Wednesday 27 July 2011

mistakes

I didn't dry the cone dinosaur out enough...so it blew up at about 450 C.

I take out a brick that is nearly four inches wide at the front of the bagwall by the side of the burner, so that the flue warms up and draws quicker. I forgot to replace it.

I've shut the damper down a bit extra to compensate for the latter, 1080 and still drawing ok.

For the former? I'm going by pyrometer and seat of pants! With the gas being late I couldn't abort the firing, as I need both firings through and out before Sunday night.

It seems to have almost reached that sticky point where it slows down for a while. I don't want to reduce fire it, as there are glazes in there that I need to be green not purple or pink!! I'm still learning, and wish I had a firing buddy. I read all about it and get confused!! Time to have a shared salt firing to learn more.

6 comments:

Michèle Hastings said...

sorry to hear about your dino-conepack :-( do you poke holes through your conepacks with a needle tool? that helps stop explosions. a few firings ago i forgot to open the damper when i lit the burners and the kiln climbed too quickly in the first hour... luckily only one conepack blew up. so much to remember.

gz said...

Normally when I make them I poke a slim pencil in when I'm making the mouth, and go right into the belly.
Guess who forgot to do that too!

cookingwithgas said...

some days life is just a crap shoot!
Don't you hate those oh, no moments!

Gary's third pottery blog said...

c-r-a-p!

Michèle Hastings said...

wishing you a good firing despite a few little missteps!

Josien said...

Interesting, your blog.
I'll be back, to learn more about pottery.
From Sweden with love,