Saturday 24 April 2010

Collection of the kiln - in photos

As I begin to type this, it is nearly 7.30pm. Collecting my kiln has litterally taken all day! I am exhausted, and I did none of the heavy work! My poor brother Anthony started work at 6am and had to drive to London and back before driving me to Gloucester (pronounced Gloss-ter) later in the morning.

The journey was pretty non-eventful, just Anthony making jokes about Robert's tan mostly! In the last few weeks Robert has got a new job working outdoors, and has caught a lot of sun! And quite frankly we've never seen him with colour! He looks permanently angry! Or as Anthony says, like he's been Tango'd!

Anyway, this was the beautiful scenery of where we collected the kiln from.



Getting the kiln on board was pretty uneventful as well, although I have to admit that once I saw the thing in the flesh I went into a state of shock - it was even bigger than I expected!!

I've been far more worried about this purchase than excited, which doesn't seem right somehow. Shouldn't I be zipping around as if I'm on drugs or something? On the way home I asked my brothers - "have I made a huge mistake?" and Anthony said "No. It's better to get a kiln you can grow into than a kiln you're going to grow out of" and that's what I keep telling myself.

Getting it round the back of the house is when the fun started! It was obvious that it was not going to fit through our tiny front gate! So plan B was to reverse the truck into our drive... which was a tight squeeze to say the least! (especially where the front posts are)


Thankfully the truck fit on the driveway, and with the tail lift pulled down the back of the truck was pretty level with the garden...


Is it a chest freezer? Is it a hot tub? No, it's Linda's kiln!
Without a forked pallet lift, this thing wasn't going anywhere!! Just look at the size of it!!


Once they got it to the back gate, we realised we had a problem...


At this point I'd just like to point out that I'm not quite as stupid as this photo makes me look! Of course I measured the gate! Let's just say that the measurements I was given for the kiln were not 100% accurate! There was only one thing for it - the gate had to come off!


But... it still wouldn't fit through! Anthony decided to see if the box on the side could come off...


... but he found that it was full of electrical wires, and not just there for decoration! So then we got a bit desperate...


But it still wouldn't fit through!! In the end, Anthony decided to remove the whole gate post on one side, but the screws wouldn't undo!! He had to rip the post away from the wall with a crowbar!


Finally, the kiln fit through!! The box was an exact fit through the hole that they had cut, but I just missed the perfect shot by a second! And they wouldn't do a replay...


Next was the struggle of getting it through the doors...


This was very tricky, and I have to say, when I was most worried. My main concern was that either someone would get seriously injured (not sure if I mentioned that this weighs about a quarter of a ton?) or that the kiln would get seriously damaged. Then, just as it was inside, completely out of the blue, my nose started bleeding!! What??? What's that all about??

Finally, the gate was fixed, and looking as good as new...


... well, almost!!


... and the kiln was in it's new home...


Phew! Just take a look inside!


Polo wanted to have a look too... He was a little bit scared... "It's a long way down!" he said. It is! I can't reach the bottom!


I'm sure I could fit about 8 Polo's in there!! Scott said I could make a pack of Polo's! Hahaha! (Polo's are a mint flavoured sweet (candy?) here in the UK)



Of course, now I have lots of questions too, which I am hoping you lovely blogging people will help me with! Just a couple to start with... do I need to worry about that broken shelf at the bottom? Do I need to replace it? And what's this kiln wash stuff that the bloke was talking about? Do I need that? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as always, and I hope you have enjoyed watching our fun!!

Finished and uploaded much later than intended, due to having to eat, a visit from Anita, and a phone call from my Mum!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That kilns a beauty...congrats.
All that work getting it in will we well worth it.

Thanks for adding me to you blogroll I'll do the same for you.

Cheers!

Undaunted said...

Thank you Angie and Scott! I'm such a lucky girl aren't I? :D