Molly Forman on tue 20 may 97
Hello everyone--
I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, with wood floors and no balcony. In the last
year, I have been finding ways to steal sq. inches for a "studio" rather than
handbuilding in the middle of my living room. My "studio" consists of a
worktable with clamp on wheel wheel inside a double wide hall closet. I
recently annexed a small "glaze kitchen." (Read buckets of chemicals stored
in my basement storage locker; scale. etc. on the "studio" shelf.) It's tight,
but works fairly well, for now. Unfortunately, I WANT MORE!
Firing still eludes my spacial creativity and that hurts. But, for the last cou
of weeks, I've been wondering if I could appease myself for a while by working
on glaze experiments and starting to develop my own glaze palette.
I've starting thinking about a test kiln and have some pretty basic questions.
My main concern is about venting. How would one vent a test kiln or (excuse
my ignorance) would one need to? How well insulated are they, generally?
Could one be operated on a table top with some sort of protective material
beneath the kiln, or would it get too hot? (I guess I have visions of 60's
summer day camps with little enameling kilns in the arts and crafts shed.)
Barring obvious shortcomings like, little to no abiltity to work on reduction
specific glazes (I guess shinos, copper reds, etc. will have to wait, sigh) and
that at best, I could only approximate actual firing conditions, are there other
problems/drawbacks that I'm missing.
Any feedback would be appreciated. Feel free to e-mail me privately if this
seems a waste of good bandwidth.
TIA
Molly
Molly Forman
mforman@crs.loc.gov
Library of Congress
Congressional Research Service
Education and Public Welfare Division
J Rose Fine Pottery on wed 21 may 97
Molly Forman wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hello everyone--
>
> I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, with wood floors and no balcony. In the last
> year, I have been finding ways to steal sq. inches for a "studio" rather than
> handbuilding in the middle of my living room. My "studio" consists of a
> worktable with clamp on wheel wheel inside a double wide hall closet. I
> recently annexed a small "glaze kitchen." (Read buckets of chemicals stored
> in my basement storage locker; scale. etc. on the "studio" shelf.) It's tight
> but works fairly well, for now. Unfortunately, I WANT MORE!
>
> Firing still eludes my spacial creativity and that hurts. But, for the last c
> of weeks, I've been wondering if I could appease myself for a while by working
> on glaze experiments and starting to develop my own glaze palette.
> I've starting thinking about a test kiln and have some pretty basic questions.
>
> My main concern is about venting. How would one vent a test kiln or (excuse
> my ignorance) would one need to? How well insulated are they, generally?
> Could one be operated on a table top with some sort of protective material
> beneath the kiln, or would it get too hot? (I guess I have visions of 60's
> summer day camps with little enameling kilns in the arts and crafts shed.)
>
> Barring obvious shortcomings like, little to no abiltity to work on reduction
> specific glazes (I guess shinos, copper reds, etc. will have to wait, sigh) an
> that at best, I could only approximate actual firing conditions, are there oth
> problems/drawbacks that I'm missing.
>
> Any feedback would be appreciated. Feel free to e-mail me privately if this
> seems a waste of good bandwidth.
>
> TIA
> Molly
>
> Molly Forman
> mforman@crs.loc.gov
>
> Library of Congress
> Congressional Research Service
> Education and Public Welfare Division
Hi,
I once lived in a 3 room college apartment. We made a test kiln out of
firebrick only, with no insulation, and bricks only for the top.
Electric elements, fired to ^10. No venting was done, nor seemed
necessary. The chamber was large enough for one cup and saucer. The
kiln was set up on concrete blocks and kept one foot from any walls.
Worked fine.
June Rosenberry
JRoseFine@Earthlink.net
Bill Amsterlaw on wed 21 may 97
Hi Molly:
You wrote:
>>
I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, with wood floors and no balcony.
....
How would one vent a test kiln or (excuse my ignorance) would one need to? How
well insulated are they, generally? Could one be operated on a table top with
some sort of protective material beneath the kiln, or would it get too hot?
<<
Kilns get hot enough on the outside surface to start a fire. Clay and glazes
give off bad fumes whether fired electrically or otherwise. You gotta place
your kiln on an non-flammable surface separated from anything flammable and
you gotta vent it.
Some thoughts (from someone who has never done any of this):
* If you can fire near a window, you should be able to get adequate
ventilation using a window fan exhausting to the outside. Open a window
elsewhere in the apartment to get a cross draft. Remove curtains or drapes.
* You could set your kiln on a temporary structure made of fireproof material
such as brick or tile which you set up when you fire and then store elsewhere
when you are not firing.
* Make sure you don't violate any building codes. I believe kilns need to be
at least 12" from any wall and the wall should be 5/8" firesafe sheetrock.
Don't leave the kiln unattended.
* How about ... firing on a roof? finding an apt. with balcony? moving
where you can have a bigger kiln? joining a co-op? taking a class where they
have bigger kilns? paying a studio potter for kiln space? raku (gas)
somewhere?
* Your determination to keep your operation at your present home is going to
seriously restrict the size of your work - but exciting work can be done in
miniature. For ideas and inspiration see the May 1994 Ceramics Monthly for a
discussion of the exquisite work of Andrea Fabrega.
- Bill Amsterlaw (wamster@msn.com)
Plattsburgh, NY
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