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)