mel jacobson on fri 22 oct 04
just one thought on owning a kiln.
all the pots in the kiln are yours.
when you push the button, they are all yours.
i remember firing a load of pots for a teacher
at the art center....a show coming up/the art center
kiln blew up/ no kiln for her.
it was the first time in her life/44 years/she had ever had
her pots in one kiln. one firing, of her work.
she had used other people's kilns for years...she had an mfa.
she was stunned to see her pots come out.
all the same. reduction/temp/color. and, that is the difference
of owning your own kiln. you get all the credit, or you take
all the blame. they are all yours.
nothing like it.
i have mine full right now/on low/chinese glazes. 86 pots.
if that does not give you the shivers, i don't know what would.
lots written on copper red.
it turns red during the cooling.
that is proven.
when i do copper red i turn the kiln back on during the
cooling/1800F or so. let if fire for one hour taking it slowly
to 1900F. it is called down firing. you go through the
cooling cycle twice. all red.
if you have crazing/that is a different problem. simple cure,
add silica. (others may help you with the glaze calc.)
i down fire every kiln//the length of the down fire depends
on what i am firing. chinese pots get three hours.
cyrstals grow like mad.
trailers.
i love trailers.
i have a tiny hitch on my wife's neon. a small trailer that we
use when we go to the farm. holds about 600 lbs of stuff.
we go slow. do not over load.
my truck has a big. mongo. super duty hitch. i have two
other big trailers. use them all the time.
of course my truck has a v6/standard transmission/work horse.
gets the job done. i use the neon for buzzing around, the truck
is for work. and, i do not loan it out. get your own.
sick of that. i spend the money, do the maintenance and others
think it is for them, any time they want.
screw that. my brother in law finally got a truck and hitch.
i gave him one of my trailers/just to stop the borrowing stuff.
(old trailer made from a boat hauler.)
mel
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
Marcia Selsor on fri 22 oct 04
Mel,
You are such a funny old coot! (I am old too)- not sharing your truck!
At our Univ. we had an annual show for students. The work had to be
done independently..no instructors help.
I always insisted that the students had to fire their own work if they
wanted to participate in this show.
What a shocker for them!
Copper reds, ..I throw in wooden sticks every hour of the cool down for
about 4- 5 hours into a gas kiln.. I don't know. I think I saw Beatrice
Wood doing it on her luster glazes (in an electric kiln, yet!) in the
movie, Mama of Dada..great film. Good copper reds at ^6.
BTW no MFA for Beatrice.
I have a hitch but no trailer at the moment. I did have one a while
ago. I want another.
Today I am packing up my wares and heading East to the NC workshop.
Looks like the NJ one won't happen. The advertising was a little late.
Looking forawrd to Raku firing with Steve Branfman and Linda and
Charley Riggs. This will be exciting!
My firings this week were successful and beat the rain and snow
forecasted. I am signing off for the next few weeks. Will miss
everyone.
Marcia Selsor
on a cold Montana morning
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