Post #784849 by danlovestikis on Fri, Mar 9, 2018 10:09 AM

Progress Report for Wish List #8.

To celebrate Dan's birthday we poured a crawl mug and then I sanded and he used the air compressor and loaded the kiln.

Even though I think these are all completely dry it's hard to know in cold weather.

It's been months since I made them so what I will do is preheat the kiln for 10 hours with them inside to dry them out for sure.

I so all the sanding and then

Dan takes them out to use the air compressor on them to keep dust out of the kiln.

One at a time.

After Dan dusts them he loads the kiln. Here is the first layer.

Second Layer.

Third layer.

This is the bisque fire to shrink the clay as much as possible so that when you glaze and the mug cools the glaze doesn't pop off.

For this load I did a 10 hour preheat and a 13.5 hour slow ramp. This helps to prevent cracking. Then the kiln cools down in 24 hours and when it is below 130 degrees it can be opened. However I prefer to wait until it is the same temperature as the outside. Again this helps prevent cracking.

His birthday is over and it's time to go back to work! Wendy