Linda Lees

Hi Leopold, Did you make the lava glaze? I was looking at that recipe this morning and wondering how it would go. I'd be interested to know what results you got/ cheers, Linda

Hi Rebecca, I’ve been waiting for days where the temperature is under 100 and leaving my firing until overnight. I also use a fan pointed at the controller and have the doors open. Thanks for you response Dick, do you know if there’s anyway around the overheating problem other than what I described above to Rebecca?

Beware of heating it too much. This is the problem I’ve been having with my kiln. I have a Genesis controller attached to an Olympic kiln. I’m in Australia and we’ve had some extremely hot weather lately causing board overheating errors. This happens when the board reaches 158 degrees F. I’ve had to wait for cooler temperatures and fire overnight with a fan pointed at the controller to try to keep it cool. It’s quite a problem when the program stops midway because it’s too hot.

I have a journal in which I sketch my ideas and keep notes. Once I've made the piece I go back to the journal and record the clay and the glazes used and any other notes that I think I may need, such as suggested ways that I may do things differently next time. I make a lot of slab sculptures and I nearly always will make a cardboard template to work out the pieces that I'll need to cut to complete the work. I assemble the cardboard sculpture using paper tape, photograph it and then pull it apart to use as my template to cut the clay pieces. If they're still holding together I'll file these in a folder with plastic pocket pages. My iPad is always switched on and I store a lot of info in there, I screen capture images that inspire and save them to a folder called Ceramic Inspirations along with the artist's name and the site that I got the pic from. I use an app called Over to type the info onto the image. I also have a couple of sketching apps that I'll use if my paper journal is not handy. I photograph my own completed pieces with the iPad and save them to their own Photos folder, these are just for my own reference. I take better photos with my DSLR for sharing on social media etc.

Hi Suvi, I'm new to the forums too. I'm wondering if you've tried just throwing on the wheel head without the plastic bats? You say it looks to be spinning true until you use the bat. I've never used bats, just thrown directly onto the wheel. I'm sure there will be many here who have used the bats, and they'll have advice for you.

Oldlady, I've just rung the company, the girl on reception said that the kiln I have sounds older than she is, she might be right. She asked me to send photos and my questions and she would pass them on to their technician who has worked for the company for 30 years. She did give me a quote for a new kiln of the same size - $6,875 Dick, thank you very much for your comprehensive reply. I just had another look at the thermocouple and it looks a bit past it, the wires are frayed and it is not connected to anything, there's no meter. Some of the bricks inside are damaged. I'm thinking that this kiln may be past it, it might cost me too much money to get it up to a decent condition. It has no shelves, just some posts.

Thanks Ron, I did contact them via their contact page and they sent me a page on Operating a Kiln with one Energy Regulator, nothing specific to this kiln. It refers to setting temperatures and from what I can see of what I've got, there is no way to set a temperature.

Hello, I've just been given an old kiln and I'm not sure what it needs or even if it's worth spending money on (of which I don't have much) It is a Tetlow (an Australian brand) Model TP6, 15amp, 3 kw, 50HZ Phase 1. It has a thermocouple, does this go in the hole on the front or top? The box on the outside of the kiln has a dial that goes from 0-100, with the words Simmerstat, Sunvic, made in the UK. I've been told that the elements have been replaced. It's a small kiln, 380mm x 380mm x 470mm. I've returned to ceramics after a break of about 20 years. Both in the past and more recently I haven't fired my own work, I've been a member of a club where the group members' works were fired for them, so my knowledge is very limited. I'm wondering if I can add a Digital Temperature Controller, I've found one on eBay from a seller in Canada that's not too expensive. Any info anyone can give me will be gratefully received