Joy Holdread on mon 3 aug 98
Saved by my belt AND suspender mentality...once again. The trusty 25 year old
kiln is packed full, more full than ever before with 1/4 of a tile murals, yes
friends the very same tile commission that spread out of the studio forcing my
living room and kitchen furnature into storage. The mural that is causing me
to consider building or moving. I open the kiln and lo... everything is
listing to the side. I always think it is but this looks more extreme than I
can blame on my paranodia, and/or the heat waves in front of the kiln shed. I
carefully unload the entire kiln and the bottom shelves yes the ones that
support the entire stack on shelves had broken, both shelves. Broken apart
folks. I've been watching these old shelves, noticed the cracks 10 firings
ago but didn't replace them. I'm a boot strap organization. I had placed an
extra post under the shelves on the other side of the cracks & that is what
both saved the entire stack of shelves & probably stressed the crack to the
breaking point. Not a single tile was broken. The shelf pieces landed on a
2nd planter I' threw in at the last minute because it fit in the space, the
shelf hunks braced up against it & saved other pieces from damage. What a
close call. New shelves are a tax write off but all my labor making the tile,
glazing etc isn't. Along with investing in the best kiln inspect & reject
those questionable shelves my friends. Joy in Tucson
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