Today's firing

Here are two photos showing the loading of the kiln. That happened yesterday. Today I fired and all went well. The new burners really made a difference. The kiln fired faster and with less gas pressure than it had been. It's funny how things slowly changed and I just accepted them and went on instead of trying seek out why they were different. Of course I am saying this before I have even seen the results of this firing. I am hoping that my funny reduction/oxidation problem is solved. I will unload on Saturday and have some pics up then. I am testing some new glazes for the insides of my pots in this load too. I am hopeful I will get a good one or two.

Tomorrow will be rainy all day. I will probably work on my display some. I am thinking of staining it black. I don't know if I am asking for trouble or not doing this less than a week before I have to set up. ?? I will probably chicken out.


On another note, I talked to my pal Tom Gray today. He is doing well. Yesterday I was happy to see the mailman coming down the drive. This always means a package is on the way. This one was from Tom and contained two awesome cups and some olive tapanade. The cups are great, one is a shino with some nice crawling on the inside. The other is Tom's new yellow glaze combined with his blue ash. It has some nice reddish color on the inside and over the trailed slip. I'll try and get some images of these up tomorrow.

I was thinking today after my firing was over that it was in October of 1994 that I fired my salt kiln for the first time. Tom came down from Seagrove to help me fire. I'd never even lit a gas burner before. He walked me through the firing and I unloaded a couple days later to my first salt glazed pots. It was a good firing and it's fun to think about what all I have done since then, all the pots I've made and how Tom and I have become close friends. He still helps me out a lot and I am able to help or inspire him every now and then too.

Well that's it for now.