help!
 

Am new to pottery and this group. I took a college course in Ceramics
and loved it. I then bought a wheel and kiln from a neighbor, only to
realize I have no idea how to use an electric kiln. Don't know how to
load, turn it on, bisc or even if it works. Thought I would ask help
from some experts about where do I start??? Also, kiln was made in
Metarie? Louisiana, which I think was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina,
so I don't think there's much help from that end...Would appreciate
any advice I could get. Thanks.

help!
 

You can do this - you are probably going to have a higher failure rate
though than if you were coached through. Where are you at? How large is
your kiln? Does your kiln have a controller or is it manual?

There are potters and centers that would be happy to train you in exchange
for your work (loading kilns, recycling clay, unloading, mixing glazes,
etc). Community colleges are usually good places to go as well for support.
Get some books. Do you have a nearby crafts center that you can join?

Decide how high you want to fire to. I would actually recommend that you
start with low fire work. You are going to need some cones to check the
temperature work in your kiln in different areas even if you do have a
computer controller.

Someone could easily show you how to load a kiln. Talking your through it
is something else.


"trish" wrote in message
...
Am new to pottery and this group. I took a college course in Ceramics
and loved it. I then bought a wheel and kiln from a neighbor, only to
realize I have no idea how to use an electric kiln. Don't know how to
load, turn it on, bisc or even if it works. Thought I would ask help
from some experts about where do I start??? Also, kiln was made in
Metarie? Louisiana, which I think was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina,
so I don't think there's much help from that end...Would appreciate
any advice I could get. Thanks.

help!
 

trish wrote:
Am new to pottery and this group. I took a college course in Ceramics
and loved it. I then bought a wheel and kiln from a neighbor, only to
realize I have no idea how to use an electric kiln. Don't know how to
load, turn it on, bisc or even if it works. Thought I would ask help
from some experts about where do I start??? Also, kiln was made in
Metarie? Louisiana, which I think was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina,
so I don't think there's much help from that end...Would appreciate
any advice I could get. Thanks.

Welcome to the wonderful world of pottery experimentation :)

Many kiln companies have manuals on-line - and there's always the chance
that someone will have a manual available somewhere even if the original
manufacturer is unavailable.

Loading - bisque can touch & nest, glaze cannot is the fundamental
rule... beyond that, it's experimenting to find out what the kiln does.
Mine is a bit wierd - the hot spot is the bottom shelf. Still tweaking
that.

There's a number of books out that talk about firing and kilns - one I
have is "The Electric Kiln" by Harry Fraser - very technical, but it
covers everything abut electric kilns - with a focus on British
electrical rules. Pretty much every book I've seen that purports to be
"complete" or "beginner" books on pottery has instructions on firing
(I'm a bookaholic, so have picked up a lot of books).

Where I'd start - what model of kiln is it? Does it have an electronic
controller? Or a kiln sitter? Does your neighbor know anything about
it or its history? (Used can be it was fired 4 times and the person
gave up on pottery, or it's been fired daily for 20 years...). Since
you mention Metarie, is it a Blue Diamond Kiln ? (Google is a wonderful
tool- searching Metarie LA Kiln popped up Blue Diamond instantly) If
so, they may still be in business - their web site hasn't been updated
since 2003, but Bailey is still listing their kilns for sale.

This newsgroup is pretty quiet - you might want to check out the ClayArt
e-mail list (You may look at the archives for the list, post messages,
change your subscription settings or unsubscribe/leave the list he
http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/), or the yahoo group PotteryBasics (
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/potterybasics/) - lots of friendly folks
on both those lists.

Good luck!

..... Bruce (beginner as well)

help!
 

I would suggest you DO NOT set up the kiln, until you have had it looked at
by an electrician and let him wire it into you house system. Kilns are
notorious fire hazards if not used properly.(IMHO)
You are asking a question that entails a myriad of answers and advice,
rather than a specific problem. I suggest you do some apprentice work under
another local potter, telling him/her what areas of knowledge you require.
There is an art to working and loading a kiln. Good luck.

"trish" wrote in message
...
Am new to pottery and this group. I took a college course in Ceramics
and loved it. I then bought a wheel and kiln from a neighbor, only to
realize I have no idea how to use an electric kiln. Don't know how to
load, turn it on, bisc or even if it works. Thought I would ask help
from some experts about where do I start??? Also, kiln was made in
Metarie? Louisiana, which I think was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina,
so I don't think there's much help from that end...Would appreciate
any advice I could get. Thanks.