Hendrix, Taylor J. on mon 5 may 03
Howdy all:
Frustration is an opportunity to learn patience, right? Well, I don't
want any more patience. I barely have enough time to use the patience I
already got! Geeze Louise, but it was hot here in central Texas today.
And I talked my teacher into firing up some old bisqued cups I had in
that new raku kiln of ours.
We thought we had time (har har) and set up everything: kiln, burner,
reduction cans. We went through a cold run so Barb could get the feel
of pulling the pots. I then stuck the burner in til the burner tube was
even with the inside face of the brick and we set the needle valve to
about half. At 12 psi, that gave us a quick yellow flame that just
emerged on the other side of the kiln shelf. A few pings let me know
that things may be getting too hot too quickly and I turned it down
about a quarter. Every ten minutes or so I increased the flame just a
bit, and we were getting good heat waves out the flue hole. I finally
got the burner out of the kiln about 2 inches and had it opened full at
12 psi. Still a little yellow in the flame. Glaze still looked very
dry at 30 minutes, and at 3:10 we decided to drop the flame, pull the
pots so we could practice our choreography. and call it a day. That
gave us about 45 minutes of firing time. Pots were still nowhere near
ready to pull. They didn't even set the newspaper on fire.
Man, this is killing me. I have got to consummate my raku love or I'm
going to explode! You know, people say your raku tongues will rust off
if you don't use them. Just something to think about.
Taylor, in hot and muggy Waco
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