The empty soda kiln full of my firing hopes & dreams! HA!!! It was late Friday night when I finally got around to loading. A lengthy process to fit in as many pots as you can, all the while trying to think about air flow & soda coverage during the firing. It’s a beautiful kiln that has done many, many firings… as you can tell by the beautiful soda “patina” build-up on the bricks!

Backing it up a couple days… to Friday when I finally finished my glazing & wadding, and took my pots down to the kiln room to start loading the soda kiln. Since my studio is on the second floor of Lillstreet, and the soda kiln is on the first floor… my pots need to travel downstairs in the rickety freight elevator. So I’ve learned to use some masking tape as “seat belts” to keep everything place during the journey.

I found a pair of glasses hanging in a tree this morning?! And I was intrigued by the new perspective of the day.

After being “trapped” inside all day yesterday firing the soda kiln… it was great to get out this morning for a little fresh air! A beautiful sunrise before the predicted clouds & rain move in for the day.

Sadly, not quite everything fit into the kiln last night as I loaded into the wee-hours of the morning. As usual, I went through the mental waves of “I don’t have enough… I have way too much… I’m a gonna need to glaze more… this is never gonna fit… what am I doing… I think I need chocolate… still a lot of pots… oh, I think it’s going to be close… can I squeeze just a few more in?”

Well, the answer was NO. So it looks like I have a few leftovers… a nice start on building work for my next soda kiln, right???

And yes, we have ignition already… and the soda kiln is slowly warming up.
It’s gonna be along day… luckily, I have a lot of studio projects & cleaning to tackle
while I’m here all day!

Early morning “ripples” through the glass block windows near the kiln room… it’s FIRING DAY!!!

Wiping off the top surface… to reveal a now-filled-in stamped pattern. Remember, these are all going into the soda kiln… so I don’t really need to glaze the outside of the pots. I’ll do a liner glaze inside… but leave the exterior for the soda magic to do its tricks!!!

Working on the glaze inlay first… filling the stamped impressions with some tenmoku glaze. And then I will be wiping off the top surface to clean it off… leaving the glaze only in the patterns!

Still glazing… this time I’m on the pots that came out of yesterday’s bisque kiln. Cute little oval vases with a fun strappy handles to help separate the flowers. And if one handle is cute… maybe two handles are even cuter?!!! Larger version with two handles & textured panels on each side!