liambesaw

That's great, thanks for your cost list. Turns out I already have all of the stuff except the thermocouple module and the solid state relay and plugs. Should be cheap! Dangit now I have to do it!

11,000 relay cycles, is that ok? How many cycles are they generally rated for? Might want to see if you can get away with floating average instead of being super precise. Is it because it was a slow firing with the elements crAnked to high? Surprised how cheap those relays are, this is something I'd like to do, where was the cost of 200 dollars to you? Sorry for all of the questions, thanks.

How did it go? I'm very curious because I recently got a kiln with a kiln sitter and would like to do controlled cooling in the future. Am handy with programming and willing to learn the electronics, already have a pi

I was being sarcastic, but I'm the same way. Natural curiousity is one of the greatest teachers.

I was always exposed to ceramics from kindergarten on through college. Didn't have money for a wheel, kiln, clay, etc until my mid 30s where I am now. My recent inspiration was my neighbor who is a metal and woodworking artist, I told him I used to really enjoy ceramics and he said I should just do it. So I did.

Sounds more like an journey of self-punishment. I thank you for your sacrifice though, I've learned more than a little from your explorations posted here on the forums.

Welllllllllp, I ended up having time to go get clay over the weekend. Picked up 500lbs, as well as some glaze chemicals I wanted. I threw a big 15lb moon jar out of recycled clay last night, wow what an experience! It was probably a little softer than I should have thrown with but it was a lot of fun and great practice for throwing bigger. My new goal is to center and throw a 25 pounds vessel which is I think the max my rk2 is rated for. I probably won't be able to fire a piece that big without modifying my kiln, but I guess it's a personal challenge. Anyhow, with all of this brand new clay in my hands I need to get busy throwing some real stuff too. Bowls, bowls, bowls.

Love that angled cylinder one, beautiful

Interesting! Thank you!

Noooooooooo

Is it bastardization of a French phrase or something?

Well my wet box froze last night, as I have no room for it inside and the temperatures dropped into the 20s here, had a few mugs and a really nice large lidded jar waiting for handles in there, it's now something more akin to modern art haha. Serves me right for procrastinating and not doing handles over the weekend!

Been doing noodle bowls this week but took a break to make this jar. Had to mix it up. Over the weekend I did a bisque and a glaze firing of some mugs for Christmas gifts, they turned out OK, had some bowls in there too which turned out better. Will focus on bowls the rest of the week, want to make enough for a kiln load by the weekend and see if I cant get them bisqued and glazed. Looking for a used kiln this holiday season for bisquing since that part of my firing takes the longest and I have to babysit the kiln the entire 12 hours. It would free me up to do other things.

I only ever buy 500 lbs at a time, I have no room in my 980 sq ft home so it's stacked on shelves in my shed/studio. I may bring a few boxes at a time indoors just so I don't have to worry about trying to throw with cold hard clay though.

I wish I had an economical way of preventing it, but it's gonna be in the 20s at night this week and even with a space heater going it sometimes isn't enough. But I've got a trick up my sleeve for at least this cold snap... I'm down to my last bits of clay and won't be able to drive down to Seattle pottery until probably after the new year... So take that mother nature! Hah!

Here's the reclaim jars, had to torch them a little because the reclaim was pretttttttty soft, but they came out pretty good. They'll all get lids and handles in the coming days

Hey that would have been fun!

Well with the lid on it I'd say between 18 and 20 inches, I'll have to measure when I get a chance, it's about as tall as I can go in my kiln though, I have a stick to measure that because with the shelf on the floor I have 20 inches.

Seattle. Doesn't get super cold, but I throw mostly between 10pm and 2am, so it's cold enough.

It's definitely more work to wedge, center and pull but it seems to take a beating really well. Just finished throwing a couple 10 pound pots with the reclaim, it definitely needed a softer touch but good news is, it's still plenty plastic!

Well worked my way through all of my bags of iron-rich stoneware.... Or so I thought. 100 lbs of reclaim looks just about ready to throw with, so I'll be wedging up some of that tonight to see if it's still got legs. While burning through my bags I used this stuff called Goldbar Brown and it was pretty stiff, but it made throwing large pretty easy, might have to pick some more of it up if I like the fired appearance. I made a pretty good sized lidded jar with it and I know with my standard clay I would have had the torch out a few times at least.

I might have to insulate my shed this summer, that's a lot of work though... Tearing down all my ware shelves and moving everything out... But 80 degrees sounds pretty dang spiffy.

Wow, I struggle to keep my "studio" in the 50s even with a propane heater! One thing I have found very helpful is I picked up a little 2 quart crock pot for 7.99 at Target and I turn it on when I get home from work and it's darn near boiling by the time I get my kids in bed and am able to get out there. I just top it off with some cold water and it's just about right. I turn it off when I start throwing and it stays nice and warm for a few hours.

Beautiful view Lee!

Since my shed is so small, I have a space heater to keep things from freezing, the thermostat set to 40. For when I'm actually out there and working I have a propane tank top heater. The propane heater really kicks the heat out so I only run it for a few minutes at a time.