[Mistelle]

Bonjour tout le monde !

One of my students wants me to fire his cone 5 plates on stilts. I told him that they will distord. Do you think that it is possible to fire stoneware on stilts. Or is it only for earthenware and bone china ?

[AndyL]

Any commercially made stilts I've seen in Ceramic Supply catalogs have been for low fire. Haven't tried this myself but how about making your own from a higher fired/fireing body then cone 5?

[MuddyMomma]

i've used commercial stilts for cone6 pieces, but only small jewelry pieces. the pendants didn't warp and the stilts themselves were fine, but not sure how it'd work for a plate

[Mistelle]

I think my english is not very good...! My concern is not about the stilts but about the plate fired on them...

[GEP]

I predict that the plate on stilts will warp. I fire plates to cone 6 using plate setters, and if I don't have the plate exactly centered on the plate setter, it comes out a little warped.

But there's only one way to know for sure ... and sometimes only one way to convince a student ... let him try it!

-Mea

[idale]

GEP, on 09 June 2010 - 04:45 PM, said:

I predict that the plate on stilts will warp. I fire plates to cone 6 using plate setters, and if I don't have the plate exactly centered on the plate setter, it comes out a little warped.

But there's only one way to know for sure ... and sometimes only one way to convince a student ... let him try it!

-Mea

Same problem! WHAT IS A PLATE SETTER?

[GEP]

idale, on 13 June 2010 - 08:39 PM, said:

GEP, on 09 June 2010 - 04:45 PM, said:

I predict that the plate on stilts will warp. I fire plates to cone 6 using plate setters, and if I don't have the plate exactly centered on the plate setter, it comes out a little warped.

But there's only one way to know for sure ... and sometimes only one way to convince a student ... let him try it!

-Mea

Same problem! WHAT IS A PLATE SETTER?

A plate setter is a "mini kiln shelf" designed to hold one plate. They have their own built-in legs, and will stack on top of each other. Depending on the situation, sometimes this is a much more space efficient way to fire plates, compared to firing them in a single layer.

I've attached a photo of 3 plate setters stacked on a 20 inch round kiln shelf. Hope this helps.

-Mea

[GEP]

oops, here's the attached photo of the plate setters ...

-Mea

[autour de la terre]

Mistelle, on 09 June 2010 - 07:49 AM, said:

I think my english is not very good...! My concern is not about the stilts but about the plate fired on them...

Bonjour,
pour que les assiettes ne se déforment pas, je fais des anneaux dans la même terre, pour la cuisson. Cela marche parfaitement.
Bonne réussite!
Judith
Autour de la Terre
Nyon/CH

[Marcia Selsor]

First, is the reason he wants the stilts is because he plans to glaze everywhere?
Plate setters are good.
You can use uniform coils if he wants the plates off the shelf for better heat circulation. Arrange coils like sun rays, radiating out.
You can correct that the stilt would deform the plates as the plates shrink during the firing. The only way to prevent that would be to high fire bisque them and then glaze them adding gum solution to the glaze to help it stick.
For what is is worth, I'd go with plate setters or coils.

[Mudlark]

Years ago I tried the suck it and see method to fire a plate to C10 on stilts. I found that at stoneware temps the clay becomes plastic and sags around the stilts. Result ruined plate, stilts and kiln shelf, the rim sagged sufficiently for the glaze to penetrate the batt wash and adhere to the shelf. Happy days !!

Mudlark

[AndyL]

Mudlark, on 20 July 2010 - 07:43 PM, said:

Years ago I tried the suck it and see method to fire a plate to C10 on stilts. I found that at stoneware temps the clay becomes plastic and sags around the stilts. Result ruined plate, stilts and kiln shelf, the rim sagged sufficiently for the glaze to penetrate the batt wash and adhere to the shelf. Happy days !!

Mudlark

Would wadding work for the plates then??