John Post on mon 10 jan 11
> In the years to come, dependability and robustness of systems could be
> a major selling point. Kiln manufacturers should consider that. Some
> people seem to want a kiln that is about as challenging to fire as a
> microwaved burrito.
> Paul Herman
While the potters on this list often wish for more control over their
kilns, it is the many kilns in school settings that aren't idiot proof
enough.
I share one of the buildings I teach at with two other elementary art
teachers. They have both been in the district longer than the 10
years I have been there and neither of them knows the difference
between cone 06 and cone 6.
I went to unload a bisque load of theirs today and it turns out they
fired it to cone 6. It was loaded with flat slab pieces of terra
cotta that are now sintered together. Most of the work on each shelf
is part of one large, brittle, chocolate-brown mass. If the clay had
been a lowfire white talc body it would have run off the shelves and
melted its way into the kiln floor. I looked at the profile they
programmed the computer with and it read "Cone 6".
In a post by Dannon a few days ago she wrote: "I learned to fire kilns
more or less on my own, since no one ever thought to teach firing, in
or out of school. Most students didn't fire anyway until grad school."
We have a university in Detroit that produces most of the local art
teachers. They come out so dismally unprepared to do anything with
clay. They don't know how to choose a clay to use with their
students, they don't have any rudimentary skills of their own with
clay, and they know nothing about firing.
A few summers ago I offered to teach all of the 25 or so elementary
art teachers in my district how to make glazes, choose clays and fire
both cone sitter and computer controlled kilns at my home studio. I
live right in the middle of the school district. Out of 25 teachers,
three took me up on the offer.
So in my district, many of the teachers would be better off with a
kiln that had just two buttons on it. One that reads
"Bisque" and another that reads "Lowfire Glaze".
(Yes I know these rates are built into many controllers today, but
some of the teachers in my district can't even figure out how to punch
the two or three buttons needed to recall these presets into the
controller's memory.)
John Post
Sterling Heights, Michigan
http://www.johnpost.us
Follow me on Twitter
https://twitter.com/UCSArtTeacher
> In the years to come, dependability and robustness of systems could be
> a major selling point. Kiln manufacturers should consider that. Some
> people seem to want a kiln that is about as challenging to fire as a
> microwaved burrito.
>
> best,
>
> Paul Herman
May Luk on tue 11 jan 11
John;
Take out cone fire and the teachers have to read the menu and use the
brain. Win-win
They make the controller so clunky here in the US. They even have
video for the training. Come on, just another way to make money. The
control panel is forbidding-looking compare with this regular UK
controller:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yamerica/74731879/in/photostream/
4 buttons - up / down / left / right like a computer heating
thermostat. I could do controlled cool and read kilowatt used. Red
light lit up on the firing ramp so that you know where you are during
the firing. There are pre-programmed ramps already if one wants, or
ones own custom programs, so simple and elegant.
It is always an additional feature to buy for a manual kiln.
Sorry, whenever I hear about kiln problem and the controller, I
hyperventilate. It brings back so much bad kiln memory last year.
I'll shut up now
May
> (Yes I know these rates are built into many controllers today, but
> some of the teachers in my district can't even figure out how to punch
> the two or three buttons needed to recall these presets into the
> controller's memory.)
>
> John Post
> Sterling Heights, Michigan
>
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>> In the years to come, dependability and robustness of systems could be
>> a major selling point. Kiln manufacturers should consider that. Some
>> people seem to want a kiln that is about as challenging to fire as a
>> microwaved burrito.
>>
>> best,
>>
>> Paul Herman
>
--
http://twitter.com/MayLuk
http://www.takemehomeware.com/
Steve Mills on wed 12 jan 11
The Cambridge Controller is an elegantly simple piece of kit indeed, and ve=
r=3D
y reliable
Steve M
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
Sent from my Itouch
On 12 Jan 2011, at 04:14, May Luk wrote:
> John;
>=3D20
> Take out cone fire and the teachers have to read the menu and use the
> brain. Win-win
>=3D20
> They make the controller so clunky here in the US. They even have
> video for the training. Come on, just another way to make money. The
> control panel is forbidding-looking compare with this regular UK
> controller:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/yamerica/74731879/in/photostream/
>=3D20
> 4 buttons - up / down / left / right like a computer heating
> thermostat. I could do controlled cool and read kilowatt used. Red
> light lit up on the firing ramp so that you know where you are during
> the firing. There are pre-programmed ramps already if one wants, or
> ones own custom programs, so simple and elegant.
>=3D20
> It is always an additional feature to buy for a manual kiln.
>=3D20
> Sorry, whenever I hear about kiln problem and the controller, I
> hyperventilate. It brings back so much bad kiln memory last year.
>=3D20
> I'll shut up now
>=3D20
> May
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
>> (Yes I know these rates are built into many controllers today, but
>> some of the teachers in my district can't even figure out how to punch
>> the two or three buttons needed to recall these presets into the
>> controller's memory.)
>>=3D20
>> John Post
>> Sterling Heights, Michigan
>>=3D20
>>=3D20
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>=3D20
>>> In the years to come, dependability and robustness of systems could be
>>> a major selling point. Kiln manufacturers should consider that. Some
>>> people seem to want a kiln that is about as challenging to fire as a
>>> microwaved burrito.
>>>=3D20
>>> best,
>>>=3D20
>>> Paul Herman
>>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
> --
> http://twitter.com/MayLuk
> http://www.takemehomeware.com/
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