Raising the Roof
The kiln shed is built, and I am so happy to be able to get the kiln out of my van. You may recall that I am turning an old broken electric kiln into a gas/wood fired kiln. Well, I had to pick up the kiln but I had no place to store it so it's been sitting in my Safari van for a few weeks. I had to use the van one day and wouldn't you know, that's the day it broke down. I didn't ask the mechanics at the auto shop what they thought about it. I just paid, thanked, and drove the van and the kiln home.
I wrote an article about digging the holes and setting the post a few weeks ago, you can find that article here. They needed to set up for a few hours but I gave them much longer due to life stuff happening and rainy weather. Now the roof is on and I am happy.
Potters tend to also be pretty good at building things with and without clay. Many of us are decent mechanics, carpenters, welders, etc. I'm no exception, I do enjoy building things, I always have and was my father's "helper" with many projects when I was growing up.
Functional potters are often engineers too. We need to figure out how to build something that works as intended and look good doing it. You wouldn't want to own a functional pot that you couldn't use, right.
Because of this tendency towards engineering, it's easy for me to over think a project. I did that with this shed. I spend many hours designing and redesigning the roof while laying in bed during the wee hours of the morning. It was not healthy. Thankfully, I have good friends that were willing to give up a weekend to help me construct this thing. I am not sure how many times one of us said "we are over engineering this again, aren't we?" It's good to have people who will talk you down from that ledge. They also did a lot of heavy lifting and although many hands make for light work, my body is feeling the weight of those presure treated boards today. I'm sure I'm not alone but I do know that I slept like a rock last night.
I am very grateful that I have friends that are willing to do things like help pour concrete and set the post, and build a roof and such. I couldn't have done it without you all.
If anyone wants detail pictures and stuff I'd be happy to post that later.
Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery by Lori Buff
I wrote an article about digging the holes and setting the post a few weeks ago, you can find that article here. They needed to set up for a few hours but I gave them much longer due to life stuff happening and rainy weather. Now the roof is on and I am happy.
Potters tend to also be pretty good at building things with and without clay. Many of us are decent mechanics, carpenters, welders, etc. I'm no exception, I do enjoy building things, I always have and was my father's "helper" with many projects when I was growing up.
Functional potters are often engineers too. We need to figure out how to build something that works as intended and look good doing it. You wouldn't want to own a functional pot that you couldn't use, right.
Because of this tendency towards engineering, it's easy for me to over think a project. I did that with this shed. I spend many hours designing and redesigning the roof while laying in bed during the wee hours of the morning. It was not healthy. Thankfully, I have good friends that were willing to give up a weekend to help me construct this thing. I am not sure how many times one of us said "we are over engineering this again, aren't we?" It's good to have people who will talk you down from that ledge. They also did a lot of heavy lifting and although many hands make for light work, my body is feeling the weight of those presure treated boards today. I'm sure I'm not alone but I do know that I slept like a rock last night.
I am very grateful that I have friends that are willing to do things like help pour concrete and set the post, and build a roof and such. I couldn't have done it without you all.
If anyone wants detail pictures and stuff I'd be happy to post that later.
Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery by Lori Buff
Its a great looking shed. May want some diagonal bracing, says a non-engineering potter...
ReplyDeleteYou may be right, I’ll check on that. Thanks Barbara.
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