It's Hard to Take a Good Photo of a Flame

...so you'll just have to take my word that I've got an impressively dark-red flame squeezing out of every crevice. Body reduction by 11 AM is good news, and that was holding the kiln back so I could get some errands done. (Doug watches the kiln for me when I am running to the bank or the grocery store, but I wouldn't ask him to manage any change in the firing.) I threw a few sticks in there for good measure, to try to address my shino imbalance. Probably a wasted effort, since I'm pretty sure I loaded all the shino into the better-reducing half of the kiln; and since the issue is probably not insufficient reduction, but instead late reduction. The bland-shino side is also the hotter side, and I am reluctant to put any part of the kiln into reduction prior to 012, which means that 012 is down on the hotter side before body reduction commences. I am an adventurous soul but an experiment that puts half the entire load at risk is daunting to say the least. So, ya know, I'll probably try it next time.

Anyway! I'm sold on candling. I have not been a fan in past, as I suspect it uses more propane, but I just can't take any more of that 2 am bullshit. The smoke is clearing now, and it's about time to enter the lighter climbing reduction.