I do!

I'm so disappointed in the apparent lack of interest. It seems strange because clay is so popular.

Hello. It is 2am and I could not sleep so checked out this forum. I haven't checked it out in over a year.

One of my hobbies is ceramics and I have a kiln. I never see any posting from someone like me. What type are you interested in? Monica

Hellooo out there...odd,I've been coming to Garden Web for 2 yrs,and never noticed this forum. There doesn't seem to be a lot of activity here,but I'll sure check back often.As a potter,and master moldmaker,I would love to chat with people of like interests.Glad I found you guys!I'm into functional ware,have tons of nice molds...but haven't poured anything lately.Perhaps we could inspire a bisque exchange,or something like that.This forum has made my day! :) Hope to see some new posts.

Hey this is great 2 posts this week. I have never poured a mold so I can't join a bisque exchange. I am a handbuilder although I did just make a drape mold for a bowl and 2 slump molds for platters.

I made the drape mold yesterday from clay so I haven't fired it yet. I have made several platters on the slump molds. After getting the form I draw a woman on the platter with a pointed tool, use underglazes to add color and then fire, add clear glaze and fire again. At the moment I am using Duncan underglazes for the brilliant colors.

I mainly do sculptures of women and sea creatures.

Please tell me more about your work.

Wow.... I really didn't expect to find anybody here... it's soooo good to see you guys :)

I've never heard of a drape mold. Do you make your own slump molds as well?

I bought a used kiln with no manual. My husband fired it up last weekend. Though the pieces look great... I'm not sure they actually ARE great. The kiln automatically shut off after 5 1/2 hours. We're clueless about the settings.

My clay is cone 6. The pieces dried for well over a month. We set up 4, 5, and 6 cones for the firing and thought it would go for 10 hours.

I'm worried about glazing the improperly fired pieces and firing them.

I have a picture of the kiln... maybe one of you has the same kind or something similar enough to point me in the right direction. I can't believe I'm sending a picture that shows the disastrous work bench in my garage.

Candy,

Hey the work bench looks better than mine.

I am not familar with the Cress Kiln (I think that is what the name is). I googled it and found the site below. You may be able to get a manual from them.

I apologize in advance if I explain too much, I was a teacher for 23 years.

I am looking at the photo and trying to see how you control how fast the temperature goes up. My Skutt had the same type of kiln sitter that I can see on the photo, it also has 3 knobs with low, med. and high on them. Does yours have similar knobs? If so I will send the schedule I use.

It sounds like you were doing a bisque firing, if so you are probably ok since most people bisue to cone 04. If you look at the glaze you are using it should say what cone the clay should be bisqued to.

5 1/2 hours would not get you to a cone 6. Had the cone 6 gone down? What cone did you put into the kiln sitter control? If you want to send a close up of all the controls it would help. When I fire to cone 04 it takes 17 to 18 hours. That is with an overnight soak. Soaking is when you have it on the lowest temperature to get out any trapped moisture.

There is a great book on using electric kilns. Electric Kiln Ceramics-a guide to Clays and Glazes by Richard Zakin.

By the way it looks very good for a used kiln.

I do make my own molds. I make them out of clay, bisque and use that as my mold. I do not make 2 piece molds. If you think of a bowl turned up side down, you take a slab and drape it over the bowl for the shape, thus a drape mold. If you use it right side up you put the slab over the top and the clay slumps down into the mold you have a slump mold.

What kind of work do you do?

Pauline

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.clay-king.com/cresslist.htm