Zach's Blog (6)

Howdy y'all.......I have been completely stacked with work lately and I can assure you that is the chief cause to my delay in posting new photos, blogs etc.. I really have been running full steam for a couple months now and I am very happy to say that I finally fired my second load of pots. I will be posting photos this weekend and I feel that I learned a great deal from my "virgin firing", for those that know, and I am as optimistic for the future as ever. My kiln owes all of its credit to Rich… Continue

My very first solo firing went better than I could have expected. A very serious learning was surely going to be involved and it was. I reached temperature and dumped my soda in (Emily Murphy's recipe) after about 20 hours of firing!! My firing went way longer than I would have wanted due to my propane tank freezing up. This was highly unexpected but I think if I would have read every page of The Kiln Book I would have avoided the time delay in reaching temp. I got online and read somewhere that… Continue

Well, you have to be kidding me right? Do you even know how to throw a pot Zach? I sure am getting skeptical about whether or not you really are a potter or not?!?!? Seriously, the plumbers finally came to my studio yesterday January the 22nd of 2009 and connected my propane to my burners! It took them over a month to decide that they would come by, but when they finally showed up yesterday, you will never believe this, they said did not want to be responsible for hooking up my kiln and tried to… Continue

Been throwing pots, making ware-carts for my studio, getting recipes together and hounding the propane guys to come hook up the kiln. Ordered twelve silicon carbide shelves from Axner and I am broke as a joke now. Getting very close to being up and running full force and I am happy for that. Been a long journey. Really cannot wait to post some photos of first firing (as long as it is a good one!!) and get back into creating vessels and working out my vapor firings glazes etc.. Looks as though my… Continue

Well, I guess I am writing in this blob so that maybe someday I can help someone who is faced with all the questions and uncertainties that come with building a kiln, welding, where to get bricks etc.. There is even a very big part of me that wants to produce some sort of 1 page document that has all the info you need to build a kiln, get the right bricks, how many cubic feet of gas you will need an hour to fire your 50 cu.ft kiln, 1.0625 x the width of your kiln= arch radius, use 7 lbs. pressur… Continue

I have finally taken the plunge as they say. As you can tell from my photos I am building my first soda kiln. I finally decided on some plans I found by RIchard Burkett (who is a member) on David Cuzicks website. They are straight forward and take much of the "secret magical mystery" of kiln building out of the question. I will save the "magic" for later when I am firing! I have been learning to work with clay for about ten years and I finally realized that working with clay is the only "job" th… Continue