Claire Pearson on tue 16 jan 01
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Hello clayarters. I'm in London, about to try and go part-time from
publishing to set up as a ceramicist. Studio space is very difficult (and
expensive) to find but I have the fortune of a largish garden. I have been
thinking about buying a shed, maybe 10' x 7' to set up a small studio. I
will have my kiln in the flat but will be throwing in the studio. I've read
lots of the posts about waterless studios etc and think I will be okay with
that, but just wondered if anyone else uses a shed-type setup for a studio,
and if they have any advice on starting out this way?
Thanks
Claire
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Cindy Strnad on tue 16 jan 01
Hi, Claire.
Congratulations on your plans to set up your own studio. I have quite a lot
of space for my pottery work, but plenty of people work out of the kind of
space you're considering and do just fine.
I do encourage you, however, to explore all your options with regard to the
placement of your kiln. You say you're in a flat. Being an American, I'm
assuming you mean some sort of an apartment, which would mean there are
other tenants in your building? There are a couple of reasons for
considering placing your kiln in your studio, whether I'm assuming correctly
or not about the other tenants.
First, kilns frighten people. In most cases, the fears are unfounded,
particularly where properly manufactured electric kilns are concerned, but
the fears are none-the-less real and can be difficult to deal with. A kiln
in the shed will seem a lot less ominous than a kiln in the flat.
Second, it's possible you'll have to enlarge on your electric service in
order to be able to deliver power to anything but the tiniest jewelry kiln.
This can cause problems with landlords, of course, and possibly can also
cause problems with building code and electrical officials, who may require
that an entire system be brought up to code before they will authorize the
needed alterations. That may not be a problem with newer buildings, but can
cause significant expense if you live in an older structure which has been
allowed to remain as-is so long as no changes are made. (At least, that's
the way things are here, and I expect they will be as difficult, or more so,
in a city--I'm out in the sticks myself, and have had to deal with this
issue.)
You'll probably want electricity in your studio in any case, even if you're
using a kick wheel. It seems likely that installing a large enough service
in the pottery to accommodate your chosen kiln as well as other needs will
be less expensive than both upgrading your in-house service and installing a
small service for the pottery. Depending on size, most smaller kilns will
require from a 45 to a 70 amp circuit, or more, so choose your kiln before
having your service installed, or at least make allowances for the greatest
amount of power you think you'll need.
When you do make a decision regarding electricity, be sure to remember that
it is vital to place your kiln as close to your electrical service as
possible, in order to prevent power loss as the electricity travels to the
kiln. This will make a significant difference in the efficiency and efficacy
of your kiln's operation. Make sure your electrician follows the
recommendations of the kiln manufacturer. I've found that electricians don't
generally believe that you need *that* big a wire, or *that* big a circuit.
Most people have no conception of the kind of heat you're going to be
working with.
Third, kilns emit fumes, often toxic fumes, which need to be vented to the
outside of the building in which they are housed, for the protection of the
inhabitants. Some of the fumes (even the less lethal ones) smell bad or
sting the eyes. You may be able to avoid the need for a ventilation system
if you place the kiln in an outbuilding which you will not be occupying
during the firing of the kiln. Should you need to use the outbuilding during
firing, ventilation of the kiln will still be a simpler matter than it would
be if the kiln were placed in your apartment.
Finally, convenience is an important factor. Carrying your dried pieces into
the flat to fire, back out again to glaze, and back into the flat to fire
again may not seem like a large task. However, should your pottery business
grow as you seem to indicate you hope it will, you will tire of the
never-ending parade very quickly. All that time spent moving things about
will seriously cut into your profit margin. Minimize your steps as much as
possible. It makes economic sense and will allow you to put more effort into
the aesthetic aspects of your work.
Wishing you all the best,
Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels Pottery
RR 1, Box 51
Custer, SD 57730
USA
earthenv@gwtc.net
http://www.earthenvesselssd.com
Janet Kaiser on tue 16 jan 01
Claire
Are you in London, England? If so, you should
first find out if there are any planning
restrictions in your borough BEFORE you buy and
erect a potting shed. (Sorry, couldn't resist
:-)
I know an artist who just painted in his
purpose-built shed, but was shopped after only
three months (probably by neighbour/s unknown)
for violation of local planning regulations. It
was OK as long as it was a hobby and not the
main or primary use of the shed, but as a
professional artist his shed studio was classed
as a place of business and subject to planning
permission, higher community tax (business
rates) and fire regulations.
A visit to your local council and a chat to the
planning officer could save you a lot of heart
ache and cost.
Good luck with the BIG change of direction.
>From publishing to pots... Lucky you!
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art . Capel Celfyddyd
HOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL POTTERS' PATH
Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales Tel: (01766) 523570
E-mail: postbox@the-coa.org.uk
WEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
----- Original Message -----
> Hello clayarters. I'm in London, about to try
and go part-time from
> publishing to set up as a ceramicist. Studio
space is very difficult (and
> expensive) to find but I have the fortune of a
largish garden. I have been
> thinking about buying a shed, maybe 10' x 7'
to set up a small studio. I
> will have my kiln in the flat but will be
throwing in the studio. I've read
> lots of the posts about waterless studios etc
and think I will be okay with
> that, but just wondered if anyone else uses a
shed-type setup for a studio,
> and if they have any advice on starting out
this way?
Martin Howard on wed 17 jan 01
particularly where properly manufactured electric kilns are concerned, >
And yet on the continent of Europe, especially Poland and similar countries,
the houses, and some flats, have a large ceramic room heater, a floor to
ceiling job, fired by various fuels. To all intents and purposes, it is a
kiln, right there in the middle of the house. Even one in each major room,
for the more imposing dwellings.
But come to think of it, I did not notice them in new blocks of flats. They
had communal (central) heating, which might be on, but was often off. The
flat owners (then local government) decided when to service the system. That
was usually during the coldest spell in early Spring.
But an electric kiln in a house or flat should not be any real problem. Vent
the space around it to outside, just as you would do a kitchen cooker, so as
to get rid of what comes off some clay bodies and glazes.
Otherwise, it is the perceived problems that you need to deal with.
Martin Howard
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
Martin Howard on wed 17 jan 01
Janet writes:-
planning officer could save you a lot of heart
ache and cost.>
Yes, BUT, be aware that most planning officers have not, (yet) learned the
word YES.
Read the relevant regulations; hear what the planner says; then make up your
mind as to what to do.
Martin Howard, town planning officer and consultant for 40 years.
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
Snail Scott on wed 17 jan 01
At 11:06 AM 1/16/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi, Claire.
>
>Second, it's possible you'll have to enlarge on your electric service in
>order to be able to deliver power to anything but the tiniest jewelry kiln.
>Cindy Strnad
I recall that ordinary household current in Britain
is always 220V, (unlike the U.S., where 110V is the
norm and some older houses don't have enough service
to add a 220V circuit). As long as the incoming
sevice has enough power, she should be fine on that,
at least. (I'm assuming her kiln runs on 220V.)
Of course, I have had houses where I coudn't run
the kiln and oven together!
-Snail
Janet Kaiser on wed 17 jan 01
A lot of this is actually off-topic, but
applicable to heat sources in shared housing
such as terraced or apartment flats. Bit
rambling, but I am in nostalgia mode, triggered
by Martin's post...
You probably only saw those floor-to-ceiling
ceramic heating stoves in old houses and
buildings, Martin. To my knowledge, they were
considered bourgeois and it is unlikely the
authorities would condone the "waste" of
materials for the workers. They also took up a
great deal of space: something socialist housing
could ill afford. Unless you only visited the
red aristocracy and big-wigs? :-)
They are also not appropriate for modern homes
in the decadent west, because they contravene
all sorts of health and safety rules and
building regulations. They are considered a high
fire risk, not least because they were usually
in wooden or wood framed buildings with
lath-and-plaster walls. Many homes burned to the
ground, starting with the beams and joists
around the flue. The increasing power and clout
of insurance companies over the past fifty years
also had a huge impact on these beautiful
ceramic "ovens" which were ripped out by the
thousand in the 1950s and 60s. Even at there
most popular, they were only ever for heating
the best room or parlour, never cooking in the
kitchen like UK Agas and Raeburns, so
unobtrusive gas and oil central heating soon
gained popularity at the cost of these labour
intensive wood burning stoves.
At least some "Kachelöfen" or tiled ovens in
Austria, Germany and Switzerland are now being
built to meet modern guidelines and insurance
regulations. But they are mostly for decorative
effect and not efficient at heating homes, nor
are they within the emission limits of most west
European states. When lighting a fire in them,
you eat into your annual allocation of wood
smoke, which many people save for the summer and
grilling!
But back to fire risk: even in the UK, terraced
houses used to have fire places and chimney
flues down adjoining walls in case of fire. This
followed too many people loosing their lives in
house fires started in the flue of one house and
then setting fire to the staircase of the
adjoining house! By the time they noticed there
was a fire, the stair well would be full of
smoke if not well ablaze! Really old terraced
houses used to have connecting doors through the
attics so people could escape through their
neighbours house/s! My mother lived in such a
four storied house in Hamilton Square,
Birkenhead before they were all converted into
offices.
We live in a similar Victorian terraced house
and have removed the wooden skirting board from
our hall, because next door's fire makes the
plaster on the wall so hot, you dare not touch
it! Mind you, it makes the hall cosy at no cost
to us. In the same way, houses with flues in the
middle of the structure were wonderful, because
they would heat the adjoining room/s. Then the
building regulations changed and decreed that
flues must be on an outside wall. All that lost
heat...
Now (in the UK) any heating equipment producing
fumes - and this would include a kiln - has to
have enclosed metal ducting from the appliance
to 18 inches about the chimney... It does not
apparently matter that a chimney can be below
someone else's window!! And gas fires may be
ducted straight out through the wall. Once
again, it does not matter if the fumes enter
through open windows! At least not as far as
building regs. go...
What your neighbours think is another matter. We
had a lot of aggro with ours about this, but
there was nothing we could do about their coal
burning Aga venting straight into the upper
floor of our house. It came to the crunch when I
suffered carbon monoxide poisoning one rather
warm July night! I had fallen asleep with the
window open and was only woken up by our fire
alarm. I could not understand why I was
staggering around, totally (rather than the
usual partially) dim-witted with a splitting
headache and threw up half way downstairs whilst
looking for "the fire".
It may be different in a rented apartment or
flat. Tenants have different rights and
responsibilities. But I bet the landlord would
sooner kick one "trouble maker" out, than have a
lot of aggro from all the others. Of course
Claire may be the landlady, so can do what she
wants! At least there will be a fire alarm
system in place (or should be) and any worries
fellow tenants have about noxious fumes could be
allayed by pointing out that the safety system
will warn them of any dangerous build-up if it
becomes life threatening.
The caveat here, is that our system only has
detectors in the stair well... I could have died
if the door to my room had been closed. But that
was in 1986 and new rules call for a smoke
detector in every room of a house with multiple
tenancies and the fire service has to check they
work once every twelve months before renewing
the fire certificate.
BTW Martin, The "central heating" in many towns
and cities in East Europe was "Fernheizung"
produced at the central municipal heating depot,
usually by burning "brown" coal, a particularly
noxious, dirty, dusty and evil smelling fuel.
Heat was piped through the city - quite often
above ground - to the tower blocks. The heat
loss must have been enormous, especially in
their cold winters, and those out of favour with
the authorities were always housed at the end of
these infamous pipes! The worst part was, no one
could adjust their heating. You would see open
windows in the middle of an arctic winter,
because people were too hot inside! The heating
was "turned off" in the Spring, because the full
(centrally administered) fuel allocation had
been used up by then. They then "serviced" the
system because they had nothing else to do!
Anyone who has travelled in eastern Europe in
the winter, will remember the pipes belching
steam around the joins...
I told you I was feeling nostalgic! Comes from
complete exhaustion... A cubic metre plus is a
lot of concrete to shift... Especially when a
third has to be put into plastic carrier bags...
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art . Capel Celfyddyd
HOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL POTTERS' PATH
Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales Tel: (01766) 523570
E-mail: postbox@the-coa.org.uk
WEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
----- Original Message -----
> And yet on the continent of Europe, especially
Poland and similar countries, the houses, and
some flats, have a large ceramic room heater
Janet Kaiser on wed 17 jan 01
Snail Scott is right. UK voltage is 220-240V.
The only domestic appliances which run on 110V
that I can think of are electric shavers, which
have two pin plugs and are a pain in the whatnot
when travelling around the country... Few guest
houses or B&Bs have the necessary adapters or
bathroom lights with the appropriate sockets...
Other things like scanners, external modems,
sound systems, etc. have three-pin plugs and
built-in adapters.
What Claire will definitely have to do, is have
the right fuse installed on the circuit the kiln
is attached to and the correct cable - in all
probability from the fuse box to the kiln. It is
no good just plugging a kiln in to the socket
circuit of a house or apartment! A whole street
can be put into darkness that way!
I should imagine a second red (colour coded)
"cooker" fuse would do, but this may involve
getting another fuse box if you cook electric,
because most only allow one high voltage
appliance of this type. A normal cooker switch
within three metres (I believe) of the kiln is
the maximum allowed... If I remember rightly,
because of possible arcing? or cable wear?
Anyway, if you are planning on installing the
kiln in your shed after all Claire, I believe
you have to fix the switch to a sturdy,
non-conductive wall, not just the planking and
ensure it is not going to get wet. That is if
you can get your electric supplier or
electrician to fix up wiring out there... They
may just shake their heads and look glum about
that. Depends how far away from your flat the
shed is...
You will also have to install good and effective
EARTHING. In the absence of water pipes, your
electrician will shake his head and look
sorrowful again. But being a resourceful sort of
chap, I am sure he will find a way around that!
:-)
I hope all this is making sense and is useful?
I was just thinking of Carol Nino Ray who works
on her porcelain in the family apartment in
Madrid... Her family go mad when she fires the
kiln in the summer, because she has to switch
the air conditioning off for the duration...
Must then be the hottest spot in the country,
both inside and outside the kiln! At least you
will not have those worries in London, although
summer temperatures can be up in the 30s (C).
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art . Capel Celfyddyd
HOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL POTTERS' PATH
Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales Tel: (01766) 523570
E-mail: postbox@the-coa.org.uk
WEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
----- Original Message -----
> I recall that ordinary household current in
Britain
> is always 220V, (unlike the U.S., where 110V
is the
> norm and some older houses don't have enough
service
> to add a 220V circuit). As long as the
incoming
> sevice has enough power, she should be fine on
that,
> at least. (I'm assuming her kiln runs on
220V.)
> Of course, I have had houses where I coudn't
run
> the kiln and oven together!
Su Standing Bear Fritzinger on fri 19 jan 01
Clair,
I have a studio set up in a shed with no water. My studio is 12 x 32 and I
think it is shrinking each day that I go there. I do have a kiln, two
wheels, slab roller, space for ware to dry, and an area for glazing. Perhaps
good organizational skills would be something that would help the small
space that you are seeking, to be much larger. I think I could use some of
those skills myself...my problem is that I teach, and have lots of teaching
aids...and their work....I just need some time alone in the studio to figure
out how to make it work. As with most potters I am about fifty ideas
behind....one day it will work . Good luck with your adventure.
Deborah Thuman on thu 8 oct 09
Disclaimer: I am not an immigration lawyer.
That said, unless you hold dual Canadian and US citizenship, you're
going to have to jump through some legal hoops to work in a country
where you are not a citizen.
I suspect any city or town you're looking at would be a good place to
teach and work. If you make good art, it will sell. If you're a good
teacher, you'll have plenty of students.
Do you like winter? Do you like winter driving? Do you want mountains?
Do you want an ocean view? What are the property, income and business
taxes like in the cities you are considering? What are the real estate
purchase or lease prices like? My guess is that Toronto is a whole lot
more expensive than Vermont. Is there a good and services tax? When I
left NY 10 years ago, there wasn't (don't know about today). I now
live in NM where there's a goods and services tax on darned near
everything - including legal fees. What are the energy costs? How
close is the nearest clay supplier? Having clay shipped is expensive.
Taking a day to drive to the nearest clay supplier once a month or so,
load up the car/van/pickup, and come back home may be a whole lot
cheaper than the shipping costs. What kind of liability insurance will
you need and what will it cost? Are you able to fix your own
equipment, or will you have to budget for someone to come in and
service your equipment?
The tuition and product sales have to pay your business expenses plus
pay you. Can you be successful? Of course you can! But... you have to
spend time looking at all the expenses, pitfalls, and requirements for
setting up a business no matter what location you choose. You're going
to need an attorney (you really want to fudge up a lease because you
were too frugal to pay for legal advice?) and an accountant and now
would be a good time to start getting to know a few attorneys and
accountants.
Deb Thuman
http://debthumansblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=3D5888059
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