firing the new kiln

Sometimes I still find it surprising how little I know about firing a gas kiln...it's not that I've had loads of experience but somehow, i guess i thought after 10 years of potting and firing gas kilns here and there with others, that the baseline knowledge would have been in my psyche somewhere...not so.

i have now fired my new kiln 3 times and from each i have gathered a tremendous amount of information. probably the most from my may 5 firing.

I had more pots than the previous loads so the stacking was a bit tighter but still only about 3/4 full. it seems that i have been under the gun each firing and am also so excited to get after it, that i have yet to fill her up. previous stacking had been too heavy at the bottom and very loose towards the top. i believe this has contributed to my uneven temps.

i had just been in n.d. for a week with potter girlfriends and fired a big kiln with power burners (i have 4 venturis) and we had a discussion about reading reduction out of the bottom peep...i had been relying primarily on the top for backpressure. this firing, i tried my best to get back pressure out of my bottom peep to no avail. i was reducing like crazy...i could smell it and was getting about 10 inches out of the top. what i did not realize is that reducing can stall out the temp which it sure did. it took me hours to gain 50 degrees but i just kept tweaking and waiting so the time passed quickly. only after i reviewed my log did i realize how freakishly long it took. i mean...at 4am, when i finally shut her down, i knew it was wayyyy too long and especially when i checked my propane tank and found i had used around 100 gallons of propane (ugh).

soooo.....i added another 2+ feet to my stack (picture above) and next time will chill on the reduction a bit. i did get beautiful shinos and my celadon was lovely. i need to figure out my temp/reduction unevenness though from top to bottom.

i reread a section in Vince Pitelka's studio book and noted the following tips for the next firing:

-no big adjustments to primary air (on burners) ( i was tweaking them a lot)
-when turning up the burners, open the damper slightly to allow things to equalize and then slowly close it
-cool bottom.... try damper out
-cool top.....try damper in
- at least 10 minutes of oxidation cleanup/clearing at the end. ( i had some bubbling and only cleared it for a few minutes) (again.....4 a.m.)

i'll fire again in a couple of weeks and update after....

catching up...

o.k...once a month posting is not going to cut it....especially when i have so many things to talk about. i think so much when i'm working and then wow is it tough to get in the blogging groove.

so my potting life has been a little more challenging as of late as i transition from electric firing and stoneware to porcelain and a gas kiln. there are so many things i love about porcelain but warping and plucking not so much. i made a bunch of cake stands that i loved and did not anticipate the drooping rims....i'm going to try to find a nice white stoneware that will work for handbuilding and cakeplates. i'm concerned about them matching my tea sets though so we'll see.

i drove to beach n.d. last week (11 hours) and had a mini workshop of sorts with 3 friends. i adore being with people who can stand to talk about clay and technical glaze/kiln stuff for hours. i don't get too much of that around here so it's a treat. we made pots, pit fired, glazed and fired in tama's big, beautiful car kiln. she and her husband run an amazing pottery business....we had many a discussion about pricing/who we're making out work for/ how to make a living...etc. needless to say, my prices will be taking a small hike.

i fired my kiln again this week. third firing and the most challenging yet. i swear the only way i learn things is by doing them wrong. no matter how much i read or who i talk to, it just doesn't sink in until i mess it up myself.
so i was shooting for heavier reduction, a faster firing and a more even distribution of heat work....stay tuned for the debriefing.

tonite i have an opening reception for 'chicks with wheels' the show set up was last week and i finally got most of my pots there last night....(see kiln saga post to follow). at this point, i was just happy to have some decent new work to show. thanks to my friend colleen's window idea, i was successful. my artist statement was a bit crabby and negative but that's exactly how i felt...sometimes the public thinks that we just play in our studios and 'how fun it must be..' i just wanted them to know that it's damn hard work and a lot of the time...not so fun. i toned it down a bit last night though so i won't seem like such a grump. (thank you to the gallery manager for letting me redo).

o.k....back to the shop to fill orders and make another kilnload of pots so i can fire again.
later.

waiting for spring...

so....it's still totally winter here and other than being darn tired of gray skies and continuing snow...i'm getting into spring production. april and may are busy clay months for me...getting summer inventory started and into stores. i like to work under pressure and deadlines....i get more done that way but it is a relief to get shelves stocked and ready for visitors. i have an account with a great gift shop in Glacier Park, the Montana House, and she will take as much as i can get to her. i'm in 2 co-ops and have my own retail space to stock in whitefish. i sell to tourists and locals equally and am now selling online (heidihaugen.etsy.com) as well and between the three, continue to move pots out the door.

i also have a gallery show with 4 other women that opens the 7 of may. i have big ideas but not an excess of time, especially since i'm new to porcelain and gas firing....we'll see what comes out. i'm planning on working big....i feel like i haven't really pursued 'big' pieces other than special orders and would like to see where that takes my work.
i tweaked my back while snowblowing last week (don't run over a blanket with the snowblower and then yank it really hard to remove it). my back is a lingering issue for me but when it's out, it is a painful reminder of how much a potter uses her body in the shop and how limiting it can be when something hurts. it's getting better though and fortunately it doesn't hurt to throw....just loading the kiln and moving clay.

clay management

i live in western montana and am fortunate to have the 'archie bray foundation' about 4 hours away in helena. i've thrown many thousands of pounds of their cone 6 oxidation and it has been a very good clay for me. i'm now using their abf porcelain and this order also bought some high fire sculptural clay to use on handbuilt work for the outdoors. it feels nice and i'll test it out this week.

people often ask about the my clay supply/system...i'll offer a brief rundown of my process. i order clay in 50 pound boxes from the bray and have it shipped on a truck to a town about 30 miles away where i drive and have them load the pallet into the truck. then leif and i unload it one box at a time and it is stored in my shop. 1000 pounds of clay is only 20 boxes so it tucks nicely into a corner.

i keep 2- 5 gallon buckets next to my wheel where i put all of my scraps and throwing water. when those are full i transfer the slop to my plaster 'bray trays' and then the slop dries out for a week or so and then i run it through my venco pugmill. i usually pug about once a week for 20 minutes or so. it's been a smooth system for years. ( i must point out how valuable i think pugmills are....not necessary but ohhhhhh so wonderful.)

now, though, i've got cone 6 clay, and 2 varieties of high fire clay that i'm trying to keep separate and will have to completely take apart and clean out my pugmill before i start running the porcelain through. ( i usually clean the screen and barrel on my pugmill about every 6 months anyway). i don't blunge the slop or do anything special and i'm interested to see if the porcelain will be more sensitive...my guess is that it will take a bit more finesse.

today i picked up 1500 pounds of new clay and organized my storage area a bit...

it's nice to have a good relationship with the bray and also with the trucking company....they have been so good to me. historically though, when i was younger and didn't know any better...i would hop in my subaru and drive to helena and load it up with a 1000 pounds of clay as the salesperson shook their head and turn around and head home....seriously....had i not heard of shipping companies??? if you follow me for any length of time, you will learn that i rarely do things the easy.efficient.smart.proper....way the first time, it's just not my nature but i'm still trying to learn. one day....i will share with you the story of heidi building a kiln....it is long and funny but has a great ending.

enjoy your weekend.

today, i finished carving a dozen totem beads....i had forgotten how enjoyable it is to just sit and 'doodle' . i really need to get a bunch of beads and totem elements going before spring has sprung here and i'm behind....(or more behind.) my dear friend susan taught me most of what i know about handbuilding and i've been dabbling for about 3 years. i had really put myself into a box prior to meeting her...for some reason i had convinced myself that i only worked on the wheel. she really woke me up to what great fun you can have with a slab roller. below is a picture of a smallish bird bath totem.





i talked to the archie bray foundation about my short clay and he didn't really have a ton of information other than it was probably tired and i should pug it with some fresh clay. it ended up throwing o.k. but i was reminded that hardish clay is really not the best choice for a 20 pound bowl.. i ordered yet more cone 6 clay this morning so that i can get through the tail end of my special orders. every time i think i've placed my last order for cone 6, i end up having to do it just 'one more time' .

short clay.slip trailing and upholstery

happy st. patrick's day i suppose. 2 inches of new snow here this morning but 27 degrees and rising.
one of my lingering cone 6 projects is a 24" bowl for a baptismal font. i often take orders for items that i don't regularly make knowing that although it could be a pain, i will undoubtedly learn from it. (occasionally what i learn is not to take the order:) )

anyway...i'm at the tail end of my cone 6 stoneware and after using the last bag for my first crack at the bowl (20 pounds) i started pugging away last night. i use two plaster 'bray trays' for recycling and have a 4" de-airing venco pugmill. anyhow....i ended up with the shortest clay ever.....this may have happened 2 times over the last 10 years so i don't have a good immediate remedy. it was so short that the pugs were breaking off from their own weight. my reclaim was quite dry but not unacceptable and the pugs weren't really 'delaminating' so i dipped them in my throwing water and ran them back through with little success. my understanding is that 'short' clay is short on fine particles that are often discarded with the throwing water when one is recycling but i keep all my dirty water and decant it off the top of my slurry buckets. i wrapped up the pugs in plastic hoping that they would chill out a bit (and magically plasticize) so we'll see if i can throw them today. any thoughts on this would be appreciated...my idea is that the clay might have been thrown and pugged one too many times...

as for my slip trailing experiment from the other night...it went quite well on the second try. once the slip sat overnight and the borax dissolved along with my bulb syringe getting properly cleaned out, it flowed nicely. i was more concerned about shrinkage and adhesion and will look closely today.

also...on a side note. i reupholstered one of our kitchen stools yesterday and it went surprisingly well... joanne's is always good for discounted fabric but i must warn against using copper 'cut tacks' for upholstery...too soft, what was i thinking? i got the job done but bent many a tack beyond repair. i will use a staple gun on the next one, i was just trying to avoid digging around in leif's shop looking for it.

16 degrees and rising....gotta love march in montana.

i'm off to the bookstore for the day...i work on saturdays and have done so for over a decade now. i also rent retail space from her and conduct a fair amount of business there. after being quite alone all week, it is refreshing to visit with people and get in my lunch walk about town.

inventory at the store is lowish right now as the transition from electric firing to gas has taking much longer than i anticipated....shocking, right? i'm nearly there but have a few lingering orders that need to be finished. also....still having a lot of crazing/glaze issues with the high fire work and too many pots are going straight to the dump. after working in clay for this long...i'm not easily discouraged but it is difficult to see empty shelves and know that i've made the pots...they just didn't survive the kiln. i'm only 2 firings in and the learning curve is steep but i've got hope. mostly i need to slow down and not hurry the process (story of my life).