Ozone Louise Ceramics

MY EQUIPMENT

I've got a tiny little studio in the outbuilding of the house I live in now. The previous owner of the property used the building to prepare fish for his fish and chips van, so it has tiled walls and running water. Not bad, not bad at all....

I bought a second-hand electric kiln in the autumn 1999, which I painted green myself. Dave replaced the elements, so now it can bisque along with the best of them.

I also got a second-hand wheel. Not much power to it, but it makes small things. I stained the wood bits myself. Impressed?

My second kiln is another electric, and through much sweet talking, coercion, threats of violence, and blowing up one of the elements, it has been persuaded to hit cone 10.

My third kiln is an aged Ray Scott gas kiln. No photos yet, as I haven't put it together.

I suppose technically I have yet another kiln, which is just for raku. It's made of a metal wire cage with ceramic fibre inside.

My new wheel is an amazing creation made by Jerry Finlayson in Shotley. I love it so much that when I use it, I feel as if I am cheating on my husband.

I just scored another used electric kiln which is in very good condition.

I've heard you can make a reasonable raku kiln with Durox blocks. I built one, and early attempts leave plenty of room for improvement. Nonetheless, this can count as kiln number six.

I have spent very little on any of this, with the exception of the brand new wheel. For those of you who wonder where to get such things on the cheap, let me tell you a few tricks.

There is a weekly newspaper called The Ad Trader. It's full of adverts from people selling things cluttering up their garages. Let me tell you, I have found some real winners there. The raku kiln was 10 quid. The green kiln was 100 quid. The kiln on legs was UKP 160. I also got a scientific scale for UKP 25 that would have been UKP 400 if I'd tried to get it new.

My husband goes to amateur radio rallies. They have a lot of radio stuff, but they also have a lot of people flogging off hand tools, gloves, and all sorts of other things you might not expect to find there. It was at one of these I got my dental tools for making masks. Similar tools from potters' supply stores cost UKP 7-11. Mine were 90p or less.

Newsgroups. People post adverts in the local newsgroups. Please don't encourage this in groups that don't allow them, but scan the newsgroups for your geographical area and look at ones beginning "FS:"

Second hand shops and car boot sales. A lot of good kitchen tools are also good ceramics tools. You can pick a lot of them up for a song at those places.

Close-out stores and tool sales. Sometimes a tool intended for another craft will do wonders with clay. I have wood carving tools, plaster tools, files, rasps, chisels, all sorts of things that wouldn't be good enough for serious work in their intended materials.

Garbage. No, really. Sometimes people get rid of bits of wood suitable for carrying wares around on. Sometimes they throw away other tat that would actually be good for clay work. I am NOT saying you should rip open the bin liners along your block, but if you happen to be passing a dumpster and notice something good... it's probably polite to ask though.

Ozone Louise Ceramics

Equipment