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Hi,
 Thank you for the tips and the info.

Hi,
 Thank you for the tips and the info.

Paper seems to be the filler of choice because it will burn out the most cleanly, can shrink or compact as the clay shrinks, and will dry along with the clay. No plastics, foam or styrofoam if it will go into a kiln. Nothing that will not shrink with the clay as it dries.
As to what I have seen for terminology, ‘padding’ if it is on an armature, ‘filler’ if not.
Generally, try to make the clay walls thick enough to be self-supporting as it dries. The sculpture can be cut apart when leather hard to remove excess clay. 

Hi,
 The Kiln is an L&L EasyFire E23M-3 that Neil helped us select. It is rated to cone 10.  We have no idea if she will ever need cone 10.
 The hope was to have lots of options. She is primarily enthused about working with locally found clay and has a goal towards learning to find and use locally found finish colorants. She had been taking some classes at a local open to the public studio, where she was constrained to use of materials that conformed to the workflow of that facility. Now she can experiment and develop her other interests.
 She has a shelf of small to be fired local clay pots ready to go, and we expect that there will be at lot failures before she gets the temperature just right.
 It will be complicated by the fact that she greatly enjoys working with clay from different deposits from different geologic periods. We live in the desert cliff region and have easy access to a cross section of material that was deposited over a range of 400 millions years.
 She hand builds, and her output is very modest. This is a pure pleasure hobby for her. She has been putting off purchasing a kiln for far too long, so I thought it was time to make it happen.
 I'll probably make a few things but I'm inclined to use store bought clay. I took pottery classes in college 40 years ago, but didn't learn much about the tech because we had a marvelous professor who made everything work so we could focus on shape and form.
It's great that now a days the tech information is so accessible, so we figure we can learn at our own pace and see what happens. 

Hi,
 The Kiln is an L&L EasyFire E23M-3 that Neil helped us select. It is rated to cone 10.  We have no idea if she will ever need cone 10.
 The hope was to have lots of options. She is primarily enthused about working with locally found clay and has a goal towards learning to find and use locally found finish colorants. She had been taking some classes at a local open to the public studio, where she was constrained to use of materials that conformed to the workflow of that facility. Now she can experiment and develop her other interests.
 She has a shelf of small to be fired local clay pots ready to go, and we expect that there will be at lot failures before she gets the temperature just right.
 It will be complicated by the fact that she greatly enjoys working with clay from different deposits from different geologic periods. We live in the desert cliff region and have easy access to a cross section of material that was deposited over a range of 400 millions years.
 She hand builds, and her output is very modest. This is a pure pleasure hobby for her. She has been putting off purchasing a kiln for far too long, so I thought it was time to make it happen.
 I'll probably make a few things but I'm inclined to use store bought clay. I took pottery classes in college 40 years ago, but didn't learn much about the tech because we had a marvelous professor who made everything work so we could focus on shape and form.
It's great that now a days the tech information is so accessible, so we figure we can learn at our own pace and see what happens. 

Hi,
 I finished up welding, painting, and assembling the kiln cart, so we were able to mount and assemble our new kiln's parts on the cart to see if it will work OK.
It seems very stiff. It did not seem to deflect at all. We only need to move the kiln a few feet back and forth from a storage location to an operation location. The floor is smooth and level. I hope I have not made a mistake by building our own cart, but it was fun to fabricate, less than half the price of a ready made version, and made out of the sort of heavy weight materials that are impractical to specify for a consumer grade mass distribution product. 
Thanks for all the help getting started with a new kiln.

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for posting the photos and examples. 
If the paint on this cart reacts poorly I will post about it here. I used "Engine Paint" which is rated to 500 degrees F.
If I could have sourced it in a timely manner I would have used Bar B Que or Wood Stove paint which is rated to about 1200 degrees F. While I was searching for paint I learned that there are products made for coating engine exhaust pipes that are rated at 1800 degrees F.
I was mainly concerned with the paint becoming volatile and maybe combustible. It seemed like most of the discussion I found about high heat paint seemed to regard stability and appearance as the issues being considered, so I am hoping that the 500 degree engine paint will be ok and that I was just overthinking everything. I saw some articles that say the steel bands can reach 500 degrees F so I thought I should be cautious.
I'll keep an close eye on it for the first few firings.

Hi,
 Thank you for the suggestions and the reassurance that high heat paint is not inappropriate.
The steel frame I have fabricated is connected to the factory plate that was intended to serve as the center support of the static stand, so all but about 1/2" on the outer edges will be resting on a solid surface. The factory plate makes it easy to use the venting system with the connections supplied.
I have been planning to add support under the outer edges, and add some side plates  as well, but I have not gotten that far.
To be honest I did not realize how the bottom of the kiln was just glued together until we received it. I wanted my wife to have her own kiln and figured we would just get started and figure it out as we go. I had waited for the kiln's arrival to take a look at it and the supplied stand. Then I figured out a design that I hope will work ok. The center support you mention seems like a must have feature.
I had some 5" polyurethane caster's on hand that are very similar to what you suggest, but after worrying about possible heat issues I overcompensated and purchased some heavy industry 6" steel wheel casters with the top locks. The 6" wheels are sized so that the over all height of the center plate matches the original stand dimensions, so the vent ducting will clear nicely.  
Thank you!

Hi,
 Thank you for the suggestions and the reassurance that high heat paint is not inappropriate.
The steel frame I have fabricated is connected to the factory plate that was intended to serve as the center support of the static stand, so all but about 1/2" on the outer edges will be resting on a solid surface. The factory plate makes it easy to use the venting system with the connections supplied.
I have been planning to add support under the outer edges, and add some side plates  as well, but I have not gotten that far.
To be honest I did not realize how the bottom of the kiln was just glued together until we received it. I wanted my wife to have her own kiln and figured we would just get started and figure it out as we go. I had waited for the kiln's arrival to take a look at it and the supplied stand. Then I figured out a design that I hope will work ok. The center support you mention seems like a must have feature.
I had some 5" polyurethane caster's on hand that are very similar to what you suggest, but after worrying about possible heat issues I overcompensated and purchased some heavy industry 6" steel wheel casters with the top locks. The 6" wheels are sized so that the over all height of the center plate matches the original stand dimensions, so the vent ducting will clear nicely.  
Thank you!

Just my experience and a suggestion or two
High heat paint is fine, use it on many kiln repairs in much hotter places. The outside bottom of the kiln is usually pretty cool. Just a suggestion I would support across the center span to keep the bottom from cracking. I would also use tall 4”-5” urethane castors so it rolls easily over little humps and bumps. Maybe Big box store castors - prox 15.00 each

Overbuild the stand. Any flexing of the metal will result in cracking of the floor slab, so make it really, really stiff. Use casters that are hard enough that they won't flatten when the kiln is just sitting there. Polyurethane wheels can develop flat spots, and the heat from the kiln can exacerbate the flattening. Steel or hard plastic casters are a better choice.

Hi,
 Thank you for the suggestions and the reassurance that high heat paint is not inappropriate.
The steel frame I have fabricated is connected to the factory plate that was intended to serve as the center support of the static stand, so all but about 1/2" on the outer edges will be resting on a solid surface. The factory plate makes it easy to use the venting system with the connections supplied.
I have been planning to add support under the outer edges, and add some side plates  as well, but I have not gotten that far.
To be honest I did not realize how the bottom of the kiln was just glued together until we received it. I wanted my wife to have her own kiln and figured we would just get started and figure it out as we go. I had waited for the kiln's arrival to take a look at it and the supplied stand. Then I figured out a design that I hope will work ok. The center support you mention seems like a must have feature.
I had some 5" polyurethane caster's on hand that are very similar to what you suggest, but after worrying about possible heat issues I overcompensated and purchased some heavy industry 6" steel wheel casters with the top locks. The 6" wheels are sized so that the over all height of the center plate matches the original stand dimensions, so the vent ducting will clear nicely.  
Thank you!

The owner of Bluebird replied and said he can help with info once I know the serial number of the unit so he can look up the specifics for the mixer.
Thank you!

The owner of Bluebird replied and said he can help with info once I know the serial number of the unit so he can look up the specifics for the mixer.
Thank you!

Thanks for the info.
I sent them an email yesterday.
Thank you!

Thank you @Bill Kielb for sharing the info.
I asked in the OP about store bought wash, and the Lee's product seems like a great choice, but the only online source I found that listed a retail price was Axner and as I mentioned I am reluctant to pay $54 shipping for a $39 dollar jug.
I have learned  a lot from everyone here and have become accustomed to the idea of mixing the materials "from scratch". 
I can buy 10lbs of Alumina Hydrate, 5lbs of EPK, and 5lbs of Glomax for less than $39 and don't have to worry about shipping costs, so I am leaning towards that choice.
I also appreciated the suggestion about the Continental Clay Alumina based wash, but their website did not mention what the other ingredients were, and their website doesn't calculate shipping prior to placing an order, so mixing in house seems like a good way to go, plus it will accelerate our journey to making glazes from scratch.
The wealth of information packed in to the John Britt article and the Sue McLeod web page has finally started to sink in.
I am still curious about the Feldspar, the Darvan 7 Deflocculant, and the Zircon refractory filler, and trying to learn what I can while I wait on the kiln and shelves to arrive.
It seems obvious that the input I am missing is years of first hand experience.  Many here have accumulated a lot of knowledge and I am thankful that they are gracious enough to share.
Thank you! 
 

Thank you @Bill Kielb for sharing the info.
I asked in the OP about store bought wash, and the Lee's product seems like a great choice, but the only online source I found that listed a retail price was Axner and as I mentioned I am reluctant to pay $54 shipping for a $39 dollar jug.
I have learned  a lot from everyone here and have become accustomed to the idea of mixing the materials "from scratch". 
I can buy 10lbs of Alumina Hydrate, 5lbs of EPK, and 5lbs of Glomax for less than $39 and don't have to worry about shipping costs, so I am leaning towards that choice.
I also appreciated the suggestion about the Continental Clay Alumina based wash, but their website did not mention what the other ingredients were, and their website doesn't calculate shipping prior to placing an order, so mixing in house seems like a good way to go, plus it will accelerate our journey to making glazes from scratch.
The wealth of information packed in to the John Britt article and the Sue McLeod web page has finally started to sink in.
I am still curious about the Feldspar, the Darvan 7 Deflocculant, and the Zircon refractory filler, and trying to learn what I can while I wait on the kiln and shelves to arrive.
It seems obvious that the input I am missing is years of first hand experience.  Many here have accumulated a lot of knowledge and I am thankful that they are gracious enough to share.
Thank you!