David Woof on sat 9 jul 05
dear frank, yes one can learn to accurately gauge kiln atmosphere visually.
personally i'm a living wonder that i can see at all or anything after
all those years of ignorantly gazeing with awed longing into the true white
light surrounding cones 10/14 without eye protection. which brings home
the reminder i wish to offer: we generally aren't looking for the kiln's
atmospheric temperature, but for the effect time plus heat has had on the
clay body and glazes. cones measure that heatwork. i'm certain many of us
could by-gosh and by-golly ''yup it's time to shut down the kiln'' and be
pretty close to right on but i wish all my bowls to ring like bells, my
surfaces to have a depth that makes one want to hug them all the way home
and caress their lips as we eat and drink from them. i expect this, my
clients expect this and cones help me keep on the money. how many of us can
afford a random kiln load of less than this? no room here for misplaced
ego, just pride in knowing one is doing all required as a solid professional
in our field.
David Woof
peering over the edge, reverently taking an irreverent look at everything.
Frank Colson on sat 9 jul 05
David- Right On! I always cones. Fired cone 10 and above for yr's! as a
production potter. Color gage is like using an afterburner; it gives me
guidelines as to expectation of a cone starting to bend! Voila! I look at
both the cone bending and the surface of the pot instead of hopping back and
forth to the kiln like a rabid rabbit. My kiln color is my buddy.
In fact, would you believe that when I used to first melt bronze, I would
throw a cone into the top of the crucible melt. I would fish it out with a
steel rod, if it was bending when I pulled it up, I was at the exact temp I
needed.
Frank-
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Woof"
To:
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 3:14 AM
Subject: Re: seeing cones, dear frank
> dear frank, yes one can learn to accurately gauge kiln atmosphere
visually.
> personally i'm a living wonder that i can see at all or anything after
> all those years of ignorantly gazeing with awed longing into the true
white
> light surrounding cones 10/14 without eye protection. which brings home
> the reminder i wish to offer: we generally aren't looking for the kiln's
> atmospheric temperature, but for the effect time plus heat has had on the
> clay body and glazes. cones measure that heatwork. i'm certain many of us
> could by-gosh and by-golly ''yup it's time to shut down the kiln'' and be
> pretty close to right on but i wish all my bowls to ring like bells, my
> surfaces to have a depth that makes one want to hug them all the way home
> and caress their lips as we eat and drink from them. i expect this, my
> clients expect this and cones help me keep on the money. how many of us
can
> afford a random kiln load of less than this? no room here for misplaced
> ego, just pride in knowing one is doing all required as a solid
professional
> in our field.
>
> David Woof
>
>
> peering over the edge, reverently taking an irreverent look at everything.
>
>
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