Right on schedule… out of the bisque, still black & white… but then glazed and right back into another kiln. When they come back out they will be assorted shades of greens, blues and browns!!! Still on track to have them all ready for this weekend’s HOLIDAY HOME SHOW!!!

Also in my soda kiln, was this sweet “family” of vases that one of my students made quite awhile back… and never quite knew how she should glaze them. So we finally threw them in my soda kiln… and I think she’s going to LOVE THEM!!! Well done Katie… I’m glad you waited!!!

So remember how I made a deal with my students and only Christine took me up on it… and she got to soda-fire her ornaments in MY soda kiln?! Well here’s her very first batch of wheelthrown ornaments EVER!!! She did a good amount of underglaze ombre gradations… too bad several of the colors burnt out and disappeared. Still beautiful. Still festive. Still SO CUTE!!!

She has a lot of fun… and a LOT of questions about soda-firing. So much fun to share the excitement of soda-firing with someone who loves to learn everything!!! I think she got some great results… and hopefully will continue on with her soda-firing enthusiasm!

And for those of you who keep wondering or asking about how I soda-fire my ornaments… well, here you go! I make these little clay tripods, bisque fire them, dip the tips in kiln wash and then place each ornament upside down on the tripod. Sure, one or two of them might “jump off” during the firing… but it’s a small price to pay for a lot of beautiful ornaments that have nice soda flashing all around each ornament.

And then the next question?… YES, I throw the tripods away after each firing.
Maybe I could re-use them?… but my gut tells me no.
I know that pieces shrink during the final soda-firing. And I’m afraid that if I use an “already-shrunk” tripod with a “still-to-be-shrunk” ornament, the difference in shrinkage during firing might not work well… and there might be some “shifting” during the firing and ornaments might fall off. So I hedge my bets… and make new tripods for every ornament firing!

Not only did I get a lot of bowls, mugs, vases & more out of my soda kiln…
I also go a box FULL of wheelthrown ornaments!!!

Some of them need a smidge of cleaning up…
and then all of them will get a metal ring to hang from!
Lots of ornaments at the HOLIDAY HOME SHOW this weekend!!!

Sure, some of the bowls that came out last night were pretty darn sweet… if I do say so myself… the stamping, the glaze, the spiral. But sometimes it’s the back side of the bowl that is really STUNNING!!! Beautiful flashing marks on many of the bowls where you can practically see the flames blowing past & kissing the pots!

Well, here it is… my fired soda kiln last night waiting to be unloaded.
So much fun taking it apart shelf by shelf, brick-by-brick… finding tons of treasures
along the way! To see everything that was inside, you’ll need to come
to my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW this weekend!!!

Fresh from the soda kiln… and still a bit warm for a “slightly late” Mugshot Monday!!!

First sneak peek into the kiln… cooling… unloading tonight!!!
Let the treasure hunt begin!!!

Two views of each of the final sgraffito porcelain platters for the day. I told myself that whatever I could finish “today” could still get through the process and make it to my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW next weekend. They may still be warm, but… and now I’m done! For now.

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four