Is There Any Way To Make Holders For Cones?

[carmelscrafts]

I made a gift for my husband for Christmas that is waiting for the glaze firing. I ran out of my self-supporting cones for cone 06, and didn't realize it until yesterday. My local art store has cones, but no holders, or self-supporting cones. Is there any way I can still use the cones? Has anyone made their own cone holders?

[Pres]

I made a gift for my husband for Christmas that is waiting for the glaze firing. I ran out of my self-supporting cones for cone 06, and didn't realize it until yesterday. My local art store has cones, but no holders, or self-supporting cones. Is there any way I can still use the cones? Has anyone made their own cone holders?

 

 

I am assuming that you are speaking of cone packs. You can make pieces of clay to hold your cones. Make a coil, or a pad of wet clay, and place the cone into the pad at about a 7 degree angle. This should hold the cone well. This needs to be completely dry before firing or it will explode in the kiln letting your cone fall. I usually take a nail and poke several holes to allow the moisture to escape from the inside when firing. You can quick dry the cone in the microwave, but be very careful not to do it too fast. use a low setting one the oven to do it. Many of us make up cone packs to fire so that we have a warning as to when the kiln is hitting temp. My electric has no kiln setter, so I use a cone pack with cones 5, 6, and 7. This allows me to ramp my temperature-soak when and where I want, and fire down.

[Marcia Selsor]

I make them the same way Pres does except I use a needle tool for the holes. The big cone boxes use to have a diagram on them to show the 7 degree pitch. Haven't looked in years to see if they still picture that. I usually make a tray load of cone packs ahead of time so I have them dried and ready to go.

Marcia