grayfree

thank you Neil it is good to know you are available for advice.

Mossyrock I think you have the answer!! I dont fire to cone 10 my kiln goes to cone 8 but maybe I will take the few pieces I have one day when not busy and fire to cone 8 and hold it about 30 minutes and see what happens.

WOW that is interesting I am trying to get pinholes out of a chocolate brown clay I am using. I use coyote chinos alot and I have never had any pinholes. I had some crawling when it was put on to thick but they are pretty nice and reliable glazes. Good luch I hope you achieve the effect you want. I thought the piece was textured with some object to make it look like that.

Has anyone tried the new slow cool glazes by Coyote. I have just gotten 3 of them and want to try them but was wondering if anyone had any pre-trial tips??

Well we adjusted the hinge even more. The sanded brick was a very big help and next we will adjust the latch so as not to need the heavy object. This produced little to very slight gap hardly measurable. I can't go back now and get pics. The kiln fired perfectly last night. A gap of 1/4 inch can cause an error problem due to leaking hot air and causing the kiln to heat up at less than expected in 22.5 mins according to the book. This was certainly our experience. All electrical stuff was checked with no problems found. Most of the stuff we did with exception of "putting the battery on the lid" LOL was suggested in the L&L manual including the ceramic blanket. I can't believe if the ceramic blankets were so carcenogenic that they could even sell them on the L&L site. They also recommended this may be a help. Anyway thanks for all the input I think we are good now. I wont put anything else heavy on the lid.

Didn't mean to scare you the battery was placed on a board on the metal part of the lid lift.

Oh Neil lid gap is on the right back side section and the left mid rim section. we have tried adjusting the metal thing that hold the lid. The gap now may be due to a brick that looks expanded back by the hinge so my hubby is going to sand it a little when it cools and then readjust the lid again. Will it do damage to put a heavy object on the lid to hold it down as much as possible

Well thank you all for the comments. Yes I have talked with L&L today. They say a ceramic blanket would be fine. We will make some more adjustments and sand a few bricks here and there. Yes I use the latch in the front also. the gap is about 1/4 inch in 2 places, and according to l&l this could definately cause a E-1 error. We refired the thing last night with a heavy battery sitting on the lid and it did not error out but took twelve hours to fire to Cone 5 doing a fast glaze. It is a kiln about one year old. A 28T with quad elements and 3 inch brick. Will keep you posted on the firing results I pray that load did OK. I have a lot of shows coming up. Again thanks for all the input

I have an L&L kiln with a gap in the lid causing me to get an error message or the kiln to fire very slow not reaching full temp. We have adjusted the hinge and even sanded a bit on the firebrick for a better seal. That worked for about 3 firings then with expansion or something gap has occured again although less than originally. My question is this......Can I buy a ceramic blanket and cute it in strips to lay around the top lip of kiln and then shut the lid to fill in the gapping spots. Will this hold in the heat??

Hi has anyone used loafers glory clay and had trouble with it. I recently got 4 boxes of dried out clay from a friend and reclycled it. When I glazed it and fired it to Cone 5 and held for 15 minutes ( this actually gives me cone 6 in my kiln), everything I made came out horrible. The glazes looked very matt and thin as well as the clay was very rough. I am baffled unless it has something to do with the age of the clay (about 10 years old and dried out). The clay is suppose to be a cone 6-10 clay. I used about 4 different glazes all that came out matt colored and awful. Any thoughts?

Can anyone help me please? I just saw a short video by Mitch lyons on adding pastel to a clay slab for color. Does anyone know if these are the pastel sticks you get at the art store or are they another type made for stoneware... It is such a cool idea. I have done the colored slip inlay before and love it but I dont know what the pastel that he grates over the piece would be. any ideas? thanks

I have enough mess to haul that doesn't sell I won't be adding any of that crap LOL

Mark are you firing to cone 10 the one design site says the collars are for cone 10. I fire cone 6. Also I can't find them on Axner at all....any other suggestions.....I have done several with E-6000 and have just put 4 in a store I have to go trade out for something else because I am scared they will fail..... I hand built some extruded ones and I also foolishly glazed the rim so they have to be redone..... My husband is going to dremmel the glaze off and reapply the E6000 do you think this will work.... I would love to do the collar mold thing if I can get it to work on cone 6 clay.

Hi I agree with the sand sock. I used that idea recently on a flat peice and it worked great....no lift. So simple I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Good luck.....Your octopus is awesome. I made one recently that the legs curled all over the place. It was cute and I sold it but I will not make another. Too time consuming!

Hi I have used tourmaline a number of times and it is a thick opaque glaze. Nice color but no varigation if that is what you are looking for. It comes out matt like and thick looking. I use small amounts in combo with other glazes. Never by it self. Don't think you did anything wrong that is just the glaze.