Dry Load

[CactusPots]

New procedure (for me).  Dry load both shelves for one level outside the kiln.  Seems obvious, but I just now figured this out.  Best tightest load without extra handling newly glazed pots.

All planters, so I don't glaze the inside.  Soft brick wedges between pots.

[Pres]

Other options to consider in the future would be to used flared bowls upside down, two next to each other take very little space. I also stack pots on some of the others upside down. Looks like a good load, now comes the fun of glazeing.

 

best,

Pres

[CactusPots]

I run  trumpet shaped pots next to each other with one upside down.  Because the inside isn't glazed, I use a soft brick piece on top of a post that's just the right size.   Kind of cool, because I can have the drips running to the top of the pot instead of the bottom.  Nice big drip jewel right on the rim.

The fun part is fitting this puzzle together especially toward the end.  If I have 19" of height left, how to divide that using the pots I have?  As you can see from the picture, there's no real consistency in my pots.  I feel like I'm cheating if I use any glaze and application more than a couple of times.

This load will be strange, I think it's the first time I've fired without knowing where the load is going.  I guess I'll just box it up and get it out of the way.  

[Mark C.]

4 hours ago, Pres said:

Other options to consider in the future would be to used flared bowls upside down, two next to each other take very little space. I also stack pots on some of the others upside down. Looks like a good load, now comes the fun of glazeing.

 

best,

Pres

Pres these are glazed but only outside .

How about some smaller succulent planters for stuffers around?

[Pres]

Mark, I realized that they were glazed on the outside, but you can still stack some upside down with other items that get glazed regular, and in some places leave the bottom and rim unglazed and stack inside. I know, weird but for some things it works.

 

best,

Pres

[Sorcery]

I have been thinking about ways to get more in lately.

With enough pre-planning, or just many and large drain holes, you can get a taller legged one, or one on wads, standing IN the other with no pressure ON the other, using the hole spaces. 

So the stack can get higher safer.

I'll try a glazed pot right side up under an unglazed upside down pot too. Reckon crystals will form better with the slower cooling too.

What is it about planter makers that makes it hard for us to do the same thing twice? I am trying to free myself of that mentality. Though nothing will ever be exactly the same same.

Oh plus....I recently decided no more single drain holes, since 2 or more makes it easier to hold rawglazing. Least amount of pressure on freshly glazed walls holding only holes.

Nice.

 

Sorce

 

[CactusPots]

Those pretty much are my small size stuffers.  I just don't like to throw little stuff.  I never learned to throw off the hump and 2 lbs is about the minimum I'll work with.   The small spaces I have left can get test tiles, but that's about it.

My approach to stacking is to pick out the pots I really want to fire and then fill in as best I can.  My challenge is lack of uniformity.  What's your approach?

[CactusPots]

2 minutes ago, Sorcery said:

 

Oh plus....I recently decided no more single drain holes, since 2 or more makes it easier to hold rawglazing. Least amount of pressure on freshly glazed walls holding only holes.

Nice.

 

Sorce

 

With a single drain hole, I can wedge my index finger in tight enough to make a air tight seal, then when I dunk in the glaze bucket, the glaze stops just a little way down the rim, the interior remains unglazed.  My rule of thumb is that if I can "dunk in the junk" and directly to the kiln, it can be a lesser priced pot.  Lots of my stuff requires multiple steps.

Iron oxide wash, wipe off, wax, apply glaze.  Takes lots of time.

[Sorcery]

5 minutes ago, CactusPots said:

I can wedge my index finger in tight enough to make a air tight seal,

Good point, I haven't gotten around to more than small brushing amounts of glaze.

Sorce

[Sorcery]

22 minutes ago, CactusPots said:

  My challenge is lack of uniformity.  What's your approach?

Don't know if this was for me....but I love the thinking about it....

Lack of uniformity is surely an issue, cuz screw uniformity mostly ....

I'm really still getting into a flow of ridding myself of a bunch of greenware I haven't been able to fire, now, since the space is coming back, and I am seeing this Kiln cycle, getting to a place of more efficiency is taking presidence.

I'm going to cut a bunch of wareboards the same size as my shelves. Label em with heights, since that's first of importance. Dry, and store things as they'll go in the kiln.

Simply having an array of stuff can be the most useful for efficient filling of each shelf, but eventually I'd like to get to a point where I know the LxW that'll fit together too.

Then move to making things specifically to nest, etc.

I placed pots of different Clay stacked with glued wads in the wood kiln, and they cracked from the difference in shrinkage. So that remains a concern when stacking directly on each other. 

I just started placing bits under my middles to keep from sagging. Though I think ribbing one side of the slab more plus gravity makes the bottom sag too much. So I'm weary of putting weight inside bottoms.

Of course, still learning this kiln too. This top shelf ended up slightly more oxidized and cone 8/9, while directly below it was a good 10. I'm still navigating WHERE to put anything, so not sacrificing a really dense pack yet.

I appreciate your conversation in moving that way!

Looking at this pic, I could have easily placed 2 of these smaller pots in the one on the left and freed up half a square foot. Within good reason of a successful firing too. 

I believe the denser the pack, the more margin for error, so I want to be teetering on the edge of too densely packed. 

Especially on that top shelf, which seems to have had the heat blow passed it. 

Oh blah....can you tell it's been raining and I am waiting till the 19th or some Amazon date for the adapter I need to refill my propane tank!? 

One can only stack so many pots on a shelf!

Though I have been experimenting with Hakeme, Local slips, and formulating ash glazes!

Sorce

 

 

[CactusPots]

Square certainly fits tighter.  Round(ish) and thrown have been my primary shapes.  Got to have more wasted space with that.  The oval shapes have been my current thing.  Which is even worse.

Yeah, I might have gotten 2 small pots in the oval on the left.  Smaller pots can go in more places, so if a large one will fit, that's the ticket.  Same thing for height.  With a 9" post, I could fit either a 8 1/2" pot or a combo of a 6" pot standing in a lower pot, but the 8 1/2 will not fit under a 6" post.  More is better, but bigger is better too.

A top loader is relatively easy to see the stack as you make it.  My front loader is harder to work with.  That's why building the config outside the kiln is a revelation. 

If I had my product line more uniform this would be easier.  Yeah, that's not going to happen.  I'm whatever the class is that's between a production potter and a hobby potter.

[CactusPots]

2 hours ago, Sorcery said:

Don't know if this was for me....but I love the thinking about it....

Lack of uniformity is surely an issue, cuz screw uniformity mostly ....

I'm really still getting into a flow of ridding myself of a bunch of greenware I haven't been able to fire, now, since the space is coming back, and I am seeing this Kiln cycle, getting to a place of more efficiency is taking presidence.

I'm going to cut a bunch of wareboards the same size as my shelves. Label em with heights, since that's first of importance. Dry, and store things as they'll go in the kiln.

Simply having an array of stuff can be the most useful for efficient filling of each shelf, but eventually I'd like to get to a point where I know the LxW that'll fit together too.

Then move to making things specifically to nest, etc.

I placed pots of different Clay stacked with glued wads in the wood kiln, and they cracked from the difference in shrinkage. So that remains a concern when stacking directly on each other. 

I just started placing bits under my middles to keep from sagging. Though I think ribbing one side of the slab more plus gravity makes the bottom sag too much. So I'm weary of putting weight inside bottoms.

Of course, still learning this kiln too. This top shelf ended up slightly more oxidized and cone 8/9, while directly below it was a good 10. I'm still navigating WHERE to put anything, so not sacrificing a really dense pack yet.

I appreciate your conversation in moving that way!

Looking at this pic, I could have easily placed 2 of these smaller pots in the one on the left and freed up half a square foot. Within good reason of a successful firing too. 

I believe the denser the pack, the more margin for error, so I want to be teetering on the edge of too densely packed. 

Especially on that top shelf, which seems to have had the heat blow passed it. 

Oh blah....can you tell it's been raining and I am waiting till the 19th or some Amazon date for the adapter I need to refill my propane tank!? 

One can only stack so many pots on a shelf!

Though I have been experimenting with Hakeme, Local slips, and formulating ash glazes!

Sorce

 

 

Sorcery,

With such large drain holes, you must use some kind of screen.  You must not  have the kind of issues I have with hard water clogging up the screens.  For me, there's an ideal size that allows the soil mix to not fall out, but no screen required.  With cactus and succulents, a water logged mix is sure death.

 

[neilestrick]

I used to make a lot of planters- did a big sale every Spring with a friend of mine who filled them up with annuals. Choose a pot, choose your flowers, go home with a nice potted arrangement. Lots of work, but at its peak I could sell $1500 in planters over the weekend. She used coffee filters to cover the drainage holes. They allowed water through, and would hold up for the entire summer. Of course, in a permanent planting like a bonsai the filter would eventually decompose. When I glazed my planters, if the drainage hole was an issue I just put a cork in it. I also use the cork when glazing salt shakers, and sometimes with teapots, too, if I need to keep glaze from going into the spout when dipping the outside. I keep an assortment of small corks in the studio, never know when they'll come in handy.

[Sorcery]

So ...can I just repeatedly like a post over and over! Lol! It won't stay lit!

 

Corks! Boom! Great idea. I was watching dude talk about corking bottles the other day without the slightest thought....I love it when 2 and 2 and 75 come together!

But I may spray before I dip.

Screen for sure, with 1/8th to 1/4in holes, plastic usually. It's rather common place, so much so there are instructional videos on how to bend the copper wire to hold it in!

The large drain holes are more for air than drainage I reckon.

Sorce

 

[Mark C.]

Back when I made planters-lots of planters-70-80s I made the hole or holes large enough for easy finger grasp fro easy glazing. I would dip upside down so some glaze got into pots than stop the air flow with finger and dip till the outside got all the glaze but inside only partially . Then I would stack at leat 3-4 high inside each other . Of course I was throwing all sizes so they stacked-no shimms between them-stoneware body-they did not stick much and they where more coist effective  witrh say 4 in a pile.

Later I made all my trays attached and 3 holes dripping into the tray -all galzed in and out and they where huge  size and cost a $$. That was before import planters distroyed the market and Bonzsai was a big thing

My siister has some from thos edays in the early 80s with huge plants in -she asked me about a decade ago for more and I just laughed, been a all porcelain shop since 85. No huge stoneware for me.