Notes from the firing

I unloaded the soda kiln this morning. (live on youtube! in a slightly less disastrous event than the first time I tried that. If you watch at the link, skip ahead six minutes. ) Good firing, with maybe six or eight flawed pieces. 

I want to jot down a couple of notes, before I forget:

• The soda glaze is almost perfect, but it was a little light in the bottom front & a little heavy in the bottom back.
• I laid ^11 down up top, halfway on the bottom, as I usually do. This may be been responsible for some warping of two slightly-thin plates. Or maybe just because they were slightly thin. 
• I had some crawling inside two pots where glaze was applied over flashing slip. It was pretty minimal, but might be a good idea to wipe any flashing slip on the inside away. 

The rest of today is grinding, pricing, sorting, and packing; tomorrow I'll photograph the pieces to list on the website. 

By the Hum of the Burners

I loaded the glaze kiln last night, placing the last cone pack around 9 pm. The firing is humming along; the kiln was in reduction by 9 am. 

I always think I am going to get so much done during the firing! Today my list looks like this:

• Taxes! I got an extension to file my taxes, because April 15th landed right in the middle of the most intense part of planning the pottery tour. I had all summer to do em but, well, you know...
• Clean studio & set up for making. Yeah, this one is not going to happen.
• Harvest herb garden & start processing. Probably not this one, either.
• Clean turtle tank! My little guy, Red, is inside until spring now. He deserves clean water. I already did this one. 

Looking at that list, I guess I better get going - especially item #1, since today is the last day I will have a chance to do it! Here are a couple more shots from the kiln. Soda spray is maybe 2 hours out.