(2002.06.11)
It's 1:30 in the morning, and I'm at work. I just traipsed over to 312 Laurel Ave to pick up the 500 grams of Ferrous Oxalate that arrived for me today. I don't know how to express the joy that this brings me (and I'm not referring to the box of iron, though that is, indeed, a happy thing).
I'm in the middle of re-reading sections of Nigel Wood's wonderful Chinese Glazes and Robert Tichane's excellent but nonetheless troubling Copper Reds. (I'd be happy to discuss this in email, if you are.) I'm building a tiny test kiln. I'm making pots, and people are asking for them. It's almost summer (actually a mixed blessing in these parts -- it's a lot nicer outdoors at this hour than it is during the day).
I've been given an old box-style electric kiln, which I think I'm going to convert to gas. It will be just over three cubic feet inside when I've lined it with high-temperature fiberboard, and that means my small burner will handle it. (I had to build a tiny burner for the test kiln, which I did by modifying a propane torch. Don't yet know whether it will cut the mustard, but I should find out within a day or three here -- the kiln is almost ready to assemble and test, and I've already verified that the burner works.)
(2002 July 5/6)
I've made a certain amount of progress on that test
kiln, btw; if you care to read more about it, try the
"Jon Builds a Very Small Kiln" page. I've also
concluded that I'm better off keeping the cube-shaped
kiln as is, because it has 5 inches of insulation and is
rated to cone 10. (Most electrics, as for example our
L&L Econo-Kiln 23, have at most 3.5 inches of
insulation, and are rated no higher than cone 9.) I may
convert the L&L to gas, instead.
(2002 July 09/10)
The security cameras have done their work, and have detected our first intruder: the groundhog that is eating my Extremely Special Chinese Melon Vines.
Dammit.
I knew it was either a groundhog or a bunrab, but had no
real way to determine which... until this afternoon,
when John Todd showed me the images. The evidence is
entirely clear; and I have borrowed a trap, which is now
out there in a nice shady spot with some cantaloupe
melon in it. With any luck El Senor Piggo shall be
transported in exile upon the morrow ("Ey. You. Yeah,
you. Geddin da cah."), and maybe we'll actually manage
to eat a Hami-Gua or two by the end of the summer,
provided that this is the only critter in the area with
a taste for the things, other than ourselves. (I once
read, in an Archie Carr book if memory serves, that
herds of box-turtles occasionally wander across fields
in Ohio, biting the ends off the cantaloupe melons. Woe
betide any T. carolina carolina who tries that
kinda crap on me!)
Pseudo-mailto: jon [at] bazilians [put it here] org or
jon [at] joss [same little dot thing goes here] com
Last modified: Tue Jul 9 21:39:07 PDT 2002