On November 30th Sarah and I had a meeting with Andy Sheppard, Head of the building team. He had predicted the reservations expressed by the metal worker over the height of the chimney and suggested that the footings for the kiln should be a minimum of 1 cubic metre of concrete. This is something we will have to clear with Green Estates as a matter of safety and insurance.
Andy was extremely helpful in his experienced assessment of every stage of the kiln building. He is confident that we will be able to save money by using normal bricks for some of the arches instead of tapered bricks, also by replacing some of the brick section of chimney with a longer metal section.
We did a breakdown of the kiln building; what we could reasonably hope to achieve in a day. Andy indicated that if we could wait until the Spring it may be possible to co ordinate an intensive week-long building programme instead of single days here and there. Although this would put back the realisation of our project once more, it does mean that we could possibly run the event as an educational course on similar lines to the one at Keshcemet.
This was a productive meeting and we now have several questions, which we need answered at next weeks programming meeting.
During October, we had freed up time for kiln building but as the decision to house the kiln outside the stable block had been taken we had to wait for the builders to complete their restoration of the roof. This proved to be an interesting project for those builders who were taking NVQ qualifications. Part of their brief was that they work on unusual structures (in which case the kiln is an ideal project); however, because of the curve in the roof the tiling had became a very intricate pattern and enough to keep them busy.
While we waited we did some research into the sourcing and cost of materials. We found that the cost of the bricks alone would eat up the funds available and came up against another problem when approaching a metalworker that was to make the ironwork frame. He queried the height of the chimney and refused to give any estimates until a structural engineer approved our plans. Apparently building regulations here are much stricter than those in Hungary.
November flew past with fairs and selling events. I took part in a wood firing at Sue Mulroy’s kiln in Derbyshire and Sarah joined the Sherwood wood firers group at Thoresby, Notts to fire her work. We were both pleased with the demand for our work at the Yorkshire Artspace Open Studios and made some good sales.
