Message from Kilnmaster Neil

NEXT FIRING DOWNDRAFT GAS KILN :: May 25, 2023
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All work on shelves :: Thursday 29 th June, 5pm
Kiln loading :: Friday 30 th June, 9.30am
Kiln firing :: Sunday 2 nd July, start time 7.45am
Kiln unloading :: Tuesday 4 th July, 2.00 pm

THIS WILL BE THE LAST FIRING BEFORE STARGLAZE

The last kiln firing was on Friday 19 th May , with unloading on Sunday 21 st May.
Members of the cooking with gas team attended and assisted with the loading, firing and unloading.

Other members also helped with the unloading, and my thanks to all who helped.
It was a good firing; some precautions taken included an increasing use of setters and thinner application of glazes, particularly Winnies blue, with a wider sponging of foot-rings. Some of the work from Duncan Shearer’s workshop was thickly glazed with a tenmoku style glaze and ran on to the shelves, luckily not seriously fusing with the shelves so could be removed and largely repaired with some grinding. So a cautionary word is, while a good coating of glaze helps with the richness, too much leads to problems. Do a finger test of the thickness and limit the dipping time accordingly.

Setters should be coated with kilnwash, particularly for speckled clays and especially for BRT. In spite of my preference to exclude BRT from firings, its use continues so please, when using BRT, provide your own setters well coated with kiln wash.
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Another of the clays used had spectacular spiral fractures to 3 large bowls. This clay was not sourced from the club though I believe it was a white stoneware the club has stocked in the past.

Identification marks on work was much improved over that in previous firings which was pleasing to see and made pricing up the work a much easier task. Please keep that going. The new shelving for gas-fired work was full and made for a full kiln, with just one platter left for next firing. That gives us a better guide as to the amount of work instead of the combination shelf unit and table we had before. The wider spacing of the shelves makes for easier removing for the loading. So thanks to the team who installed that, and all the other new shelving.