Opened my new kiln this morning as I'll soon be unloading it for its FIRST bisque firing ever... and noticed this crack- towards the bottom. My heart sank. Really. I'm calling skutt tomorrow. Any wisdom? Please, please share. A friend suggested that I take a picture, email skutt and get this on file if the warranty doesn't cover it. I was so disappointed. I haven't put a thing in the kiln yet. Only did a test firing as the installation instructions requested. :(
The generosity is that Linda Dalton taught me how to do the computation and measurement of glazes. She and Jim Dalton have been wonderful to get to know since I moved here. So thankful they are closely and so generous! All the conversion stuff had intimidated me... and she walked me through the whole process. She made this all look easy. I took copious notes. Interestingly, chemistry was my LEAST favorite subject in high school. This weekend I'll be measuring test glaze batches-- 100 or 1000 gram size. This shows the new ohaus triple beam scale I bought. Interestingly, it didn't come with the three weights that Linda uses- and she recommends that I get two of them. Any wisdom as to what to do? Maybe this particular scale isn't built for weights. I plan on calling ohaus about this.
First zinnia of the season. These grew from seed and the rest have a while to go. I'm hopeful others will bloom.
The Dalton's gave me some tomatoes and a cucumber, fresh from their garden. Such generosity!
Thanks to the yummy tomatoes, I had a BLT for dinner. YUM! mayonnaise, rye bread, homemade tomatoes and bacon. :)
Oh, and here is me on June 21 in the North Cascade Mountains. Loved this hike while on vacation. It was 70 degrees at the start of the hike and then this was the end. Big lake behind me. Had to find my way in the snow and mark my trail, along with the help of a friend. Loved it! Oh, and it wasn't that cold even with all the snow around me. Thanks for reading and please share your insight!
6 comments:
Hey Amy,
Good post. I've been slowly getting into mixing glazes myself. I bought an old beat up triple beam scale off ebay. It didn't come with the extra weights so I ordered some from parcoscientific.com. It was the cheapest place I found but that was over a year ago. The funny thing is, I haven't used them yet since I've just been mixing small batches.
It looks like your scale has the same little knobs at the right end of the numbers as mine does. I always assumed that's where you put the extra weights.
And I was a little worried when I noticed cracks in my kiln too. But when I asked around people said that little cracks are normal due to the intense heat. I've fired plenty of time since then and got a few more cracks but everything seems to be holding together fine.
But, remember, I'm no expert. Just passing along a little info that I've come across...
Call the Skutt people about the crack they have been really helpful for me.
It is a tiny little crack, that kiln brick is very soft and cracks easily, and chips etc. Soon it will be invisible to you. i really wouldn't stress over it but report it to them and convey your dismay if it makes you feel better- that way it is on record.
I meant to say too that the glaze on the tea bowl is pretty delish. Did you develop that?
About the scales- See the little knob thing at the end of the 0-10 beam and the 0-100 beam? You can hang your extra weights there. I do use my 500 weight fairly often, not so much the 1000 one. For one thing, my scoop only holds so much. If I have a large amount of one ingredient I might have to weigh it 1/2 at a time.
Testing- I like to use 200 grams instead of 100 as a test. Sometimes those little amounts get tricky to weigh, plus I might divide the glaze into 2 containors and try out a different colorant in one.
Thanks for the comments!
Fuzzy- I'll first find out if it's ok to add weights to this kind of scale. Thanks for the link!
Linda- thanks! called them. Yes, they are so helpful!
Elaine- didn't make the glazes that the tea bowl was dipped into. Thanks for your encouragement too.
Melissa- great idea about the colorants and the test glazes. Will try it.
Loving the wisdom from the blogging world!
Post a Comment