Tracey Tutt

So after months of practicing and playing with my mini wheel and my bigger treadle wheel I seemed to have accrued an awful lot of pieces that I would like to take to the next level.

On the left are all of the pieces made from a lovely new clay I have been testing, the KGM body which should fire to a nice white colour, and on the right is the buff smooth clay which should end up a lightish grey.

I’ll be needing a kiln then…

After looking and looking I found a 13A plug in kiln that looked like a perfect choice for a newbie, no, they’re not cheap, but my plan is to keep it for one year and see if it is used enough before re-evaluating. I would really have liked to have bought a second-hand one as they do seem to keep their value, but they’re like hens teeth to find, and then you’ve got to be so quick.

Here is the new addition to the family.

But it’s not only the kiln that you need, it’s extra kiln props, pyrometric cones, a venting system, glazes, underglazes and because I don’t have a lot of space for the kiln to be in situ at all times I needed to buy a castor wheel stand for it.

So after doing the test firing last week, I’ve finally set my kiln off for it’s very first bisque fire, started at 7.30 this morning!

And even though I’ve been reading and watching and googling as most people do I got something wrong… not a vital error at least but I misunderstood what the preheat would do, I thought it would slowly warm up, but didn’t realise the preheat warms up at 33 degrees per hour until it reaches the pre-determined temp of 82, then and only then does it sit at 82 for the preheat time you entered, so for me that meant that even though I set it off at 7.30am on a Sunday morning, it didn’t start it’s cone 06 bisque programme until 10.40… sigh… you live and learn!

I’m predicting the kiln will reach Cone 06 (998 degrees C) at about 5pm and then it will start it’s cool down cycle and tomorrow I will get to open it and see what has happened.

I go and check every hour or so, just checking everything is running as it should with a mask on in case the vent isn’t taking all of the fume – better safe than sorry.

Watch this space!