Kim Hohlmayer on tue 9 sep 08
Once upon a time a foolish young potter fired up her nearly new kiln t=
o fire a load of K-8 students' earthenware. She set the timer for 8 hours =
and blissfully went off to other pursuits. She expected that the kiln woul=
d likely shut off in about 5 hours based upon the little kiln she had been =
firing before she bought this much bigger kiln.
She checked it at 4 hours but the kiln sitter had not shut it down yet=
. She was poor and could not afford a pyrometer and had not yet learned to=
tell by interior color. She had no independent witness cones in place as =
she had heard that looking in the light of a hot kiln could damage her eyes=
and she could not yet afford safety glasses. Besides, that was what the k=
iln sitter and safety timer were for, right?
The memory of that long ago time has dimmed somewhat but there seemed =
to be a problem with the timer too, however, eventually the kiln did shut o=
ff. The next morning the dear little potter ran out to open the cooled kil=
n. But wait! Where was the top layer of children's art. She was sure she=
had filled the kiln to the tippy top, yet now there was nothing but a flat=
even layer of... OH NO! It couldn't be, could it?!!! That nice even lay=
er wasn't the empty kiln shelf. A deep, sick feeling invaded her tummy. T=
hat nice even layer was the totally melted, liquified then cooled earthenwa=
re of the students' projects. =20
Of course melted, liquidy stuff runs and drips. The kiln was utterly =
destroyed as were the posts, stilts and shelves!
This storyteller would love to say that the dear little potter never m=
ade such a mistake again, and she didn't. At least the next time it wasn't=
quite as bad since she shortened up the time on the timer and got suspicio=
us when it didn't shut off when she thought it would.
This time there was about $500. worth of her work for her biggest show=
of the year coming up in a couple days. When she opened up the kiln it lo=
oked as though she were looking into Dali's "Persistence of Memory." All h=
er sweet, tacky but quite profitable jewelry lay draped over the stilts in =
ghostly and fantasticly weird forms and shapes. Shelves were damaged, stil=
ts were ruined and $500. worth of product was lost.
Soon after she discovered there was a flaw in the kiln assembly that w=
as blocking the timer and somehow fudging up the kiln sitter. The bad peop=
le who built the kiln had to fix it (again) as it was still under waranty (=
which is how it got it rebuilt and back running after the first total melt =
down.) This time they figured out the root of the problem and corrected it=
for good.
The moral of this painfully true story is: Never Assume Anything, esp=
ecially with a kiln!!! --Kim H.
--- On Sun, 9/7/08, Monica Wright wrote:
> From: Monica Wright
> Subject: Re: kiln sitter again/stories
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Date: Sunday, September 7, 2008, 8:37 AM
> I was firing once to cone 04.=A0 The cone bent but somehow
> got stuck in the mechanism.=A0 I noticed the kiln was still
> on well after it should have shut off.=A0 I peeked in one of
> the peep holes and it looked like the surface of the sun in
> there.=A0 It had to hit cone 6, at least.=A0 Later, when it
> cooled I opened it up and saw the remains of the poor little
> cone.=A0 It was completely melted.=A0 Luckily I was using
> stoneware clay.
> =A0
> -Steve
>=20
> --- On Sun, 9/7/08, mel jacobson
> wrote:
>=20
> From: mel jacobson
> Subject: kiln sitter again/stories
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Date: Sunday, September 7, 2008, 7:21 AM
>=20
> i don't care what kind of kiln you fire...2008/state of
> the art,
> or a 1965 L&L. if you don't have an alarm clock in
> your
> pocket when you fire...you get what you deserve.
> i have never trusted a dawson kiln sitter...it is an aid
> to perfect bisque firing for me. it is not failsafe.=0A=0A=0A
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