[Clayart] books etc/long

[David Woof]

Hi Kelly,
Just to add a "critter" problem I encountered in Arizona was that tiny spiders entered the burner orifice holes and used the orifice cavities as miniature nest areas.
 It wasn't a big problem to remove and clean the six burners if I had known ahead of time that Arizona spiders could be so diminutive and plug the orifices with sticky web like material.
But as a show deadline was looming it was a bit of a scramble to get the burners firing and admittedly I wasn't dancing and grinning as I elbow greased my way through the task.
I fashioned easy to reach and remove wire "plugs" of close fit diameter for the orifices after that first episode.
Timing is everything!!!!  Knowledgeable Kiln maintenance with foresight is also everything!!!

Happy you posted and to hear a bit of your adventures and accomplishments.

Misneach,
David Woof..............................................................................................................................
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From: Clayart <clayart-bounces at lists.clayartworld.com> on behalf of Kelly Savino <ksavino at buckeye-express.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2023 4:16 PM
To: clayart at lists.clayartworld.com <clayart at lists.clayartworld.com>
Subject: Re: [Clayart] books etc/long

On Thu, 23 Feb, 2023 at 1:56 PM, mel jacobson <melpots at mail.com> wrote:


When I started working on the kiln book, Tony Clennell said to me...."I think you may
be too late to write a kiln book, in a couple of years no one will be firing with
gas or wood. It will be all electric."  And, of course he was correct.  Building
a home gas kiln is out of fashion. And, only the young and hardy will even think "wood".


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Mel, your friend Diana Pancioli taught me how to build a gas kiln. We fired her little salt and soda cats with propane but mine at the lake is hooked up to natural gas. It's just a cubic yard inside, but I built it myself (kids and hubby helped hand me bricks) and it's braced with angle iron and threaded rods. Dug out squares of sod like cutting out brownies, rented a baby cement mixer for the foundation. Stacked bricks on the wooden arch while my grandma sat in the shade with lemonade and critiqued.


I fire it by myself - (a treat, after group firings w fellow grad students). So I can break all the rules and if I ruin the pots they are mine to ruin.


The two biggest problems I have are potters wasps making nests in the burner ports and chipmunks filling the thing with acorns in the off season. I once left it for a week between firing and unloading and found one of my teapots full of acorns.


And once I used outdated oat bran to mix into my wadding, came back a day later to brick up the front and discovered all my pots tipped, the wads nibbled to bits and field mouse and chipmunk poop everywhere.


I also have to carefully evict tree frogs from the burner ports.


But I fire with owls hooting at night and sandhill cranes calling in early morning.. It's all good.


Hi to the old gang, from Kelly in Ohio (formerly known as primalmommy)
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