Skutt Here, Fun Begins

Rarely do I purchase anything new, but I think a new kiln is a wise choice for me right now. I finally splurged (with some convincing to Gary) for my new Skutt 1218-3 which just arrived. I purchased my kiln from Bennett Pottery here in Florida. Judy Shreve recommended me to them, thanks Judy.

This kiln has an automatic controller and fires to cone 10. Could there be crystal glazes in my future? There I go dreaming and off on a another tangent. My old Skutt from the early 1980's, which still works fine (at least before I moved it did), has a sitter and fires to cone 6. I purposely got a kiln with a wide opening and not too tall, 28 inches wide and 18 inches tall, so I can load it myself without straining my back.


The bowl is an experiment of mine from the last raku firing. The pitting you see is because this was a bowl I used coffee grinds for texture. The coffee grinds make a nice texture, but maybe not for raku. It was the only bisqued bowl I had at the time for raku. The back of the bowl didn't turn black. My bowl was the last to be taken out of the raku kiln and placed in the reduction chamber, so I think the glaze had cooled off. Still the copper is nice, but the blue didn't mature.


I am hoping I can get corelite shelves to fit this shape kiln since they are lighter in weight; so I'll be checking on those. I am so ecstatic I can hardly wait to get the kiln set up. I'm calling an electrician right away. It might take a week or so to get it set up depending upon the electrician's schedule, so more about the set up later. Comments and suggestions are welcome.