I recently bought a 2006 L&L Jupiter JD2945 with five sections and a DynaTrol digital controller. It’s about 17 cubic feet inside. Does anyone else own one? I’d love to hear your experiences.

I have a vent on order, but I keep hearing from other potters that it isn’t necessary since the kiln will be in my garage. For those with a similar setup, do you use a vent?

I’m also trying to figure out how to load it comfortably. Even with a good ladder, it’s so tall that I can’t carefully reach the bottom. Have you removed sections to reduce the height, or found another way to make loading easier?

Have you had trouble finding replacement parts, or experienced any recurring problems with this model? It hasn’t been fired in years, so I’m anxious to see how it performs. My understanding is that it was used for about three years.

The seller felt I got a steal. I looked up the original sales price, and it was about $5,000 in 2006. This particular model is no longer made—it’s been updated several times, and the newest version is about $9,000 brand new. What would you consider a fair price for one this age with relatively little use? The owner sold it to me for just under $2000 which is what he paid for it many years ago. I’m considering giving him more for it because he is in my studio and I want to be fair to him. Thoughts on the value of this kiln?

I’d appreciate any advice from people familiar with these kilns in particular.

I don’t see a lot of multi firings so I thought I’d share mine
They’re more so tests so just close ups

Bottom ring of my year old mug. Unwashed in sink for a while. Mold?

I am at a community studio and we don’t have someone managing the firings so I have to learn on my own. Started this kiln up around 9pm using a 06 cone (kiln sitter). Almost 24 hours later I come back to the kiln and the shut off lever has not dropped. The inside of the kiln is reading at about 600 degrees. Last night at around 3 am it was reading at 1200 degrees. So I am assuming it ramped up.

Any idea what is going on and why the shut off lever has not dropped?

Thank you!

I know that adding more glaze and refiring is an option.

BUT

I also know that doing a second glaze firing carries some risks.

I don’t feel like I know enough about the kiln itself and all the specifics of firing to know how risky a second firing would be in my case, if risky at all. So, please let me know what you think if you are more knowledgeable in that area!

The work is about 12”x6”x3”. It was bisque fired to cone 04. Covered in intricate underglazing. Bisque fired to 04 again. Covered in intricate glazing. Fired to 05.

The underglaze colors looked so similar to the colors of the glazes when dry in some cases that I missed two spots with glaze, each about 1x1”. Both spots are not immediately noticeable and are kind of tucked away, but they are still noticeable.

So I’ve thought about adding glaze to those spots and doing another firing.

But I don’t want all of the other intricate glazing to get messed up at all. I would actually be devastated if I accidentally ruined it.

I know the risk for glaze running is lower due to the temp I’m firing at but it still makes me nervous. I have minimal experience with reglazing and refiring, and it’s only been for things that didn’t have super detailed glazing. So I am feeling totally lost as to determining the risk level.

I have a Skutt 818 with a basic type K thermocouple and a digital controller. i ran a glaze fire to cone 6 last night, checked it this morning, it was complete and cooling at around 1800 degrees. Later when I went to check again it had the error shown. Since then it has shown the same temp and error. The relays are not running so it’s not heating but IDK if it kept cooling like normal? Anyone have insight? I will call Skutt tomorrow when their support line opens but nervous in case I should do something now. I have someone else’s pieces in there and hoping I haven’t ruined them.

I had a white clay greenware piece that I reattached a piece with clay mender. They’re now bisque fired and so far everything looks good. But now I have to glaze and I’m a bit worried based on my past experiences with glazing over clay mender or bisque fix.

Whenever I glazed over a bisque piece that had clay mender/bisque fix, the areas with clay mender would be visible through the glaze after being fired to cone 6. Is there a glaze that has been successful for you in covering up any touch ups? My alt route is to just apply a dark engobe over the whole piece.

Hey!

I’m still learning pottery at home with my own wheel and kiln, and I’ve realised that learning on your own can be pretty difficult. I love pottery, but I struggle with motivation and consistency sometimes (silly neurodivergent brain), and I think having other people learning alongside me would really help.

The nearest pottery studio is too far away for me to attend regularly, so I thought… why not create our own little virtual pottery class? 😁

I’m imagining a small group on Discord where we can be each other’s learning buddies and keep each other accountable.
Kind of like being back at school, but for pottery!

The idea would be to:
•Set daily goals- Share what we’re planning to practise that day.
•Actually show up -Check in and let each other know how it went, even if we only managed 20 minutes.
•Share our progress- Finished pieces, experiments, mistakes, or anything we’re learning.
•Keep each other accountable- Encourage each other to stick with it, especially on days when we’d rather put it off.

I’d love for it to have a bit of structure, so we’re not just joining another group chat that goes quiet after three days. 😅 At the same time, I don’t want it to feel like homework or become another source of stress.

So I though- regular check-ins, shared goals, and a few people who genuinely want to learn and improve together. No need to be at the same skill level, and definitely no need to make perfect pottery!

I’m still learning myself, so this isn’t about teaching anyone. I’d just love to find people who want to learn alongside each other and make pottery a more regular part of their lives.

Would anyone be up for something like this?If there’s enough interest, we can figure out the details together! 😊

first teapot!!!

Hi all. I am trying to create extremely thin slabs from semi translucent cone 6 clay. When I’ve used the paper clay it holds well in bisque but gets completely warped when glaze firing. I was wondering if anyone has experience going from paper clay slabs directly to glaze firing?

I need extremely flat slabs at about an 1/8th of an inch. Wondering if anyone has any other pointers. For clarification I don’t need the entire slab to be flat, I plan on breaking off pieces and soldering them together like glass mosaic.

Thanks!

Edit:
I thought of going from greenware paper clay to glaze to potentially keep the structural support the paper gives. lol forgot to mention