While my soda kiln was cooling today, I took a chance to make some terra cotta planters & trays. I figure I’ve got a few hours today to make things, and then a couple days to dry & fire them before they’re ready for the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival this next weekend. Gotta love a good once-fired terra cotta project!!!!

And some small terra cotta trays for my new salt & pepper shakers. I just hope they fit?! I measured, but these look a little smaller than I expected? And now they’re going to shrink when they’re fired?… uh oh…

So you’ve seen Terry Hogan’s incredible pierced porcelain pieces here on my blog before. Now she’s working a little larger while she’s getting ready for an upcoming gallery show. Last night, this incredible piece came out of the kiln. Hard to even fathom the number of dots that went into this one made out of stoneware with ochre!!! It’s stunning!!! And now she might just be the “Ochre Poker”?!!!

Today I fired my soda kiln. It was a long day at the studio.
A long day of firing. A long day of firing the kiln.
A long & productive day of cleaning & organizing my studio.

The day starts early in the morning with blue flames going in…

And ends with a lot of orange flames shooting out… exaggerated by the addition of the soda mixture, and flaring out of the reduction environment seeking the oxygen!

It’s always exciting to fire a kiln and know that soon you’ll be seeing the pieces you’ve created finally done. You’ve worked on things for so long. Throwing. Stamping. Trimming. Firing. Glazing. And finally firing again. One step closer to the finished product.

An empty kiln holds such potential. Ready to be stacked layer by layer, shelf by shelf.
Of course you need to take a second or two to admire the kiln. To appreciate the colors and crustiness of the bricks. Over the course of many firings, the soda build-up changes colors and “eats-away” at some of the bricks. So it’s actually bad for the kiln, but kind cool to look at. Except for the arch of the kiln.. which has definitely seen better days. Remember the definition of an arch… well it generally refers to a curve somewhere. Sadly, the arch of our soda kiln doesn’t look too curved any more?! Uh oh… and yes, the next picture is the top “curve” of the arch… and I use that term loosely…

So I start with loading the back stack which is just one shelf deep.

Once the back stack is done, you can start the front stack which is two shelves deep. At this point it’s always a delicate balance of packing as many pieces into the kiln as possible… versus keeping enough air space around the pieces so that there’s plenty of air movement during the firing to distribute the soda. I have a tendency to pack my soda kiln tighter than most. I want to get in as much as I can!

Once the kiln is all stacked & packed, it’s time to close up the front door… brick by brick.

Once the kiln is closed, I turn on the burners for about 15 minutes to get some heat in there to dry out everything overnight. So I came home for a very quick sleep so I can get back to it early tomorrow morning to get the kiln started. The earlier I start, the earlier I can finish firing!!!

With such great cloud cover this morning, it felt like we were destined to have a great sunrise. It was either going to go one of two ways. A beautiful splash of color across the clouds… or no sun at all if it’s hidden by the clouds. Turns out we got a splash!!!

Then suddenly, in a matter of minutes, the orange sky transformed to golden hues with dramatic dark clouds ever encroaching.

And then the clouds won out, and then beautiful sky show dissipated back into gray.

So I’ve been glazing a lot. Getting ready for my upcoming soda kiln. Glazing. Cleaning. Wadding. Getting them all ready for their trip downstairs to the soda kiln. At this point, I have one side done of my rolling cart. It’s a LOT of the smaller pieces. The ones that seem to take so much more time. But the good side is, that once my rolling cart is full of glazed work, I know that it pretty much equals a full soda kiln load. So I have one side done… more glazing & wadding tomorrow!!!

And yes, I’ve once again added on my masking tape “safety belts.” As I need to roll my cart down the hallway, take it down the rickety freight elevator, and then roll i tall the way onto the kiln room, I have found that some pots like to “jump off” the cart if you’re not careful. So a few “safety belts” help keep everyone safely in place!

After a late night last night, and a busy day this morning, I needed to take a short break from the studio. So I went over to the lakefront for a quick bike ride… and a little more lakefront leisure. Because I “deserve” it, right?!

Sadly, the boat is not mine. Nor is it a friend of mine. I just loved how serene it all look. And how the sky and water just kind of blend into one another.

Back to reality… with the kick-off of my summer art fair season just over a week away, I’ve really got to finish labeling & stamping my postcards so they get in the mail today!!!

When I got back from my morning ride, the sun was just starting to hit the garden. So I took a short breather to enjoy the Spring flowers popping up… as well as my stamped totem pole!