I took the panel out of the kiln now, still hot enough to need gloves to handle, but it came out very good. I made one small error in the final temperature 2079º I should have set it to 2060º, that 19º difference seems minute in a kiln over 2000º but it makes the difference between the clay turning slightly brown and staying the red color I am aiming for.I had forgotten the higher temperature gave me the browner color a year ago when I fired  another piece to that temperature as a test, and then lowered it to 2060º and the red color remained. The photo…

The panel is still in the kiln since Sunday at noon, it should shut off in about 4 hours. It looks like the panel has survived so far through the critical stages, it could still have a crack or something but we’ll see. Here’s what 1755º looks like through the peephole on the kiln, now imagine 320º hotter still: My Olympic kiln, model 1823HE cone 10 (2350º) is not as large as I wanted, this was $2300 and the next larger size was only a few inches wider and a couple of inches taller inside and it was $3100 which was quite  a jump! For about $3200 they have an…