mel jacobson on fri 28 mar 08
jim,
in many ways, shino is just a glaze.
we have fired wonderful shino's in under five hours.
2o cubic foot kiln. mn flat top. propane, two nils lou
burners inc. burners. 20 lbs+ of pressure at the 500 gallon tank.
we kick the kiln on high for about an hour..at about 1700F/reduce
like mad, add sticks and wood....lots of smoke and fire.
the kiln will kick back a bit. drop 200 or so degrees, but it will recover fast.
put the kiln into a reduction mode/four inch back fire
at the peeps.
leave it alone.
when cone 10 is over and touching....3 plus hours later.
you are done.
add some more wood, button it up.
this all assumes that you have a tight stack...11 inches round
or so. a small flue/30+ sq inches.
steady gas pressure...about who knows...what gauges are the same?
but steady gas. the kiln just hums. the rise in temp is not gradual
it just climbs. kurt is firing those great pots of his...by the alarm
clock. four hours. and those that know kurt...mr. fuss budget
of all time...he would not do that unless it works perfectly.
he uses about 15 gallons of propane. $3,000.00 bucks worth
of pots in one firing. he hates screw ups. so his schedule
is set in stone. and, he will never waste anything...so his
ecology is `DON'T WASTE FUEL`. it is expensive.
i use the hank murrow system of re/lite/ing the kiln at
1900F.
select the hours you want to down fire.
i usually do two.
one burner on low...the damper out just a bit.
hold the temp. move the damper and the gas til it
it is perfect at 1900F. two hours.
then button up tight.
open.
black shino.
if you want really black...slather the pots with a
potion of hot soda ash...melted in really hot water.
brush, spray, dip.
if you want really exciting shino as malcolm does.
15 percent soda ash in any recipe/ at least...they are all the same
anyway.
iron here, iron there. but, basically there are two shino
recipes across america.
tom buck has vetted those glazes. they amount to two.
how you fire them is what makes the difference. and of course,
soda ash.
now.
jim...take care of yourself. diet, walk, work out.
this is a public statement. `i want you at nceca next year.
not in a care center.`
with love, mel
now, another rant. art centers/colleges with techs that
do not know crap. i talked through several clayarters to go
after the tech, take over the firing. so often we hear.
`so, i fire for 15 hours...i don't pay for gas...the art center does.`
smack...with a 2x4. people that work in art centers, jr. colleges
and let others pay the bill. damnable. now there is waste.
from minnetonka:
website http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart site:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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