Hannah Brehmer on thu 19 aug 99
Hi, All-
I think Orton is trying to put one over on us, saying that the cones
aren't working correctly because they are old. I just bought new boxes of
6,7,8,9, and 10. (My kiln fires very unevenly!!!) I watched in
disbelief as the cones were bending , thinking that for the first time in
30 years, I had put the cones in the wrong order. The first cone to bend
was 8, before the 6 and 7, and when I looked at the cone pad after the
firing, 8 was actually beginning to melt. This occurred in six different
places in the kiln. Now, I've gotten pretty good at breaking those darn
things apart without breaking the cones in half, and I can live with the
flimsy boxes instead of those nice hefty ones, but I can't take cones that
act this way. Shall all those of us who have had trouble, email Orton?
I will, or call if I can't find an address. How could a company with the
longevity and reputation of Orton allow this to happen. I think a batch of
cones got mislabeled and misboxed. Anybody else think the same?
Best wishes to all you wonderful, funny, informative and sometimes
exasperating ceramic artists out there!
Hannah, in beautiful Lake Tahoe, CA
Hannah Brehmer on tue 24 aug 99
To those with cone problems:
I emailed the Orton Cone company and I received a call immediately
from Tim Frederich. I told him how my cone 8's were bending before cone 6
or 7. We had a good talk and he got all the information he could, such
as how I fire my gas kiln and what the code numbers were on the boxes of
cones I recently bought. They keep samples of all the batches they make,
going back 20 years, so from the batch number I gave him, they will be able
to run some tests.
He gave me interesting information about how they make the cones and
ship them all over the world. As with the ceramic materials we buy for our
own use, the materials they use to make cones will also change with time as
the mines run out and new sites are used. So they are constantly testing
in an attempt to control the quality of their product.
It was also an interesting talk because we both majored in ceramics
at Ohio State in the 1960's! I enjoyed talking about some of the people we
knew back then.
I wonder if the fact that this forum exists, where people can be
heard by so many other artists, that the public relations departments of our
suppliers are quick to try to make things right! Could be. :-))
Warmest wishes to all you chatty and informative people!!
Hannah at Lake Tahoe, CA
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