: Iforgot - Viewing Profile

Hello Potters,
I am having a bit of an issue. I got an electric kiln for my home studio fairly recently, and because I don't make a huge amount of work from my home studio I have only glaze fired a few times. Well, the max temperature for my kiln is cone 6 and I fire all of my work to cone 5 and the big issue is that every glaze firing I do takes between 14 and 16 hours. First of all, this is a lot of electricity, and secondly, when unloading all of these firings I have noticed that not one of the cones on the cone pack have bended at all, and the cone in the sitter isn't bent, it's broken. No to mention that none of these firings have been successful, glazes are under developed, spots in clay bodies aren't showing up, and gloss glazes are turning out matte. So, is there any way that I could possibly make some change to my kiln that would make it's max temp be like cone 8 or 10? Then perhaps if it could fire hotter, it could fire to cone 5 with more ease.

Thank you!
Darrel

Hey Potters,
In order to promote studio safety i have been going through all the raw materials and sorting them in to groups of toxic and non toxic. The problem is that i have been hearing so many different answers to what is toxic and non toxic, first i used Laguna's raw material catalog which has every toxic material marked, but that list lists even feldspar as being carcinogenic. So, then i consulted a local potters guild who said that rutile, lead, and barium carb are all i need to worry about, then website after website has something different to say. So, what do you guys use in you studio's to determine toxicity? What raw materials do you consider toxic?



Thank you so much!
Darrel

Hello World,
How in the world do japanese potters create that beautiful, smooth surface on their Zisha clay teapots?


Thanks!
Darrel

Hey World, specificly colorado:

I am looking for a potter in colorado who has a gas or wood kiln which can fire to cone 10 in reduction or oxidation, or soda firings, and is willing to let me fire a few kiln loads a year in it. I am willing to pay for gas or wood or anything else me firing a load will cost you. You can contact me at darrelspottery@gmail.com. Thank you very much!


Darrel

Hey World,

I'm mixing up a glaze that uses a yellow stain made with vanaduim so what type of saftey measures should I take when glazing.




Darrel