Martin Howard on mon 23 jul 01
Liz wrote:-
load that really sing.>
Just had a kiln of pings, not singing pots. The kiln had overheated over a
period of time and was sending me a strong message, pinging loud and clear.
Shards went all over the glazed work. Total disaster.
Or was it? I had to sort out the problem, with your help and Essex Kilns.
Did a test fire with only a few pieces in it having set the kiln 20 degrees
cooler. I put a set of 1,2,3 cones on each of four shelves. The result was
that the bottom was cone 2, the middle cone 1 and the top less than 1
(assume 01). This was exactly the opposite heat gradient that I had been
working on.
So, it was not a disaster; just a change for which the kiln is the better.
Now the pots can sing, I can sing and the kiln doesn't ping anymore.
But they sing in another way; during turning. I know we are taught not to do
too much turning. But I prefer to get pots off the wheel in one piece and
turn then to paper thin. With bowls upside down on foam rubber on the
wheelhead, I can ping the pots with the wooden potter's thumb and hear just
where the pot is thinner and thicker. It is quite musical; even to my rather
deaf ears.
Martin Howard pinging and singing at
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
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