Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Chunk

I finally fired yesterday. All went well so I am hoping for some good results. I cut back on the amount of sodium I introduced into the kiln. I went with 3 lbs of salt and a little over 3 lbs of soda ash and baking soda combined. I went with the Gail Nichols method of soda introduction where the soda ash and baking soda are combined with calcium carbonate (whiting) and water to produce a paste. This begins to set like plaster and you break it into chunks. This is then put into the kiln on angle iron, just like I do my salt. I have never liked spraying soda in the kiln. It's a pain in the neck to heat the water and use the pump up sprayer. I want things to be as simple as possible and not involve any extra apparatus, like a sprayer or compressor or whatever. I will unload late Wednesday or early Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed for some good pots.