Ebay…oh yeah! I was looking for an electric kiln for firing my bisque ware, when another gas kiln appeared before me! I couldn’t resist a bid and ended up with a gas and electric kiln – both in the New England area of Australia – a good 5 1/2 hour drive one way – but with a trailer, it turns into a marathon day of driving! But we made it!
The gas kiln made the trip fine and was in awesome shape. The kiln has a wonderful, hinged door – versus the other gas kiln which has to be closed with a clamp!
The electric kiln was in pretty good shape, but we unfortunately loaded it in the back of the trailer and it felt every bump in the road!
Although we had packed and wrapped the electric kiln, when we unwrapped it, it was not good!
The bumpy ride had rattled the electric kiln and loosened the brick, grinding them to dust and the bottom of the kiln was crumbling! Although it can be fixed, it will take tons of work, so that is a project for another day. I just bit the bullet and bought a nice, big, digital Paragon kiln (again, a referral from Brad at Picasso’s Ceramics!-Thanks!). So now I’m set – I can bisque in the electric kiln and I’ve got the gas kilns for the second firing. Cool!
One of the amazing perks of buying used kilns seems to be that you get all the peripheral equipment as a throw in. So I’ve bought the kilns used and also got the kiln furniture, shelves, cones, pyrometer, gloves, and all kinds of bits and pieces. I feel very fortunate and can’t wait to fully utilise these kilns to try to create the art I imagine in my head and heart.
