So today I’m firing the soda kiln… all day!

Yep, seriously, it’s an all day process. You turn it on early in the morning and wait.
Wait for it to warm up. Wait to put it into reduction. Wait for it to get REALLY hot.
Wait to put in the soda mixture at the end of the process… oh, but wait some more
for it to reach the final temperature and for cone 10 to go down!!!

So what to do while waiting & checking on the kiln every 30 minutes?!
Well, it’s the perfect chance to clean my studio. And let me just say, it REALLY needed it.
Somehow summer got away from me… as did all studio cleaning! There were piles
of summer camp projects & supplies everywhere. There were buckets of slip & glazes
that I received from Emily’s studio when she moved to Minneapolis. As well as more
studio supplies from Lorin’s studio when she moved to California. Piles everywhere.
And since I had to make work for the art fair, I’ve just been working “around” the piles
for far too long. So today’s cleaning was much needed… and what better chance
than when you’re “trapped” inside at the studio?!

So I dusted… I mopped… I scrubbed… I reconstituted slips & glazes… I threw away a LOT
of garbage… I cleaned out old tool boxes (and bequeathed the box to my friend Rochelle)…
I mopped again… I scrubbed under my tables… I packed away my summer camp stuff
for another year… I scrubbed some more… I tried to reclaim my studio space!!!…
and then I labeled everything!

So the firing went well. Pretty smooth all day long.
And the cleaning project went well too. I can now see the floor again. And it’s clean!