Lili Krakowski on wed 28 apr 04
In my very limited experience it depends somewhat on the glaze.
Some glazes seem to put up well with water coming through as steam, and =
others do not. I am sure it has to do with all sorts of stuff like =
adhesion, cohesion, and so on....But I find that my pots do best when I =
let them dry at least to slight dampness. =20
How to describe. Like you have dried a lot of thin fabrics along with a =
sweatshirt or turkish towel, and when the machine stops--mine runs 45 =
minutes--everything is dry as a bone, but the towel/sweatshirt still =
feel damp when you touch it to your lips. Or you feel a piece of fresh =
bread and a piece of dry bread or toast. Slight dampness would be the =
fresh bread.
ALSO. You certainly can stack your kiln with wetter stuff, and just =
candle it a while. Even when I fire glazed bisqued ware, I have the =
kiln slightly open, all plugs out, and bottom element on low for =
several hours.
It is one of my beliefs--probably scientifically wrong and total =
superstition--that it is STEAM that kills both soft brickand the metal =
kiln frames--and that dissipating as much steam as one can with =
everything open is good. Arnold, how dead wrong am I?
Lili "Head of Steam" Krakowski
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