neilestrick

Busy day glazing today! These are all waxed and ready to dip.
 

If you plan to fire to cone 6, you want a kiln that will at least get to cone 8, ideally cone 10. Otherwise you'll only get about 30 firings before you have to change the elements. I'd call Olympic, as they will be able to give you some info about this kiln and make recommendations about increasing the cone rating, possibly with just new elements, possibly with taking out the blank ring.

Busy day glazing today! These are all waxed and ready to dip.
 

are you all eating?
This morning's bake. 
Easy cake.
Cup yoghurt
Cup SR Flour
Cup fruit...I used grated apple and added a cup..
Cup coconut
Cup, I use 1/2 sugar.
Spices of choice
Egg
Bit of milk
Some walnuts
Mix together, into tin , 350 deg till ready...woodstove here so temp and time depends.
Plate...early Babs
Slice missing...baker's nibble.
 

Like Callie, my big dark shift was switching to cone 6 oxidation. I learned how to fire a gas kiln my first semester of ceramics in 1992, and spent the next 16 years of my ceramics life working at cone 10- gas, salt, and wood firing. In 2008 I switched to cone 6 electric, at first by choice as something different to try, but soon after by necessity as I had to move my shop and couldn't find a place where I could have my gas kiln.
I rarely get very far out of my comfort zone any more. If I do it's by choice, trying to work out an idea I have rolling around in my brain. I don't ever go out of my comfort zone for a customer, though, because it won't pay off. I've gotten very good at saying no to people over the last 16 years of running my business.

Hey Ollie. Just completed the build. Turned out better than expected. Only issue is that I did end up using more amps than I previously thought to get it to temperature fast enough. I'll write the specs if ur curious. 
Thanks everyone else for the feedback and great ideas. Rpi controller rocks by the way :). 
@Sorcery holly cow. Glad to see you here dude. Haven't had time for The Nut in quite a while. 
 
The end product:

Best bet is to look at the wiring diagram and do what it says. The 181 is unique because it's a 4 wire system. The two hots will connect to the sitter. The neutral will go out to the elements and the other section. The ground will go to the case and the other section.
Any of the other wires should be replaced if the covers are turning brown instead of white, or if they're crispy and crack when you bend them. You should be able to order a new wiring harness from Skutt. The feeder wires, those that go from the switches to the elements, are typically connected with crimp connectors, so you won't be able to change those until you change the elements.

@Blossomhousepottery.com Thank you! I always use wax resist for etching, and do it at the dry side of leather hard.

We just let ours go to seed. They get really tall and look like a fern. Apparently you're supposed to let them do that when you're done with harvesting (if you harvested at all), as the fern top collects sun energy and makes for stronger plants the next year. They'll also make little berries/seeds that can be planted.
https://www.aveggieventure.com/2018/10/beauty-of-asparagus-berries.html

Growing up on the front range in Colorado, my grandma used to take me out to pick wild asparagus. I never liked to eat it, but hunting for it was wonderful, especially because I got to hang out with Grandma. I'm still not super fond of it, but I'll eat it. We've got a very small patch started in our garden, and there are currently 4 stalks coming up that are a nice thickness. It takes forever for it to get established and spread. This is the 3rd or 4th year in our garden, and we're finally seeing stalks that are good for eating.
https://www.modern-forager.com/colorado-wild-asparagus/

@Blossomhousepottery.com Thank you! I always use wax resist for etching, and do it at the dry side of leather hard.

Here are the three pots I made, glazed using every glaze (^04 commercial) that I could find in my house/studio.  They are in alphabetic order until I ran out, then went searching for more.  
They are slab-built, around 200 mm/8 inches tall.  Biggest things I've made, and all three in one week.  All fired separately, couldn't get more than one in the kiln at a time.
Had some cookie catchers/saucers hanging around so glazed them and put them on the bottom shelf.
 

So learning how to trim without a Giffin Grip is no longer a useful skill? I should require every student to buy a Giffin Grip if they want to learn how to trim in my classes?

So learning how to trim without a Giffin Grip is no longer a useful skill? I should require every student to buy a Giffin Grip if they want to learn how to trim in my classes?

A sugar jar from last fall, but playing with photo editing. 

Busy day glazing today! These are all waxed and ready to dip.
 

Even better than lineman's pliers, get some mini bolt cutters. I use them for element pigtails and they are sweet.

I am working on communion sets, and today is glazing on these chalices. Same number of patens will be fired also in this load.
 
best,
Pres

Even better than lineman's pliers, get some mini bolt cutters. I use them for element pigtails and they are sweet.

Oh those will work much better because I actually need to be able to cut with the tip

Some of the larger shows charge a $35 jury fee, and get over 1,000 entries. It does not cost $35,000+ to jury a show, especially when using online systems like ZAPP, that require very little labor, and when you're an established show that doesn't have to advertise beyond ZAPP to get applications. So that money is either extra profit for the show organizer, or it's subsidizing the booth fees. If I get into the show, the $35 was worth it. If I don't get in, it was a ripoff! I think a lot of shows use jury fees as a way to boost their profits since there are limits to what they can charge for a booth fee. I've seen jury fees as high as $45, which I refuse to pay. The show is either greedy or poorly organized if they need to charge that much. Some years I spend $1000 just on jury fees, which I think is ridiculous considering I only end up doing half of those shows. But to get into 20 shows I have to apply to 30-40. Jury fees have gradually crept up over the last decade. It used to be that $25 was the high end. Now $25-30 is average.

I think it's great that these shows are attempting to do some sort of online event in lieu of a real show, because any advertising and opportunity to sell work is good. But it's ridiculous to think that the online sales would come anywhere close to what would be sold at the real show, so expecting people to pay a full booth fee to participate is ludicrous. If they want me to put my jury fee toward it that would be fine. But using my $300-400 booth fee is not going to happen. There's no way I'm going to sell $2000 in pots in their online sale. 

All of my shows through July and some into August have officially cancelled. I didn't even bother to apply to any September shows except one small local show. I've got one May show that rescheduled for August, and one October studio tour show that I was invited to be a part of up north. That's my show schedule for the year-2, maybe 3 shows instead of 15-20. Total bummer. On the plus side, I've gotten back about $1500 in booth fees, and I was finally able to apply for unemployment this week. 

I think it's great that these shows are attempting to do some sort of online event in lieu of a real show, because any advertising and opportunity to sell work is good. But it's ridiculous to think that the online sales would come anywhere close to what would be sold at the real show, so expecting people to pay a full booth fee to participate is ludicrous. If they want me to put my jury fee toward it that would be fine. But using my $300-400 booth fee is not going to happen. There's no way I'm going to sell $2000 in pots in their online sale. 

All of my shows through July and some into August have officially cancelled. I didn't even bother to apply to any September shows except one small local show. I've got one May show that rescheduled for August, and one October studio tour show that I was invited to be a part of up north. That's my show schedule for the year-2, maybe 3 shows instead of 15-20. Total bummer. On the plus side, I've gotten back about $1500 in booth fees, and I was finally able to apply for unemployment this week.