead of upward and through the roof.
Another option would be to put the kiln near one of the windows, and put a fan in the window blowing out. Crack the garage door a hair for fresh air. That may work, especially with a smaller kiln, however only a downdraft will reduce corrosion and you'll be at the mercy of the weather if you're in an area where it rains a lot or gets cold in the winter.

The good news is that if you make or buy a good quality kiln wash, it will last for quite a long time.

A silicone grout sealer would probably work, too.

@neilestrick
@Rockhopper
thank you both!! i have just been putting the cone in the sitter without paying much attention to its position.  if you don't know, now you know. thank you again!
 

You'll like underglazes then. The color in the jar is the color they'll fire to. When you layer them you'll get some bleed-through of darker colors into lighter colors, but that can add a lot of depth to the surface. They don't mix like paints- yellow and blue will not make green- but you can tweak them pretty easily using colors that are next to each other on the color wheel- blue and green to make blue-green. You can also lighten and darken them with black, white, and gray. It requires testing, though, because the color you mix won't necessarily be the same after firing because some colorants are stronger than others. For instance, blue and black tend to overpower other colors, so what looks good as a 50/50 mix before firing might need a 90/10 mix.
This platter is done with Speedball underglazes, fired to cone 6 on porcelain. It looks like Scarva carries Speedball, and underglazes are compatible with most any clay body. The only thing to watch out for is if you're firing to cone 6, some colors may change. Speedball colors all hold very well, but the Royal Blue and Red tend to flux out at cone 6 and get rough. Their other blues and reds do fine. Carmine red is a nice color. Amaco Velevet underglazes are very nice, but more expensive.

If you want to paint images like flowers and whatnot, then you want to use underglazes, not glazes. Glazes will generally run/flow where they contact each other, and any imagery you paint on will bleed and move and blur. Glazes do not require a clear glaze over them, and the clear glaze will mix with the other glaze and change how it looks. Underglazes, however, will not bleed where they contact each other, are not fluid, and have the added benefit of being the same color before and after firing so they're easy to work with. Underglazes require a glaze over them in order to be durable and food safe.

I do all my underglaze work on greenware (the dry side of leather hard), because I also do mishima work on everything, which requires the pot to be soft enough to carve lines. Plus the underglazes I use (Speedball) take glaze better if they've gone through a bisque firing. If I wasn't doing mishima I'd apply my underglazes at bone dry, because they dry faster than at leather hard and you can wipe/scrape off mistakes much easier than on bisque. On bisque some colors will stain the clay enough that you can't get it completely clean.

You're only shortening the coil by about 4 inches, so the resistance won't change much, and it may very well last about as long as the others. It will be easier to straighten if you heat it, but like Min said it's not totally necessary since it hasn't been fired yet.

It's odd that they want the peep hole left open for draft. That's a very big hole compared to the small holes that other vent systems use. Worst case you put in the peep hole plug and drill smaller holes like the other vents.
Skutt, L&L, and Orton vents can all vent two kilns as well, up to 20 cubic feet of total volume. The Bailey can only handle up to 17 cubic feet. They all sell a kit for adding another kiln to the system, and all can be mounted to the side of the kiln instead of the bottom if needed. I do that a lot with L&L vents on other brands of kilns. Get whichever system is cheapest and meets your needs for kiln volume.

Actually, I don't think it does need to be heated given the element hasn't been fired yet. Stretch out enough of the element to make a new pigtail. Given the extra work the wire will have it will probably shorten the element life.

No, but I don't measure it very often. Controller output is rarely ever the problem. Would it be affected by service voltage? I see 240 volts kilns running on services from 230 to 255.

The high voltage wires. I don't know if it's corrosion/oxidation or resistance (or both), but it's definitely a heat issue. I don't ever change out the low voltage control wires unless there is visible damage or they're really old and crispy, like when I rebuild an old control box. A Skutt wiring harness includes the wires going into and out of the relays, control wires, but not the element feeder wires. Feeder wires can't be changed easily since Skutt uses crimp connectors, and they don't seem to be the issue when it comes to relays burning out. Bad feeder wires can cause trouble at the element connection, though.

That's definitely possible. Turn it off if it's a hassle, otherwise leaving it as is won't do anything.

Output 4 has 3 different settings, depending on what you are using it for. In standard kilns it's not hookup up to anything, so it doesn't serve any purpose and won't have any affect on your firings if nothing is wired to it. 

In addition to the glaze maybe not being compatible, underglazes generally need at least 2-3 coats to show up well. If you're applying to bone dry ware you can probably get away with 2, but if you're applying to leather hard, you will need 3-4 coats to get good coverage, depending on the color.

Are we talking Celsius?
What's the max temp rating for that kiln? Some models are only rated to cone 8.

That's a good sign. Might want to replace the wiring harness. They can cause the relays to fail, and it's a cheap repair.

If the glaze dries relatively quickly and covers well. If the bisque is fired too hot and the clay loses its porosity, then it can't absorb the water in the glaze and you can't get a good application.

If the glaze dries relatively quickly and covers well. If the bisque is fired too hot and the clay loses its porosity, then it can't absorb the water in the glaze and you can't get a good application.

From what I've read, the water from a dehumidifier is not potable, however it can be used for cleaning and what not. It likely contains mold, mildew, bacteria, etc from the bucket the water collects in, and it could also have trace amounts of metals from the coils in the machine, but that should be minor. Use it in reclaim? Probably, since clay is already full of all the stuff that might already be growing in it. 

I've thought about using the belt sander. Good to know it works. I might wait until I've got one that's getting near the end of its life, though, as I can't imagine it will live much longer after sanding kiln wash.