NancyE

Hello guys, I'm back at it.  Does anyone know how I can determine how thick I need to make a bisque fired terra cotta wall to hold the pressure of the liquid contents inside?  Of course I'm not making the huge qvevri that they made in Georgia and had to be buried, still might try for a 30 gallon vessel.  This is assuming my seams and good, walls consistent, my recycled clay was clean etc.  And also, I'll probably end up pit firing because of the whole size of the pot kiln situation.  The shape will be a variation of the classic qvevri, round with high and wide hips, but probably not so exaggerated.  And it will be sealed with beeswax.   As always I appreciate your wisdom, input and encouragement.

Nancy E

I have now been asked to design a mobile gas kiln to be carried about in a 20' container that would fire eight 50+ gallon qvevri or 4 larger ones at least to bisque.  Of course I have never built a kiln before.  I imagine the greatest problem is to keep the kiln from grinding itself to death on the road, and of course keeping it down to a doable weight.  I was thinking about building walls that could be assembled on site, then I saw  John Britt's kiln made from refractory cement and I wondered if it might be the solution.  He gave me some suggestions, but I would really love to hear from you guys

The person requesting the kiln design is looking for someone who wants to move to his place outside of Austin, TX, to run a studio and a really, really big kiln he plans to build.  See The Qvevri Project.  Is there a more appropriate place to post this information?

Thanks again,

You guys make my day.