Man Power

We called on our friend Nathan again for a little heavy lifting. In just a few minutes the electric kiln was moved from the garage (which is attached to the house) to the new kiln shed. Now both kilns will be in a separate building away from the house. Thanks Nathan!

Aaaahhh....New England

It's been a while since my last post. I've spent most of November and the first half of December exhibiting my work and playing dress up for art openings. It's been fun to visit with lots of friends and customers that I only see once a year or so. Now it's back to work setting up the new kiln shed. Tim is connecting the electric for the little L&L kiln...so we can move that into the shed as well. My apprentice Tanner and I cleaned and moved about 5 shelving units into the new space last week. Their emptiness is like a calling...and I can't wait to start filling the shelves with pots for our first firing. It has taken an entire year to see this kiln project materialize...and when I slide that barn door away I'm still surprised to see a giant gas kiln sitting inside.

Fuel for the Fire

My 500 gal. propane tank came today for the kiln! Very exciting to have fuel for my fire. The gas inspector will need to come give his "okay" and we still need to finish the chimney installation before we can fire it up. OH - and make enough pots and all new glaze tests! 2009 will be an exciting year.

It's Electric...

Homeowners are allowed to do their own electrical work! Good times. After I stretched out 7 different 60' lengths of wires and bundled them together...we (and I mean Tim) immediately got them all tangled pulling them through the PVC. It was a free half hour marriage counseling session trying to work it all out. Tim will be doing the fussy finish work today of fitting all the PVC connectors together on the house end and getting the wires into the basement.

Another Gas company is coming today since the first company hasn't been very responsive. We (and I mean Tim) need to dig another ditch for the propane line before the ground really freezes - and that means soon!

Weekend Getaway

Tim and I have to actually leave the house in order to stop working on the kiln project - or the many other things we are trying to wrap up before winter. So - we took the opportunity to celebrate our 5 year anniversary on this fabulous fall weekend. We went up to Portsmouth NH and then back to Northfield MA and Brattleboro VT. It felt great to get away for a few days.

Back at the Hilton Compound...we have so much to finish in these next few weeks. The ditch for the electrical conduit is ready for wiring and we need to purchase different wires for underground use - and different PVC for the expanse under the driveway. The Wiring Inspector for the Town of Greenfield stopped by last week to educate me on all the things I don't know about wiring. Which is a lot. I've also been learning about Metalbestos double walled pipe for the kiln chimney where the pipe needs to pass through the roof...but I need to do a little more research on that before I buy ($$$). The shed itself is nearly done and painted - just another afternoon to finish that up.

One more ditch for Tim to dig for the coming propane line - and we want to be sure to get that done before the ground is frozen.

Meanwhile, October and November are the busiest times in my studio - getting ready for several Holiday shows and sales...so must get to glazing!

Still at it

Tim is half way between the shed and the house with the ditch for the electric. 18" deep. The shed is half painted and mostly sided, with a door that works. Can't wait to hear back from the gas company about my hook up!

Coming together

Made some progress today with the shed. Tim finished the roof, put up more siding, and hung the "new" old barn door we picked up at a salvage place this summer. The door will be refinished and painted - I think it will look great!

Meanwhile, the electric kiln is going non-stop while I get ready for a show on Long Island this coming weekend.

Sparky

We needed some steel work done on the kiln track - so Mike came by from The Steel Shed in Bernardston to cut off some shims that had been welded on by the previous owner. We jacked up the kiln door with two car jacks and the whole thing was done in a few minutes. They also built me a track for a barn door to slide across on - which we picked up at Renew Salvage in Brattleboro over the summer.

I've also had a propane company come by this week to write up an estimate for connecting me to a 500 gallon tank in the next month or so! They don't require me to purchase 500 gallons up front - but offer a credit plan to pay monthly. Good!

Inspector says "nice" "solid" "good"

We passed our first building inspection today! I'm so relieved. He wants to come back after both kilns are installed and hooked up...and the shed doors and siding are up. So we will carry on with the siding and Tim is almost finished with the roofing shingles. The steel track for the barn door is being custom made and should be delivered tomorrow morning. They will also help us remove some welded shims the previous kiln owners had in place on the kiln track. We will attempt to jack up the kiln door with two car jacks in the morning. Should be exciting.

King of the World

Tim is making progress this weekend on the roof! We'll be able to have an inspection scheduled soon and start getting quotes for hooking up propane.

PKMD

Post Kiln Moving Disorder

Symptoms include:

• sneezing
• fatigue
• clumsiness
• wobbly knees
• slow speech
• muscle soreness
• bruises
  

Sunday, August 17th

Turn your head sideways...

OMG

It was a beautiful day to move a kiln. Months of planing and years of savings came together today...and by 2:00 the kiln was in place with the cart on it's track. The crane guys got it right on the first try. Well done!

Sunday, August 17th

This whole summer has been about this kiln project.
I've had a small cheering crowd to keep me on track.
The move date has been set, fork lifts and cranes in place...
It's a go for Sunday, August 17th. Noon.

I'll keep you posted.

Scrap

Tim is particularly proud of how little waste he has left after building the kiln shed. The rake walls are up and a few rafters are in place. We are ready and waiting for the weather to cooperate - for us to move the kiln on a weekend. The ground near the kiln area in NH is too soaked for the fork lift to maneuver around. We are shooting for August 16th ?!

Raising the Rafters

Pack n' Play

We spent a few hours preparing the kiln for shipping yesterday by building cardboard and plywood supports for the inside of the kiln. They had luckily saved the Styrofoam arch support. We also spoke with Mike about the logistics of the move and set a date for the weekend of August 9th or 10th (depending on the weather). My excitement about the kiln is starting to win out over any fears I may have...and Tim plans to spike my cheerios with something the day of the move so that I'm nice and mellow.

The whole time we were packing the kiln, Leo the dog (on top) had his way with this little pug the entire day. It was quite entertaining.

With a little help from our friends...

Our friend Nathan came over with his fancy roofing square and helped Tim cut the rafters. Thanks Nathan! This week we will start preparing for the BIG MOVE by building supports for the inside of the kiln. Hopefully we'll get the rake walls up and set a date (and a rain date) for the move.

4 Walls

Half way

Tim is making good progress on the shed. Weather looks great this week to finish the walls and start the rafters.

I've spoken with a rigger to coordinate the crane that will lift the kiln over the walls and place it down on the pad. We will have the rafters ready to put up asap after the kiln is delivered.

Lego Factory

Good thing Tim's favorite toy as a kid was Legos...
We got our huge Home Depot delivery this week and he's already got the back wall up!

A girl, a gas kiln...a love story

So this is my beautiful "new" gas kiln. A Bailey Deluxe Shuttle kiln 38/24. It is still up in Lyme NH safe in a shed until we are ready to move it. We'll have our shed materials delivered this week and begin building walls and rafters so that construction can go quickly once the kiln is delivered. Getting it here is a whole other story that I haven't quite figured out the details on yet - but we have a month or so to work it out.

Stay tuned...

More digging...

A little more excavation today to work on some drainage issues around the new kiln pad and also to dig the ditch for the electrical conduit which will run from the garage to the new shed.

The skies opened up immediately after the excavator left and filled our new ditch with a foot of water. That's okay - we need to figure out the electrical code anyway.

Concrete

There's no turning back now. The kiln pad is poured.
Matt Did a great job finishing the surface and will be back this weekend to remove the forms. It's been an exciting morning for me and I'm glad we postponed it a day considering the hail storm that came through western MA yesterday.

work work work...

Tim is digging a ditch for the Alaskan slab to be poured on Monday...while I continue to make pots upstairs in the studio and dream of new glazes to try in reduction this coming Fall!

"Build Like A Pro"

Tim is quite the handyman but he has never built anything of this scale - he has made lots of renovations to our home. So he's reading and planning how to approach the kiln shed so that when the kiln is delivered we can raise a roof over it asap.

Excavation complete

Ed and Jay finished the excavation on Monday and the pad is level and ready for concrete. We had planned on a flat slab but are now considering an Alaskan slab because of the amount of water that comes off the mountain behind us.

It begins...

So it begins...excavation for my new kiln pad and shed. I've saved my money for the past three years to see this day come. THANK YOU to everyone who ever purchases a piece of pottery at a craft show, Farmers' Market, or open house. Thank you to all my customers, friends and family who have showed up to support me along the way. And special thanks to Tim for believing in me and for wanting more than anyone to see my dreams come true. I'm not sure if Ed Young's Excavating can understand just how happy I am to see him break ground on this project.

Permission

Received my first building permit to proceed with my kiln shed project. I now have permission to build a 14' x 20' kiln shed to contain two kilns. My current electric kiln and a large Bailey shuttle kiln which will be fired with propane. This kiln is currently in Lyme NH and this blog will document its journey to my new kiln shed this summer.