Before potters had kiln shelves, they just stacked pots on top of each other to fire them.(tumble stacking). I had pots of so many different heights this time that I just skipped the shelves and stacked the ware inside and on top of other pots.It worked swell and the kiln heated up and cooled off faster without the extra thermal mass of the heavy shelves. I have not been doing any glazing the last few weeks, just building up a bisque inventory that I can glaze as needed or if an interesting opportunity arises.The orange pots are covered with Ohio Slip and carved before firing. When fired to cone 6 or higher, the color will change to dark chocolate and the slip will vitrify and take on a nice shine.
I also want to welcome some new followers to the blog.Some how 3 new people stumbled in in the last couple of weeks.Glad to have you aboard. Feel free to comment, that's how bloggers know that people are reading.
Wow, I would have never thought to stack the pots that way.
ReplyDeleteThanks Judy. Just stack so mostly the walls of the pots provide the support.(Don't put a wide pot on top of a narrow one.)Some people even glaze fire like this by leaving the rims of pots bare.
ReplyDeleteI had warpage and cracking by stacking but that was with flat items.
ReplyDeleteLinda, You don't want enough weight that you restrict movement. A buddy of mine makes hundreds of plates a year, bisques them on their sides leaning against a brick and never loses any.
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