Jocelyn and kiln progress

 

Here we go again....wash, rinse and repeat....washing machine weather without the drying cycle....

Now there are flood warnings (luckily not us at a little over 400 foot above sea level) as well as strong winds, and very restricted rail services.

It isn't as strong as the last storm, but it is still stay at home weather.

Pirate has retreated to bed again..the weather doesn't help how he is feeling one little bit. I just hope that they can offer treatment to alleviate how he feels...it is frustrating that he insisted on waiting until my 70th birthday, end of last June, and his daughter's 50th last October...and then Christmas....

But it is as it is now. We should know exactly where he is after the two scans, by the end of the first week of February.

I have contacted a company to get a new quote on sorting the flue on my kiln...I was waiting for the Oily One, son#1, but after making me a flue section a year ago he hasn't been able to do any more.

The last time I contacted the company was in 2017, but I can't find the emails anywhere...and life has certainly got in the way of kiln progress!!

I couldn't afford their quote then, but hopefully between fleabay sales and savings I may be able to now...

Today's job is to find the photos I need...nothing is going to get done outside in this weather!!

Pause...

 

Printing paused at present. Waiting for the lighthouse prints to dry and the printing table is full of bike bits being cleaned.

The car has had two new boots and an alternator...tracking being done today.  My bank balance will be saying OW!  As will the other account that the  pots prints and bike bits money goes into...I am buying a secondhand cage for my gas bottles..£150....but would be £700 new.

At least I will be legal and they will be safe.  

I am still trying to source ceramic fibre, adhesive and stabiliser to finish the flue section.

It's either out of stock or they don't reply.....keep trying. I may have found the manufacturer....

CAD

No, not Computer....but the Oily One has been busy with Cardboard Aided Design.....

The kiln services company is too busy,I think....there are a lot of important clay related weekends going on...and the Oily One has a friend who builds turbines and has offcuts of stainless steel....

fingers crossed!!

moving in?

If she doesn't finish this kiln soon, WE will be moving in....

the best laid plans....

Instead of our own garden and sheds all day...I weeded he cleaned...but we've earned a bit of cash and there is more to be done here.

At least he finished mowing the lawn...not too short, think of the bees! and I tidied up the edges and prepared the end of what will be polytunnel area.

Now,having watched the highlights of today's stage of the Giro d'Italia...down to flue design paperwork....

mended kiln

 this is before the kiln cement...a bit of a jigsaw!

 the first section will sit on these bricks, go through the shed wall and sit on a similar pile before turning up vertical

Now to draw the plan of the first section that takes the damper...a friend in the village has offered to make it for me from steel.

travelling again

We are down in Somerset with my brother aka webmaster!  The website will be changing from wordpress to joomla, supposedly much more user friendly and also free.
Hopefully that will mean a regularly updated website!

Pirate is enjoying his sight after cataract op number one..looking forward to number two and catching upon reading!

We had a wander around Yeovil today

and around the secondhand bookshop at Barrington Court

we'll be back to see the pottery..I'd forgotten that Paul's day off was Wednesday.

We're playing "musical chairs" with cars tomorrow...The Oily One gets my gold berlingo, I get brother's green one.....and we visit the Carpenter and Family before returning here.

I caught up with a large Somerset potter today near here....having just missed him three times when we were both in New Zealand!!    We came to the conclusion that the kiln that I am  working on was an electric kiln and has been converted to gas!

kiln mending

A start!  Now I have a vertical side wall and a sealing door...next to tidy these,and finish the kiln floor and outside rear wall.

drawing and 3D jigsaws

making bits to fit and finding ones that fell out...

drawing practice

I've joined a daily drawing group on fb....a good incentive to work on eye, hand,brain co-ordination .A nice way to see other peoples' work and have honest comments on my drawings.

Now the kiln has been vacuumed out, time to get mortaring...

No longer grey!

The swallows and martins are back!
We went by car today twelve (hilly) miles to Kirkmichael and had a cuppa in the village community shop and cafe.

Well fortified, we rode down the Middle Road to Girvan and back along the valley road...the main A77 was obviously out of the question! Just over 26 miles and just under two hours on a beautiful Spring day..bluebells, wood anemones, dandelions, violets...blackthorn blossoming and the May in leaf.
It was so warm, we could have worn shorts...but didn't trust it to stay warm!!

Back home,Pirate has swapped some old hen shed panels for four metal roof sheets, to add to his shed roof and keep the rain out. He has worked out where they will go...now we need a bit less breeze to fit them!  The breeze was useful to dry the washing, so no complaints. Our neighbour made a small chicken coop/nesting box from the old hen house panels!

I cleaned out the kiln ready for mending.  The next step is to work out the size of ply needed, and what we can use to press the bulging wall back together once it has been kiln cemented.
A reverse clamp is the nearest description..in building terms it would be an acroprop, but we need to press horizontally not vertically.

what to do on a grey day

 Be thankful for the plants that survived Winter...and thankful for today's rain...it is needed

 and discuss kiln mending strategy with a fellow potter in Somerset...facebook chatting has its uses!

He has given me advice, support and encouragement...all much needed!  Potters stick together!!

kiln design and mending

I'm working on the design for the kiln flue,using what we have already.
One piece of ceramic fibre and mesh flue I've never used, as it didn't fit the previous site...luckily I kept it...

Its a bit battered at one end,but I do have some spare CF blanket...
The main problem is working out what is needed for the damper section, and the join between this fibre flue with an internal of 6" x 7"....and a round stainless steel flue of 8" diameter...I have two 45 degree bends to turn the corner to the vertical flue.
Unfortunately the old damper section went for scrap, as it was rusted through, and the CF join to the kiln went with it

However as we still have the straight section,  its a guide to making another to go on a section that will have to be manufactured from new.

The kiln itself needs quite a bit of tlc, after its "lying down" antics....

This job needs temperatures of over 5C for the kiln cement to work...luckily it has been stored in the house while we were away!   Looking at the weather forecast I should be able to get on with this by the weekend if not before.
I'm not sure how to bring the back of the roof arch up again-that was subsiding in 2012 before the two moves...but once we're on to the job hopefully a solution will appear!

Meanwhile I'm busy with pen and paper....

planning and planting

 All ready for April...hopefully...a growing garden and bricks to build a flue support

Today...as we collected the gift of bricks....sunset

 and moonrise at home after we stacked them...the moon was a more peachy rose colour...