Kiln Tetris

In this post we'll try to explain our way to fighting one of the common studio challenges - arranging the glazed beads, pendants, etc, in the kiln, in the most effective and safe way.

Let me start from the beginning - as boy, in the middle of the '80's, I was totally addicted to computer games, especially to Tetris (everybody remembers it, I hope :-). Later I played a lot of the 3D version of it called Blockout . It looks to me now that the hundreds of hours spent playing those games was not that useless - I think there are a lot of similarities between the challenge in the games and the glaze kiln arranging.                                                                                                                

 

Here you can see some of the shapes that I'm planning to put in the kiln. 




This is the current equipment that we are using. Here you can see tutorial about the "Bead Box". The wires that you see in front are Kanthal A1 wire. Each piece is 85mm long, 2.5 mm thick. This is the size that with many trials and errors we figured to be the best compromise between length and thickness for our work.

How our bead boxes work- here you see sample how we arrange the lentil beads. This shape is very popular right now, but it's a real space hog compared to the other beads. On the left, you see the first row of lentils.

 This is the second row, 8 more lentils are in the box.

That's the top row, 10 more lentils, so we ended with a total of 26 lentils in this box. Each lentil is just a bit under 1 inch diameter.

Side view of a Bead Box loaded with same size lentils. You can see the hole configuration that works best for this size and shape.

Now something different - pendants and beads arranged in 1 box. Here you can see 9 pendants already put in the box.

Top view of same ones, you can see the space between the pendants. Are you wondering what those odd shape bits glued on the left and right side of the box are? Keep reading for the answer.

The top row - 7 wires, 4 round beads each. Important detail - it's good idea to glue the wires on the top, this way when  moving the boxes to the kiln you're sure that  they won't move. You can use whatever kind of glue, just be sure that it burns without leaving any leftovers.

OK, the boxes are loaded, let start putting them in the kiln. In this firing I'll put total of 9 boxes in the kiln. Here you can see the first floor - 6 boxes. 3 of them are with attached small bits on the sides, so I'll be able to put on the top of them 3 more boxes. Do you see the pendants hanging between the boxes?

Here is the second floor, the 3 boxes on the top of the first ones. It looks to me like pretty good quantity of beads and pendants in just 1 firing, in not too big kiln. What you think?


With this post we are closing the circle about our studio experience as ceramic bead artists - First we started with post about why we make beads, then there was post about how we shape our beads, later post about our favorite carving techniques, then post about how we are glazing our work, and now about the firing.
We'll be happy if you give us some ideas about what you want to see in the next posts, questions and requests are warmly welcome!

Have a great summer!
Golem Studio's team
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