The Results Are In!

Sunday morning the door came down on the kiln. Overall, we are happy with the results. The few issues that we had, had nothing to do with kiln design itself, but with a burner that was not firing clean, and a glaze that has been acting up.

Front stack, there was a stack of plate setters on the top that we removed before I snapped the photo.

We fired a lot of student pots in this round and they all came out great. 

The back stack was pigs and the big pots. We are really happy with the two ginkgo vases. The large vase on the front right, will get re-fired. Jeff thinks it would look best put in a salt firing.

I love the patterns of brick in the catenary arch... it almost intrigues me as much as the pottery inside.

A better shot of the two ginkgo leaf vases. They will both be available for sale during the Celebration of Spring Studio Tour, here in Seagrove, NC. April 16 -17, 2016.

Here We Go!

Jeff and I spent the last couple of days glazing and loading the kiln. The big pots are sprayed with ash glaze and lined with tenmoku. The big pots and three vessel sinks take up a lot of the space in this kiln, but there is still a good variety of pots in there.

It was a pleasant couple of days for working outside, and we are really enjoying the view that surrounds our kiln shed. 

The door was bricked by 5:30 pm. We had an offering of sake to the kiln gods, before calling it a day. The cup on the right was made with clay, dug in our yard. A fitting vessel to toast the first firing.

Jeff lit the burners this morning.

and the door comes down...

Everything is looking good so far. I can never get a photo with door down and all the pots in the exact place as the before firing photo. We are too impatient. We always take some pots out before we get the whole door down. I am really happy with the temnoku and shino mugs with the stamped swirls. This was a design that I used to make all the time and stopped doing them about 2 years ago. Last night we didn't unload, the pots on top were still pretty hot. Tonight we will put our photo set up back together, on the dining table, and get some good photos. That means lots of new pots in the Etsy shop!

Fire Away!

Thankfully, once I had the 50 piggy banks assembled, I had some time to make some mugs. It was a nice break from those cute little faces in the background.

We finished loading the kiln at 1:00 pm today and Jeff is now bricking up the door. That means that if all goes well, we will be done firing by 1:30 am. This is when I am thankful that Jeff is a night owl!!!
You can see from the photo above, that we are using my shelves in the back of the kiln and Jeff's advancers in the front. The advancers are larger and let us fit a few more pots into our little kiln. They won't fit in the back stack because of the bag wall.

This is a pretty tight load and we managed to get all the orders in plus a good number of the pigs. I think we have enough work made that we will be firing again soon after we unload.
While the kiln fires and cools I have decided it's time to clean and organize the studio. I must say I have been inspired by all the new year studio cleaning that I have seen on facebook and blogs!

No before pictures will be posted.
It's way too scary.

the first pots of 2012

It was a good firing overall, even though we went to ^11. Some of the ash glaze mugs dripped onto shelves, but that can happen at ^10. One of the sinks was perfect... the other needs to be refired :-(.
Jeff made a third that we will fire at the same time... always good to have back ups! I listed a couple of the flower mugs on Etsy and we have a bunch going to the Co-op of Seagrove Potters.
I ordered propane yesterday and we should have enough pots to fire the gas kiln again next week... and a raku firing very soon!

meesh learns to fire the lil' gas kiln (aka baby kiln)

we finished loading the kiln on thursday afternoon... since it was much later than planned we decided to hold off on firing until today.  i bricked up the door last night and lit the burners shortly after 9:00 am this morning.  i have never fired this kiln, just helped with loading and then jeff took over the firing.  this go around jeff will walk me through it and i will make all the adjustments to the burners, peep holes and dampers.  i found my log book from the NH kiln and i am going to take good notes on this firing.  i need to learn how to fire this on my own!

it's going to be a nice day here in Seagrove with temps nearing 80 degrees.  if i step outside of the kiln shed there is a nice view of my neighbors farm.  as we work we can hear the cows mooing and occasionally the goats making noise, seemingly trying to get our attention.

first firing of our new kiln

 overall we are happy with the firing... we did have a cold spot that should be corrected with a change in the bag wall.  we also won't load the back as tightly in the next firing.

 one of  my plates with slip & japanese maple leaves

 jeff's large altered bowl... this was a re-fire from the last salt firing.  it was very dry when it came out of the salt kiln and the 2nd firing really juiced it up!

 handled oval baker

another of my oval bakers (left) and a re-fired bowl from the salt kiln

i am heading back out to the studio and finish glazing so we can load this kiln up and fire it again...  only three days to the Celebration of Seagrove of Potters!

first semi-solo firing part II

this firing was definitely a learning experience...although we followed john's firing log there were a few things that were missing. the biggest missing piece was how long he stayed in reduction. when the kiln door was unbricked it was obvious we didnt reduce enough. the shino's were pale and lifeless. those pots will get a second chance in the next gas firing or will be saved for a wood fire opportunity. the pictures below are of some pots done in temmoku, blue ash and temple white...those glazes came out fine for the most part. two of the ovals are temmoku, temple orange, robins egg and one is tem, orange and celadon.

i am not discouraged by this firing...i KNOW the next one will be FABULOUS.

first semi-solo firing part I

YAHOO!!!! on tuesday i FINALLY fired the kiln...jeff and i got a late start at around 3:00 in the afternoon...in the early evening he had things he needed to do so i was left to fend for myself...i had just one panic attack when i turned up the burners and the temp started to climb a little too quickly, i couldn't adjust it to where i wanted it to be. i called jeff begging him to hurry back!!! he calmed me down and i was able to make the proper adjustments...phew.

lighting the burners

and away we go!!!

after we got through body reduction jeff went back to the house and made this delicious tofu stir fry. he delivered it to the studio in my all time favorite john zentner casserole along with a nice bottle of sake. midnite firing food always tastes soooooo good!

jeff checking the temperature with the pyrometer

my new firing log book with jz's log book...sigh.

we followed john's log book from past firings...he was a note taker so thankfully i have something to fall back on. we did have a puzzle to solve though...he referenced adjusting the pressure on the regulator but we couldn't find a regulator ANYWHERE! and it's not like i could call him to ask so i looked up at the sky and said "john, drop a stone or something to point us in the direction of the regulator!" seemed he didn't hear me so we went back inside the studio...low and behold jeff opened john's log book, turned a page and there was a note.."removed regulator" mystery solved...i truly believe john turned that page for us :-)

...at 2:30am cone 10 went down at both the top and the bottom of the kiln. shut her down and we toasted with sake, pouring the rest of my cup over the top of the kiln for good luck. it was a very exciting night.

...next post will be the results!