COLUMBIA

Small Gas Kiln Continued from Page 4

It took a weekend to put the kiln together and over the years I’ve spent
a couple of weekends modifying/rebuilding the roof and chimney. If you're
excited about having your own kiln, but you're not into building it yourself,
we can put you in touch with members or others that will do it for you at a
reasonable rate. After 10 years, it’s still going strong. Mind you, I don’t fire
that often, about once a month when we're into the mud. Most of the wear
and tear comes from moving it in and out of the storage shed. If I had built
it to stay put, itd be in great shape. It holds three 8” x 16” shelves for a firing
space of 16” x 24”. Sometimes, when | make some nice big platters, 1 wish
I had made it big enough for 24” x 24” shelves but usually, it’s more than
enough space for the two of us.

An addition that I would recommend to others building this kiln, is to
include a couple of baso safety pilots on the burners. ‘The baso valves will turn
off the gas if the burner flame gets blown out by the wind. It’s only needed
during the beginning of the firing as the heat of the kiln will keep the gas
ignited once it reaches red heat. I’m there to watch the burners and the kiln
very closely during the beginning of a firing anyways as it needs to be turned
up gradually.

With large gas burners, there’s hardly any noise and there's actually not
much smoke or flame from the kiln either, unless you really reduce a lot
and normally that’s not required to get good glaze reduction results. Only
when firing at night do you see the bright yellowish glow coming out of the
ports. I’m in the middle of an urban residential area and my neighbours are
fine with it. Usually they don’t even notice I’m firing. I use a thermocouple

Clay Workshop at the Surrey Art Gallery

Pots for the Kitchen Workshop
with Jim Etzkorn

Sat, May 24, 10am-4pm & Sun, May 25, 12noon-4pm

Using the potter’s wheel, learn to make a range of pots for cooking and
serving. You'll focus on a variety of vessel forms and techniques.

For students with previous throwing experience.

2 Sessions $79.25 | #601098

Jim Etzkorn is a graduate of the Alberta College of Art & Design, and has
completed several residency programs, most recently at Medalta. Over
the past 27 years, he has developed his studio-based practice while
teaching and lecturing at many art schools and organizations throughout
western Canada. Etzkorn is influenced by historical objects, ceramic
traditions and contemporary ideas as he explores the manipulations of
materials and techniques.

REGISTRATION

604-501-5100 | www.register.surrey.ca
Registration deadline: 4 days prior to start date

BRITISH
COLUMBIA
ARTS COUNCIL
‘Sepported by the Province of Britich Cotmmbia

surrey
art gallery

i

13750 - 88 Avenue
604-501-5566
www.arts.surrey.ca

Don’s home-made pipe burners.

connected to an amp meter and finish
the five-hour firing by watching
cone packs. The digital amp meter
provides an approximate guide to
the temperature by using a cross
reference table (milli amps to celsius)
but, more importantly, it shows me
the progression in firing rate. It took
a little experimenting to get the right
damper position and gas pressure
combination to get the best rate of
burn, but after that, reduction was
fairly simple. Just give it more gas.

Glazing and loading takes about
the same time as firing, so in one
day, we can get it all done. Cooling
takes just 18 to 24 hours until we
can unload all of the goodies. Those
exciting copper reds, cool green
and blue celadons, deep temmokus
and wonderful shinos can make my
ordinary pots really special. The long
wait for the kiln to cool and that
unloading-the-kiln feeling is the
same, no matter what kiln you fire.

Plans for the approximately nine-
cubic-foot Modified Oregon Flattop
kiln are on the guild website at:

www.bcpotters.com/Guild_
Kilnpage.htm

Cone-viewing port.

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - May 2008