mission accomplished

i closed the gallery at 6 pm yesterday and headed over to dan's to help stoke the wood kiln.  when i arrived we began stoking the salt chamber.  everyone anticipated being done at around 11:30 -12:00.... no such luck!  the kiln stalled after we closed up the anagama... we weren't done with the salt chamber until 4 am!

needless to say i am moving slow today... jeff is still sleeping upstairs.  i am sure i will take a nap later...

two more firing pics...

glowing pots

and of course another kiln kitty picture

happy labor day!

we have had great weather this holiday weekend in new hampshire...i am thankful to have had both saturday and today off from my real estate work. i put in some good studio time as well as participating in a wood firing with paul haig of wiley hill mudworks in londonderry. final stoking is tonight!!!
the new hampshire potters guild is in the process of re-building our community wood kiln at al jaeger's magical place in deerfield, nh. i brought jeff some lunch while he worked there on saturday. fellow potter kurt was there with his lovely greyhound maive. maive and i went for a walk and did a little exploring of al's property.

al makes mystical house sculptures and they are scattered throughout the woods on either side of the long drive to his home...i thought it was funny how maive's nose was in this picture!

al's garden gate

loading the wood kiln on saturday...i am re-firing some of the pots that came out of my first gas firing...they are getting a second chance at being beautiful...

Woodfire Weekend!

...at last i will have the opportunity to wood fire pots! i can't believe that nearly a year has past since i last fired with wood. i have lots of pots in this kiln since i spent a good portion of the summer throwing white stoneware with woodfiring in mind.

john and i will be stoking the kiln from 7pm to 3am...we love the night shift but wouldnt you know that this is the weekend that daylight savings time ends.....the clocks get turned back an hour during our shift!! for most folks it means an extra hour of sleep...for us it means and extra hour of stoking...but it is a labor of love. there is nothing like spending the night outside with the kiln...feeding it wood and watching it come alive......

work in progress

been working in white stoneware this week....in the fall john and i will participate in a woodfiring - wood ash just LOVES white clay and porcelain
these are pots in the greenware stage.....just waiting to get bisque fired
(i hope the vase with the tall twisted handle survives!)

Wood Firing

NH potters guild is firing the community wood kiln this weekend. My real estate schedule is too busy to really participate...but I was able to get two small pots in the kiln. The kiln is just down the road aways at Jeff Brown's studio...perhaps I will get a chance to get over there and stoke the fire a couple of times...can't wait to get the opportunity to participate completely in another group firing.........nothin' beats staying up all night stoking a wood kiln!