In this video I'm going to show you how to load an 818 Skutt Kiln for a glaze
fire.
Hi, Marie here back with another informative Kiln video for you. This
video is a request from one of my subscribers MaryJean. Smaller Kilns
can be a little trickier to load. I'm going to do a Glaze fire loading. I've
already vacuumed her out so let's start loading. This 818 has the 3-inch
brick. It's 16 and a half inches across and 17 and a half inches
deep. Keep in mind if you have the 2 and a half-inch brick you will have more
room inside of your kiln. I have 15-inch shelves. if you have the 2
and a half-inch brick, you will have 16 inch shelves. Start with three 1-inch
posts. Never place your Kiln shelf on the bottom of the Kiln. You need air to flow
in between the bottom of your Kiln and your shelf. Also, use three posts for more
stability. More than three will cause low spots and instability in your shelves
and warping of your shelves. When placing the shelf on the posts you want your
shelf to be on an angle so you don't hit the thermocoupler and be careful not
to hit the sides. Very even all the way around. Very good.
Now I'm using the 2-inch posts to make the best of the space I have. I can't use
higher posts because the thermocoupler needs a 2-inch clearance around. So if I
go any higher then it will only have an inch clearance. So all of the short
things that I've created I'll put on the bottom. When placing the posts they
should be aligned with the post below for support otherwise they'll weaken the
shelves. So I always put my finger right here to feel the post to make sure that
they're aligned. You can't see it. Perfect.
I place cookies down first to get an idea where I'm going to put my pottery.
And how to space it. Now of course not everyone uses cookies and you don't have
to, but if you don't use cookies make sure you use kiln wash you have to
protect your shelves you don't want glaze melting all over. Now I know where
my glazed wear is going to go. Tiny little bowl.
Two other small bowls. scoot this over a little bit. You don't want any of your
pottery to be hanging over the shelf and you don't want any glaze dripping on to
the bottom of your kiln. So be aware of that.
Now again, putting my shelf in on an angle being very careful not to hit the
thermalcoupler or the walls. Getting it is even as I can around. Keep in mind
that these walls are very very soft and you can knock pieces of brick off very
easily. I'm going to use the 6-inch posts and remember to feel the side.
It's a good habit to get into to make sure that the post below is supporting.
Remember it should be that way all the way down. Now I'm going to place my cookies down. This does
help, so I'm not handling my glazed wear as often either, because it's like a jigsaw
puzzle. And you find yourself moving your pieces around to fit properly. Like I'm
doing right now.
See how I left the space here for the thermocoupler.
When placing your pieces in the kiln you want the taller pieces in the middle for
better heat distribution. You want to make sure your glazed wear is at least a
quarter of an inch away from each other, otherwise they'll fuse in the firing and
from your posts also. Notice this it's too close. So I will move this over and
make sure that my handle isn't hanging over the edge of the shelf. I'll use a
smaller piece right here.
I want to move to see the handle is too close to the thermocoupler so I'm going
to move that over and do the same with this one. Make sure that it's quarter of
an inch away and two inches. Here that's good clearance. Right there, it's like a
jigsaw puzzle.
Not hanging over, that's good.
Not hanging over.
Great. Now you can go straight in on the last one because it's past the
thermocoupler.
Nice and stable, perfect. Place my cookies first. See where I want my bowls to be.
Good clearance. You don't want your pottery too close to the top either. Your pottery
will expand a bit while it's firing and then it contracts again. But it may hit
the top of your kiln so you want to make sure you have enough clearance at least
an inch on the top.
Oops, a quarter of an inch apart. Perfect. You also want to make sure that you're
not too close to the top Peep, because that'll be open throughout your firing
and it's going to be a little cooler right in this area so you want your
pottery to be at least two inches away from the top peep. Remember it's as easy
as 1, 2, 3. 1 inch post on the bottom at least so
the air flows through. 2 inches away from the thermocoupler
all the way around. And 3 posts per shelf even if it's half a shelf. I was
able to put a plate, two small bowls, a lid, a tiny bowl, 9 mugs and 4 bowls
in this kiln. Of course it does depend on the size of your pieces. For the amount
that I make at a time this kiln is perfect for me. Keep an eye out for my
KMT controller programming video that I'm putting together for you, and to get
more information on kilns you can check out my pottery crafters website. When you
like subscribe and watch my other videos you support this channel and help me to
make more videos, like this one. Head on over to this How to make a Yarn bowl
video or Questions for beginner Potters about Kilns. If you do, I get to play with
more clay. Let's stay dirty!