Better Be Today

Today, a Sunday, is the last day above freezing predicted in Central Maine for quite some time, so I guess I better get as much of my kiln maintenance done today as possible, or be cursing myself out in the bitter cold. My to-do list today looks like this:

1. Prepare kiln for firing

• Clean out burner channels
• Grind shelves
• Rebuild bag walls

2. Mix Wadding
3. Make Cone packs
4. Postcards to Senators
5. Handles on mugs
6. Cat flea treatment

Sounds like fun, right? (If you said "NO," you are today's winner!) As you can see above, the wood curls method of soda application makes a much bigger mess than the spray-in method. The kiln fires better if I pull down the bag walls in between every glaze firing and clear out the channels. I am considering switching for this reason alone, but I hate to give up the pronounced directionality and rivers of soda that I get from the wood curls. So, I dunno. 

Beauty is where you find it. Just look at these bag wall bricks! Maybe I will save them for garden edging, and rebuild the bag wall with new brick. Which will necessitate a trip to the Dirty Lew and INFAB Refractories. Which may or may not have Superduty hardbrick. And aren't open Sunday. Ugh, maybe I'll just keep it simple. 

Anyway! I'm wasting daylight, so catch ya later.

UPDATE: The channels are cleared, the bag walls rebuilt, the shelves are ground, the wadding is mixed! Not a moment too soon, either - snowflakes have just started flying. Doug took care of the flea treatments, so that just leaves postcards and cone packs. And it's not even 2 o'clock!