Kiln procedures

Ceramics
#89

But there are other printers that can be used, this would be like one perosn
using all of them for that length of time

The kilns are a unique type of tool, from the time the takes for a firng
to the easy of damaging others work,

The ideal would be to have room for multiple small kilns and where
everyone that wanted learn to fire and to fire their own work could

That might be something we could blue sky on for the expansion when ever it
happens, Personally I would love for al the committees to think about how to
make the best use of an expansion,

Right now, fired arts has an extrude that doesnt have a place to be attached this is a tool
I always loved to use, Fired arts has to glaze on the wedging table/slab roller

Over a year ago I understand that jewelry had to turn down a donation of lapidary tools

I am always amazed at how well the committees fit all theri tools into their areas

#90

Part of the reason I originally joined DMS was to make that micaceous clay bean pot. To say I was discouraged from even the possibility of getting it fired at DMS is an understatement. Beth has improved the situation tremendously, but we still have a ways to go.

Learning to run a kiln, does not require a four year college degree. We should be offering that training to members who want it. There are many clays, glazes, and processes. We should be offering ways for members to experiment and learn about them.

Despite the apparent belief that this is some kind of attack on Beth and/or FA, it is simply a discussion about improvements the committee might make

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#91

To compound glazes we would need to be able to store the chemicals
needed, Most folks don t want to have to buy a pound of say manganese oxides
and we would need places to store the mixed glazes

If you have a back yard, I can talk you thru how to fire your bean pot, It can be done
in a pit or clamp kiln, That is the traditional way to fir them

I have fired low fire pottery in my back yard,

I wold love to see us be able to do more, I love making pottery on a hump bold,
no place to stee them and transporting a plaster mold a lot means a very short lifr

We have a new member that can compound glazes so we have the knowledge, ust not space

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#92

I am not about to wade into the issue of kiln use for the Fired Arts area, nor do I claim to have enough knowledge to try.

I would like to see what I can do about getting access to the propane fired kiln that is in the Fired Arts cabinet and has been used in the past to teach sand casting aluminum.

Who do I need to see?

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#93

I had my mica fired in a bisque load some place else at 05-06. It turned out great. Have you tried letting Beth fire a sample with the bisque load?

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#94

Mica really needs to be fired on it’s own. In modern kilns, it needs a totally different ramp cycle than bisque because it has a terrible habit of turning into a grenade and destroying everything else with shrapnel.

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#96

I spend a lot of time on my pieces, they are my masterpieces! I don’t trust just anyone handling them. I do trust Beth with them.

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#97

The big kiln is rated at 47 Amps – not sure how that calculates. In the latest glaze firing, there were 20 individual pieces, the pendant rack with 4 pendants, and 3 people’s worth of top-only glazed pendants finding little niches in between larger pieces. Given the relatively low cost of a firing, that’s not worth the envelope to make the payment.

(And for folks who haven’t seen our kilns, our “big” kiln is rather medium-sized.)

#98

47 X 208 ~= 9.7 kilowatts
9700W X 24 hours ~=234 kilowatt hours Or between 1/3 and 1/6 of an average Texas household for a month.

At $0.10 per kilowatt hour that means a single firing runs about $23 in electricity costs.

Do they pay for their own clay and glazes?

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#99

For the most part yes, there is recycled clay that folks can use if the want to
Folks either buy their own glazes or pay a consumption fee to use ours

#100

Then you’ll can increase the fee to include electrical, that ‘free clay’ and such to completely cover costs. This is mostly to address Beth;s earlier comment concerning not being able to afford stuff. No committee with the participation that Fired Arts has should have any trouble with their funding.

P.S. There should probably be a firing fee slightly less then what someone would pay at other area places (say 50%) to cover ALL of the expenses including the service of having someone else fire your project. That should reduce the abandoned projects since only those where the owner feels some value for it would get fired.

#101

Walter I would suggest that you find those places first, I don t know any

Back when here were a places that did slip cast ceramic the firing fee as based on the cost of the
grreenware and its price was based on the price of the mold used Most would not fire
thrown or handbuild ceramics because of the danger to other work,

Charging a firing fee is a nightmare, Person A made 6 coffee mugs
person B has 2 large bowls, person C had 20 pendents and person D had a
set of 5 coasters, person E had a single tall vase

And I think we are paying less than that for power, so the cost is
not that high The reclaimed clay is at no cost to use, other than someone s time to work ti

I am going to mention a similar problem that folks have when they share an art booth, How do you split
up the booth fee? If you do 50/50 you end up breaking up a friendship over how to divide the booth Say one
person has 50 pairs of earring on a display and the other one has 5 necklaces that take up a 12 x12 inch area
It just means lot of argument about space and such. I don t think any committee chairman wants
to end up in that place, (BTW, what seems to work the best is percentage based on your percentage of sales_

#102

Consumption fees and firing fees were discussed in another thread. I love the idea but there was a concern that only consumption fees might not be worth the cost of an ipad (someone also suggested sharing with jewelry so I’m not sure where we are on that). Collecting firing fees might be worth an ipad though. I voluntarily try to donate to fired arts whenever I have a bunch of things fired so I’m happy to pay consumption and firing fees.

The suggestion for a firing fee was some kind of token that cost $0.50 each and would burn off in the kiln. If something doesn’t have a token it doesn’t get fired.

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#104

Maybe yes. Maybe no. The free clay currently has not cost DMS $.10. It’s reclaimed abandoned clay. Many of us have purchased our own clay. Glazes have been paid for through honorariums. We didn’t use to provide glazes. And, the cost per piece is in the $.50 - $2 range for most pieces. Some folks provide their own glaze. If you want to be sure that a glaze is available when you want it, you bring your own. I’ve got 2 of the fritted, or “pigment” glazes that are more expensive than I would spend for DMS that are my personal glazes.

We’re still in the frugal era. We don’t need much. We don’t ask for much. We’re paying our way, by and large.

2 Likes
#105

Oh wow, showing how little you understand the issue
Volume would make more sense but that would be a nightmare
for the person loading the kiln

It seems that we have folks that are not active int the area trying to
tell the committee how they do things

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#106

On the HAAS, you are making only your item, in a kiln several peoples Art could be ruined, and the kiln damaged. I see no comparison of equipment.

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#107

If you use the HAAS incorrectly you damage the HAAS, preventing future work.

#108

I think they do. The long awaited tool/training matrix will be out probably this month. I expect a number of tools may no longer require training, or as much training.

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#109

I heard the MultiCam is the highest power consumer we have when it is operating. If we started charging for using it, it will be a different world. Let’s not go there please.

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#110

Is available space a problem?

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