Fired!

We fired the kiln yesterday.  Weather was cloudy and calm, firing was smooth and steady.  Fingers crossed for good results.  Everything is riding on this one - art show next weekend, studio open house in 2 weeks and 3 more farmers' markets!  The shelves are pretty empty in the studio.  Burnt through another finger of the kevlar gloves so these are toast (so to speak).  The cast hearth brick cracked and threatened to drop off but with a little pot shard propping we made it to the end.  This is the last firing of the year and there will be big maintenance going on before the first firing in spring.  Pots will be unloaded on Sunday and I'll post photos later in the week.

In full kit - goggles, face shield and kevlar gloves and only cotton and wool clothes.

A Few More Pots

This firing was quite good with no bloating at all.  Seem to have the right rhythm figured out.  So here are a few more photos before I get on to the next firing.

Carbon Trap shino jug

Carbon Trap Shino garlic pot

Hamada Rust garlic pot

Orange Shino pouring bowl

Orange Shino faceted bowl

Soy servers

Carbon Trap Shino teapot

Carbon Trap Shino teapot

Some pots

So here are some pots from Thursday's firing.  This is a white paper backdrop that has gone all blue.  Reed, I need your de-blueing technique!  Though it does look like they're floating on clouds!

Orange shino garlic pot

Temmoku garlic pot

Soy sauce servers

Ash glazed oil bottle

Faceted Tea Dust bowl

Carbon trap shino pouring bowl

Ash glazed jug

Tea Dust Temmoku Jug

Carbon trap shino bowls

Firing

Fired yesterday, on my own.  Everything going brilliantly, racing along, until it stalled.  I was hoping to fire a little faster than last time to keep the temmokus from overheating and running and to keep the dreaded bloat away.  So in the end it took 16 hours not the 13 or so I was hoping for.  Now it's fingers crossed for happy results.  Unloading on Sunday.

Beautiful morning light on the kiln.

Loved the wild hair look of the soot behind the stokehole door.

Looking into the kiln from the passive dampers at the back.  The horn-like things are Brianna's moose with several handles in between.

Loaded and Ready to Go

Finished loading today.  Firing tomorrow.   

Pots waiting to be glazed.

Glazed pots waiting to be loaded.  Grandkids pots in front.

More glazed pots.  Brianna's moose is on top.

Head Down - Work, Work, Work

August has been an amazingly busy month with the Farmers' Market, visitors to the studio, making pots like mad to fill the rapidly emptying shelves, and an overwhelming amount of fabulous produce that all needs dealing with right now.  So we've been freezing fruit, making pesto, watering parched gardens and, of course, making, bisqueing, and glazing.  I have enough pots made for 1 1/2 firings and now we're just waiting for several days of rain before risking the wood firing.  Forecast is for sun for the next 6 days so I'll just keep glazing and wadding.  

Summer at the Farmers' Market

 The Farmers' Market is in full swing now that the rainy days of June are over.  July was a good month, mostly sunny, no high winds and August has been golden!  Beautiful sunny days with light breezes, happy vendors, happy customers.  The produce is abundant and peoples' bags are brimming - some with pots too.   Yesterday was busy - full of enthusiastic people saying positive things about the pots - and then buying them!  I'd probably make pots even if nobody ever bought them but the support and encouragement goes a long way to getting me out there into the studio on a daily basis.

I've developed a fairly thick hide after many markets and craft fairs and no longer feel crushed when people give me the "you've got to be kidding" look when they pick up the pots and check the price tag.  I try to educate people about the process of wood firing and the financial and physical costs involved.  There's a photo album on the table that explains what I do that most people find really interesting.  There was a great article published in the local paper a few weeks ago about what I do in the "Meet Your Maker" column and afterwards dozens of people stopped by my table at the market to say they'd never realized how much work was involved in making these pots.  What a boost.  Thanks to Lorne Eckersley, who's writing about all the people who make things in this valley.

Here's the new look for my stall - elegant, I think - with a new banner and linen-look cloth on the table.  Six more Saturdays for the outdoor market.