Leaves are changing. Leaves are falling.
My favorite month is all too quickly coming to an end.

Door bricked. Peeps pulled. Kiln cooling. Unloading tonight.

After a long day of soda-firing yesterday, it felt great to be out on my bike for a crisp & chilly sunrise ride this morning. More layers, wool socks & gloves and you’re ready to go!

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It was a rather “late” night of loading the soda kiln last night. Started late, finished even later. But, I got a lot of work squeezed in. So it’s a sequence of posts & shelves to build up from the bottom filling with pots & pieces along the way. The back stack is just one shelf wide, whereas the front stack is two shelves. Eventually, you run out of room (and shelves) in the kiln. Brick up the door, candle for a bit, then turn it off and go home for a very quick “nap” before coming back to fire it off all day long!

Back stack…

Front stack…

I have a great rolling cart in my studio that my Dad built for me years ago. Turns out that when I fill the cart with glazed work, it pretty much equals a full soda kiln. So when I’m done glazing, I need to take it downstairs on the rickety freight elevator to the kiln room. I like to add bands of masking tape to the outer edges to keep the pots safe on the shelves during transit… kinda like a masking tape “seat belt”!!!

An empty soda kiln with a beautiful layer of soda build-up
making a stunning “patina” on the brick interior.
Soon to be filled with pots. Layered with shelves. Ready to soda-fire tomorrow.

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So, I’m trying to get my act together quickly…
as I still have a LOT of glazing to do…
and I need to load the soda kiln tonight for tomorrow’s firing!

Still inlaying glaze into the stamped textures. Once it dries, I’ll wipe it out so the dark temoku glaze only stays in the stamped recesses. A light glaze over, some wadding, and they’ll all be ready to go. If only it were really that easy?!

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There’s something almost therapeutic about waxing the bottoms of pots. I like to use a green tinted wax so I can easily see where I’ve already waxed.

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Last minute masks racing towards this weekend’s soda firing. Textures & colored flashing slips should look a lot better after soda-firing. Come see the finished pieces at my Holiday Home Show… always the weekend before Thanksgiving.

A little side-by-side duo action…

Sweet treats staring back at me as I enjoy a little post-glazing treat with my friend Pam. I had to introduce her to the “concrete” shakes made with pumpkin custard and a piece of real pumpkin pie mixed in at Lickety Split on Western.