mel jacobson on mon 20 sep 04
pop outs.
it is a scourge. the worst kind.
great pots, all lined up at the warm
kiln...and..POP OUTS/RUIN EVERYTHING.
it is the bain of claymakers.
good clay folks never have pop outs in their bodies.
they screen well, and don't buy `bargain`
grog.
contaminated grog, made from bricks that are not
cleaned well. it contain bits of cement etc.
we had that problem a few years ago.
of course it was the `potters fault`. total denial.
RULE NUMBER ONE
DON'T LOAN OUT YOUR KILN.
NEVER.
AT ANY PRICE.
i have lost several friends for life.
they put pots in my kiln made of earthenware.
total mess. fired to cone 11. ruined kiln shelves. melted clay
on the floor of my kiln. `oh, i think you gave me
the wrong clay mel`. of course, it was my fault.
geeeez. off they go. guess who cleaned the kiln, shelves,
and paid for everything? right, me.
never let anyone use your kilns, chain saws, truck, trailers.
in fact.
don't let anyone ever use your good tools. they just wreck it.
and, walk away.
or, charge $500 to use your kiln.
my old line is:
my chain saw/stihl/weighs 227 lbs. because it comes attached
to me.
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com
Laurie Kneppel on mon 20 sep 04
On Sep 20, 2004, at 8:36 AM, mel jacobson wrote:
> RULE NUMBER ONE
> DON'T LOAN OUT YOUR KILN.
> NEVER.
> AT ANY PRICE.
>
> i have lost several friends for life.
> they put pots in my kiln made of earthenware.
> total mess. fired to cone 11. ruined kiln shelves. melted clay
> on the floor of my kiln.
Excellent advice. I have clay friends who do not have kilns. I used to
take in bisque to "fill the kiln" back when I wasn't as productive and
it took months to fill the kiln with my own stuff. They are mostly used
to having ceramics fired at schools or clay studios that rent out
space. I have always had one rule - clay must be bone dry. I fired some
tiles for a friend. Clay felt dry enough, but there was a little
moisture in the center of each tile that I didn't detect. All the tiles
exploded from the centers. Fortunately didn't take out any of my
pieces. But could have. Felt bad for the friend who lost all these
tiles. Don't know if she blamed me or not, but it taught me a lesson
about firing for other people.
I don't do it anymore.
Even if you state only bone dry greenware they will still eventually
bring you damp clay. Until they fire a kiln themselves, they just don't
quite understand your bone dry rule. If the clay is questionable -
heavy, thick, uneven walls, thin spots, etc. all you will do is worry
over that firing until you open the kiln and see if everything survived
or not. Of course if you fire an entire kilnload for somebody else,
that's different. Just make sure they understand (and maybe write up a
little contract) that they will agree to be responsible for any repairs
to the kiln or your studio if their stuff causes any accidents. One
other thing is if there was an accident and your kiln or studio is out
of commission while repairs are being made - can you afford to be down
that long.
Mel is right. As usual. But if you take proper precautions it could
work out okay, just prepare yourself for the worst case scenario.
Me, I have decided it's not worth the stress. And besides, I've gotten
so productive that I don't even have room for all my own stuff anymore!
That's a nice feeling!
Laurie
Sacramento, CA
http://rockyraku.com
Potters Council, charter member
Sacramento Potters Group, member
Tig Dupre on tue 21 sep 04
-----------------------<>--------------------------
they put pots in my kiln made of earthenware.
total mess. fired to cone 11. ruined kiln shelves. melted clay
on the floor of my kiln. `oh, i think you gave me
the wrong clay mel`. of course, it was my fault.
geeeez. off they go. guess who cleaned the kiln, shelves,
and paid for everything? right, me.
-----------------------<>--------------------------
I do dearly wish this had been posted just three days ago. I loaded a slip-cast
statue of Bhudda for a friend of mine in a ^6 glaze fire. He told me it was
porcelain, because he had cast it himself. Put it on the bottom shelf because it was about 11" high.
Opened the kiln last night when I got home and found that the statue had melted,
tilted and fallen into the side of the kiln, gotten in the element holders and all
over the brick, dripped onto the bottom of the kiln, and ruined a new shelf.
"Golly! That's too bad, but don't worry about the Bhudda. I didn't really like it
all that much, anyway."
Tough lesson to learn, but I will not ever again put strange clay in my kiln. It's
bad enough when I make a firing error, but doubly bad when someone else makes it for me.
Meanwhile, many of the glazes I was experimenting with did some wonderful things.
Putting a dab around the rim of a mug of Val Cushing's Ash Glaze (^6), over Xavier
Warm Jade, does marvelous things. Do the same over Nutmeg to get really nice ash runs.
Good luck and hot fires,
Tig Dupre
in Port Orchard, Washington, USA
Louis Katz on tue 21 sep 04
You gotta figure out your own rules. At what point does your own well
being jibe with the harshness your protective shell imposes on the
world? There is definately a place for going either way on firing other
peoples work.
Maybe fire it on waster plates.
I teach at a small university. I don't let students bring any clay or
"chemicals" into the lab without me knowing it. This means I inspect
them outside. I have too many unknowns just from every day operations.
One year this poor student manged to mix her porcelain from a bucket of
glaze and a bucket of porcelain scrap. She then managed to get pieces
into two consequetive loads of Ferguson's salt kiln. Oye. what a mess.
I bisque work made from clay from outside my studio but refuse to glaze
fire it. The exceptions can be counted on my hands. Since I have been
teaching here for ten years, thats one a year. Harsh maybe but
necessary. Kiln shelves are dear. I have melted red bricks to ooze, had
student glaze tests that should have been good stable stoneware glazes
flow like "molecular acid" off the pots and into the shelves, and all
sorts of things. Haven't yet melted any student work. We are starting
to use more varied clay bodies, its only a matter of time.
Its amazing how high redart can fire.
Louis
On Sep 21, 2004, at 8:39 AM, Tig Dupre wrote:
> -----------------------<>--------------------------
> they put pots in my kiln made of earthenware.
> total mess. fired to cone 11. ruined kiln shelves. melted clay
> on the floor of my kiln. `oh, i think you gave me
> the wrong clay mel`. of course, it was my fault.
> geeeez. off they go. guess who cleaned the kiln, shelves,
> and paid for everything? right, me.
> -----------------------<>--------------------------
>
> I do dearly wish this had been posted just three days ago. I loaded a
> slip-cast
> statue of Bhudda for a friend of mine in a ^6 glaze fire. He told me
> it was
> porcelain, because he had cast it himself. Put it on the bottom shelf
> because it was about 11" high.
>
> Opened the kiln last night when I got home and found that the statue
> had melted,
> tilted and fallen into the side of the kiln, gotten in the element
> holders and all
> over the brick, dripped onto the bottom of the kiln, and ruined a new
> shelf.
>
> "Golly! That's too bad, but don't worry about the Bhudda. I didn't
> really like it
> all that much, anyway."
>
> Tough lesson to learn, but I will not ever again put strange clay in
> my kiln. It's
> bad enough when I make a firing error, but doubly bad when someone
> else makes it for me.
>
> Meanwhile, many of the glazes I was experimenting with did some
> wonderful things.
> Putting a dab around the rim of a mug of Val Cushing's Ash Glaze (^6),
> over Xavier
> Warm Jade, does marvelous things. Do the same over Nutmeg to get
> really nice ash runs.
>
> Good luck and hot fires,
>
> Tig Dupre
> in Port Orchard, Washington, USA
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
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>
Louis Katz
http://www.tamucc.edu/~lkatz
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