Brenda Beeley on fri 21 jul 00
>OK, I need some moral, or perhaps cerebral support.
>I have just finished making a LARGE custom basin.
>now am
>calculating how to SUCCESSFULLY ,(i.e. , no structural trauma to basin
>or humans), load it into the kiln.
Stephani,
I recently came back from a Peter King architectural workshop and I
remember seeing a slide of him rolling a large piece into his kiln on
dowels. He then removed all dowels and boards. Seems like if your slab is
2" thick it will hold up.
Good luck, Brenda
Stephani Stephenson on fri 21 jul 00
OK, I need some moral, or perhaps cerebral support.
I have just finished making a LARGE custom basin. It is for a fountain
. It is a wall mounted, fully rounded, half bowl (basically a quarter
sphere). It is laying on it's back, flat slab side down. It is three
feet in diameter. Three feet diameter looks MUCH bigger in reality, than
it did when I sketched it out. It weighs around 150 lbs. I have
constructed and dried this behemoth successfully and now am
calculating how to SUCCESSFULLY ,(i.e. , no structural trauma to basin
or humans), load it into the kiln.
I'm nervous about just lifting and setting the piece down on kiln shelf
because of the sheer weight and reach involved and the danger of piece
cracking once its set down. I may end up doing this anyway, using clay
pads or a bed of grog on the shelf.
Here's my other idea. I'd appreciate any feedback from those of you who
have had similar experiences with pieces of this size and weight..
The piece is now resting on a piece of masonite with a lot of grog on
it. The masonite is on a 1" thick piece of plywood. I'm thinking I will
jack the plywood up till it is at the same height as the kiln shelf.
(Thankfully, I'm loading into a car kiln. ) Am thinking of putting
small dowels on the kiln shelf and sliding the piece ,still on the
masonite, off of the plywood and onto the dowels, kind of rolling it
along onto the shelf.
I'm not sure whether it would be better to then remove the dowels or
just fire them in place.
The masonite would also remain in the kiln. I also thought about putting
coils or pads of clay under the piece, in between the dowels, then
removing the dowels, leaving the piece resting on the clay pads.
The piece is Sculptural Terra Cotta clay. Will fire to cone 04-02. Slab
constructed. Slabs are 2" thick, mas o menos.
Other wise I'll just have to go find 3 or four big hunkin' men or women
with a light touch and strong arms and backs. Tony? Colleen? Any takers?
Stephani
mudmistress@earthlink.net
Leucadia, CA
Alchemie Studio
Fredrick Paget on sat 22 jul 00
Mudmistress,
My all means get some help to pick it up and put it down on the kiln car.
Put it on a coil or ring of the same type of clay under the bottom. As I
underestand all large pieces of industrial clay products such as sewer
pipes are fired on such an under piece that can shrink along with the
piece. Sand or grog are not used. Reference: Cameron
Fri, 5 Nov 1999 16:57:50 EST in the archives.
Fred
>From Fred Paget, Marin County, California, USA
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