elenab

Thank you, guys. Great links, Hulk. I checked my sitter, looks ok, and feels ok... For now, I will assume that the sitter is ok, I will slow down firing, accenting on medium heat,  I will have one hole(top hole) open all the time while using the middle hole for the thermocouple. Would it be ok for the thermocouple to be near some draft air? We could make a new hole anywhere else in the kiln...
I ordered witness cones, but I just couldn't digest the notion that one cone in the kiln sitter and another one on the shelf in a closed kiln with more than 1200C might behave differently, even taking into account that witness cones are melting in 9 d lower temperatures. I can't believe that 9 degrees makes my bowls melt and glaze bubbling...
In both cases when I fire the kiln fast (overfiring) and slow, the difference between the witness cone and the sitter cone would be 9 degrees plus a few more because of the location of the witness cone. I believe in both cases witness cone is insignificant. The total difference will be too small compared to the final >1200 degrees. In my next firing, I will put sitter cone as a witness and I will measure the difference.
Before the kiln sitters, how did potters control their firings? Did they have witness cones?
Also, I do not understand the mechanics of using 3 witness cones. I do understand that cones can help to understand a heat 'map' of the kiln. I don't understand why to use 5,6,7 witness cones when firing to cone 6. Cone 7 will be always standing high, and cone 5 melted,  am I right?
Yesterday I found out about temperature measuring rings. They literally can measure the temperature of the items in the kiln. Now I realize that the temperature might not be the most important factor.  In the firing process, what is the one main factor that is far more important than others? Is it a certain amount of heat 'spreaded' in a certain time?  If the answer is yes, then all I need to do is to slow down the firing and wait for the witness/sitter cone to bend.
If I fire fast with a witness cone 6, would my wares warp and glaze bubble? 
 

Hi High Bridge and everyone! I am back with good news! last week I did firing with the new elements we made and my kiln reached cone 6 temperature in 4.5 hr, yay...
I didn't buy 12 g wire, it was too expensive, instead, I bought 14 g, cut enough wire to make 8 ohms for each element, winded it, then stretched it to the length we needed, and installed it. Accidentally, the rod I was winding the wire on had a perfect size and fit perfectly. Later I realized that if the rod was bigger I would not be able to insert the elements in the grooves.
Changing the elements was so much simpler than I feared. I probably was reading  F.Olsen's book too much, lol. But after all the self-doubt I made my kiln work, and thank you for your support!
Elena

Hi High Bridge and everyone! I am back with good news! last week I did firing with the new elements we made and my kiln reached cone 6 temperature in 4.5 hr, yay...
I didn't buy 12 g wire, it was too expensive, instead, I bought 14 g, cut enough wire to make 8 ohms for each element, winded it, then stretched it to the length we needed, and installed it. Accidentally, the rod I was winding the wire on had a perfect size and fit perfectly. Later I realized that if the rod was bigger I would not be able to insert the elements in the grooves.
Changing the elements was so much simpler than I feared. I probably was reading  F.Olsen's book too much, lol. But after all the self-doubt I made my kiln work, and thank you for your support!
Elena

Hi High Bridge and everyone! I am back with good news! last week I did firing with the new elements we made and my kiln reached cone 6 temperature in 4.5 hr, yay...
I didn't buy 12 g wire, it was too expensive, instead, I bought 14 g, cut enough wire to make 8 ohms for each element, winded it, then stretched it to the length we needed, and installed it. Accidentally, the rod I was winding the wire on had a perfect size and fit perfectly. Later I realized that if the rod was bigger I would not be able to insert the elements in the grooves.
Changing the elements was so much simpler than I feared. I probably was reading  F.Olsen's book too much, lol. But after all the self-doubt I made my kiln work, and thank you for your support!
Elena

Hi High Bridge and everyone! I am back with good news! last week I did firing with the new elements we made and my kiln reached cone 6 temperature in 4.5 hr, yay...
I didn't buy 12 g wire, it was too expensive, instead, I bought 14 g, cut enough wire to make 8 ohms for each element, winded it, then stretched it to the length we needed, and installed it. Accidentally, the rod I was winding the wire on had a perfect size and fit perfectly. Later I realized that if the rod was bigger I would not be able to insert the elements in the grooves.
Changing the elements was so much simpler than I feared. I probably was reading  F.Olsen's book too much, lol. But after all the self-doubt I made my kiln work, and thank you for your support!
Elena

8  / 0.3388 = 23.613m  Unfortunately, it's feet not meters. If I am wrong I would be happy.  But the inner diameter looks like 5 mm!

The existing wire is about 16 gauge, I just compared to wires I have at home. (I have Nichrome 12 ang 16 gauge) Here is the video where the guy make an element coil, he used wire of length 7 times  longer than stretched coil.  It seems Paragon didn't use Kanthal wire, 
 

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.