Burning gas

As I sit here and try to recollect all the things that have transpired over the last couple of days I realize how tired I am. Excited to see the results of our labors but exhausted none the less.

Tuesday in the studio was spent getting the soda kiln ready to fire, mostly wadding the ware and stacking the kiln. 

Most of this pottery has been sitting in boxes waiting for the cost of propane to go down. It is really great to see the work with fresh eyes.

I have had all these ideas of how I wanted to glaze and stack the kiln for months just floating around my head. It is great to get them out and make space for new ones.

Stacking the kiln is a bit of guess work on my part. I know that things in the front tend to get more soda than the things in the back but when it comes to flow and shelve height I am an amateur. Also keeping an even temperature in the kiln is another aspect to consider when stacking. Again, I am a complete amateur. 

I scour through books and the internet looking for information about how to do this better and to get the results I want but sometimes you just need to do it to understand it. 

Pyrometric cones measure heat work, I use 5 cone packs located throughout the kiln to give me a sense of what is going on inside the kiln. I still feel like a blind man.

I am trying a different approach to the top stack of this firing, light in the front and higher in the back. Not sure how it will effect the firing but I am sure I will learn something. 

Wednesday is firing day and the kiln takes about 13 hours to fire. This gives me the opportunity to spend a lot of time making things. I have been working on this particular shape for some workshops that I have scheduled for the summer.

Experimenting with different sizes, different handles, and different functions.

These will all end up in the soda kiln.

Waiting for the cones to come down......

Watching the fire after a long and exhausting day is really soothing. I always bring my guitar and try to enjoy the process. I will be unstacking the kiln Thursday evening around 4pm if you would like to visit the studio. Of course I will post pictures here as well.