Monday 1 February 2010

Dear Drooper !

Dear Drooper, Does anyone remember that great kids TV show in the 70's
" The Banana Splits"
it had a section called Dear Drooper.
Well my elements have started to droop, they have never done it before
and this kiln is 9 years old now.
The question I want to ask is
" does this mean my elements are about to give up on me " ?

chatting to a visitor to the showroom today
he said that they may have lost their tensile strength.
Interesting theory !
I saw this this morning while walking with caddy, the word Subtle came to mind.

My 10 Wassail Cups came out Ok along with a lots of other fine pots
These are glazed with the Horse Chestnut Ash Glaze I made last year.


10 comments:

Christine--RHP said...

I think you can just get some pins and push them back in their grooves-- I once had a kiln guy tell me to turn the kiln on for a few minutes to warm them up, then DISCONNECT the power (so you don't electrocute yourself) and then when they are warm and flexible, use a tool to push them back into their grooves. Worked fine for me.
If the elements are super thickly coated with crust, then they are probably needing to be replaced to be efficient anyway....

Hannah said...

Yes you can pin em back in Paul. You can heat em with a gas torch too till they're hot enough in that area to move very very gently. You can pin them back with some U shapes of old element wire to keep them there. I'm off playing kin doctor on saturday to a friend's kiln who has the same problem. It's a bit like varicos veins - ish.

Paul Jessop said...

Excellent news lady's thank you.
that's what I wanted to hear.
Top marks to you both.

Hannah said...

Why thank you kind sir. Good luck with it.

Hollis Engley said...

I like the ladies' advice, Paul. I gently nudged one of my wires back into its groove the other day, but have yet to be forced to deal with severe droop. Let us know how it works for you. Nice wassail cups, too.

ang design said...

they all said it! just be careful with your packing till you get around to it, i had several pieces ruined last year by rogue elements they leave a nasty mark on ya work!!! good news is new elements super efficient firing...

Ron said...

I vaguely remember the Banana Splits. Cups look great. Good luck w. the element repair.

Trish said...

Great wassail cups..like the colours..
good luck with the repairs..always something to do :)
cheers. Trish

Anonymous said...

love the horse chestnut glaze... subtle warmth.

Jerry said...

Wassail cups look fantastic. I absolutely LOVED the Banana Splits show when I was a kid. I had forgotten about Dear Droopy though. The one part that I remember was (if I am getting the name right) "Danger Island" where are the native has skeletons painted on their bodies and it creeped me out.

Good luck with your elements.

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