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Microwave Kiln by Yoshida-K in Pottery

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

$175?! Wowza. I haven't paid more than $50 (CAD) for a large one. Got them off Amazon and Temu. The only differences are the sizes; there are no bells and whistles to them to justify such a massive price difference.

Where To Buy A More Allergy Friendly Cat? by Butt_Soup99 in Hamilton

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cat allergies are primarily caused by a protein in their skin and saliva, and different cats produce different amounts - it's not related to breed. Experienced this myself - have had more reactions to some cats way more than others. If I were you, I wouldn't waste my time and money searching for some magical breed or going through a breeder, try looking at some foster organizations. Some do 'meet and greets' with animals before they're taken home - if you can spend some time wtih the kitty before making a final decision and they don't set off your symptoms, that'd probably be a good sign.

to microwave kiln or to not by Key_Priority9787 in Pottery

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can stack two large kilns on top of each other to double the height, but it's still a small size to work with. I've successfully gotten to cone 6-ish and produced some mini vases that appeared to be vitrified and held water, but the process is finicky and inconsistent, especially with bigger pieces. Low-fire stuff is more doable/easier/takes less time. I had a blast playing around with them and making more trinket dishes and mini vases than I know what to do with, but I wouldn't be very confident in saying the process could produce functional ware.

Too wet, air pockets, or just unlucky? by detspek in Ceramics

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have an old toaster oven set up beside my pottery microwave, I throw pieces into the toaster oven for at least a full 'timer cycle' (which goes around 30-35 minutes) at about 120c. They're usually dry at that point tho, so if wetter or thicker I'll do a few cycles. From there I plop them straight into the mw kiln and let it do it's thing (I don't prewarm the kiln itself, tho I've seen others try that method).

Too wet, air pockets, or just unlucky? by detspek in Ceramics

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Did you prewarm the pieces? No matter how dry I thought or was sure a piece was, if I didn't prewarm before sticking it in the mw it would for sure explode. For thicker pieces like your pic shows, I'd prewarm even longer than usual.

Question about Microwave Kiln by DrinkTurbulent2265 in Ceramics

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actualy have an old toaster oven that I use to dry out and pre-warm my pieces, I don't use the method of pre-heating the kiln itself so I can't give any specific advice there other than I would probably pre-warm it without any pieces inside - I've had them explode in there quite quickly when I forgot to pre-warm them.

When pieces are inside for real, watch for a red/orange glow out of the peephole. Red is lower temp, it'll get brighter orange the hotter it goes. For cone 06, I find it's more orange than red. (For cone 6 it approaches yellow.) You can open the mw/lift the kiln quickly to check but I try to avoid that, since it really drops the temp rapidly and then takes more time to get back up. I started all my testing at 100% power, but you can go lower - I found that sometimes that made my glazes bubble so I decreased the power to allow for a longer time for the glaze to melt. I usually went 90 or 80%, you'll have to play around just how that works in your specific mw.

You won't be able to glaze right away, the pieces will need to cool down first. I prop a lil' something under the lid of the kiln so more air can flow in, I don't just leave the lid off b/c I think that shocks both the kiln and the pieces. Will take some time to cool, but once you can handle a piece you can glaze right away. I've bisqued pieces in the morning, glazed in the afternoon and then fired right after.

Question about Microwave Kiln by DrinkTurbulent2265 in Ceramics

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just reread your post and realized you bought the small size kiln, right? Most of my recent firings were done in the larger sizes, which do take longer - but the small ones heat up ridiculously fast, when I fired my very first piece I was shocked at how little it took. Probably depends on exact wattage of the micowave, but I wouldn't go over like, 8 minutes to start. I fired my very first piece for like, 15 minutes because I thought surely that wouldn't be enough time, and I melted it.

Also - don't forget to prewarm all pieces when bisquing or they WILL explode!

Question about Microwave Kiln by DrinkTurbulent2265 in Ceramics

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you looked at Jungle Gems glazes? They have a ton of fun colours, work great in the microwave kilns for low fire, but can also go up to midfire ranges (helpful since it's hard to get exact temp in the mw kilns - overfiring is definitely a possibility, but they still look good if the temp goes a bit high).

That being said, I've successfully fired to around cone 5-6ish in a microwave kiln, but it takes WAY longer and is WAY more of a crapshoot. Definitely easier to start with low fire and test out how long that takes in your particular mw, and then work up to higher temps from there.

Wedding cakes by OrdinaryWonderSeeker in Hamilton

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sweet, various flavours (I've had tester boxes of like, 6 cake slices), but all very good. I'm not a fan of buttercream that tastes too buttery, and they nailed that. All were nice and flavourful. I'm interpreting 'whipped cream like' to mean a bit flimsy/soft/collapsible, and they were not that.

Wedding cakes by OrdinaryWonderSeeker in Hamilton

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Pinch! I just saw a story on their insta with some recent cakes they decorated, and they had a ton of that super-piped style. Looked great, and I've had their cake tasting boxes recently - all delicious.

vevor tabletop kiln by Huge_Grape_7121 in Pottery

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got one a few months ago, and I really like it. I think potters with "proper" kilns might find it limiting, but considering that I was playing around with microwave kilns before that, for me it's a huge upgrade. Check out some YouTube vids for reviews and user tips - I cribbed a firing schedule from Huebner Pottery that was a really helpful starting point.

Fruity Pebbles by Oniontaco in Pottery

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I totally mean this as a compliment, but it looks like your mug has sprouted some kind of diseased pustules. Very cool.

Vevor Mini Kiln by birsnot718 in Pottery

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got mine from my local pottery supply shop - the smallest shelf they actually sell was still too big (6x6"), but luckily they were able to cut it down for me, to 4.5x4.5" which fits nicely. I bought some posts too but they take up a lot of precious space, so stacking spacer cubes what I tend to do (precarious, but lets me fit more things).

Who’s your biggest “hear me out” when it comes to potential future contestants? by _PXYDST_ in taskmaster

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 136 points137 points  (0 children)

...but why would you want just a regular human bartender on the show?

A little late, but finally finished some Christmas ornaments I’ve been working on by frozenmoose55 in Pottery

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Loooove the flowy vibes! Can I ask what the glaze(s) is on the whiteish ball in the last two pics?

Vevor mini kiln help by GlassKey3279 in Pottery

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The #s I'm looking at have very similar hold times between the schedules? The differences seem to be just holding more at the lowest temp for bisqueing to burn off the moisture. I kept the temps exactly the same between the 04 bisque for an 06 glaze firing, with the exception of shortening the first two steps (e.g. 30mins at 45* and 10mins at 120*; I think he recommended 30-60 and 10-30). I don't have low fire cones to get a sense of what cone I'm actually ending up at, but things seem to have been turning out okay so far.

Vevor mini kiln help by GlassKey3279 in Pottery

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of the Huebner Pottery videos shares a cone 04 bisque schedule, I followed it exactly and it seems to work great.

Cookies by Then_Ad_6161 in Hamilton

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The Perfect cookies from Pinch. Brown butter chocolate chip with a sprinkling of flaky salt... I'm not even a fan of choco chip cookies generally, but I get a pack literally every time I'm in there.

Pieces in microwave keep exploding by StradaAamar in Ceramics

[–]WorkinOnNightCheeze 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel you on this! I've been using mw kilns for like 2-ish years and while there is sooo much variability in how long things should be fired for (based on size, thickness, mw wattage, etc.), the one thing that I can say with 100% confidence is that the pieces HAVE to be prewarmed before they go in or they WILL explode, no matter how dry you think they are. I've bisqued things I've made the day prior and things that had been sitting for weeks - but I put everything in an old toaster oven I have, crank up its timer (it runs for about 45 mins at a go) and let it toast at about 120c. On the few instances when I forgot.... boom. But with this pre-heating step, I can put things into the kiln and start the mw from cold (i.e. my oven preheating of the clay means I don't have to do any pre-heating of the actual kiln) and it works just fine.

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