I love my Scutt kilns. Except when I don't...like when they turn off in the middle of the night, blow up my work, or cost me $330. to replace the electrical elements ( all my fault of course....)
But for the most part they are a dream to load and operate..(selfie with kiln at 26 degrees)
Made for years in Portland Oregon, they now sport user-friendly computers with touch-pads to make firing easy and efficient. However, raised on manually-operated kilns and trained to always invoke the kiln gods to assure good firings, I dutifully employ my New Mexican version and say my
prayers...
..
And as this is only the first of three firings for these poor little cups, it remains to be seen what Kodiak the kiln bear will demand as his rightful take...hopefully only one piece, but sometimes it is sadly more. He can be rather voracious at times, usually right before a show when I need the work myself the most. Why is that?
Anyway, I am feeling lucky today; I can load and go... the beauty of electric kilns, they basically fire themselves. No more staying up half the night firing enormous gas kilns as in good ole' grad school days. Those monsters took 12 hours of constant tweaking (accompanied by lots of drinking, eating, and smoking of course) after which I would then have to drive the 3000 vertical feet up Boulder Canyon home. Those were the days..but I'm glad they're over. I need my beauty rest now.
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