One of the side “perks” of doing the whole Pottery Tour thing is watching for the signs
along the road just north of Taylors Falls for The Rogue Potters. A fun group of potters
making their own way… with a great, “well-seasoned” wood kiln and a really cool
brick chimney going right through the roof!!

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Unloaded my latest bisque kiln early this morning.
Looks like another fun “project” well under way! Details to come…

Well, the soda kiln has been re-built at Lillstreet. So excited to get it back in action with a first “christening” classroom firing this weekend. Always fun to see the “clean” bricks become soda-glazed after that first firing. Huge thanks to everyone who did the work to make this kiln re-build a swift reality!

One step closer to a new soda kiln… torn down. cleaned up and a new fresh floor! Ready for some bricks to be stacked, packed & arched. Coming together this weekend thanks to several able-bodied kiln builders!

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SO glad I squeezed my last firing in before they tore down the soda kiln at Lillstreet.
Just another kiln rebuild for our faithfully fired, fired and fired again for years.
New & improved soda kiln coming soon in just a couple weeks!

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Here’s a quick peek at a few of the mugs that came out of this week’s soda kiln. Some beautiful colors & soda effects… and a crazy cool flashing mark on one of them!!! Not sure how it happened… nor if I like it yet. I must have had something sitting too close to it in the kiln.

What do you think about the crazy flashing mark?

So I’m nearing the end of my soda firing today! It was a nice & even firing the whole way through. Always a good feeling when you get to the end and turn it off. So quiet. For tomorrow is a “Fun Day” while the kiln cools!

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Many people have asked how I fire my holiday ornaments. I tell them “upside-down.” Well, here’s the real secret revealed… I prop them up on a tripod I make out of clay, bisque and dip in kiln wash. A little balancing trick so I can get soda-fired effects around all sides of the ornament. Hope it was worth the wait!!!

It takes awhile to load the soda kiln. Especially when you’re doing it by yourself. Lots of pots & lots of shelves. It’ pretty much like a large 3D game of Tetris. Packing as much in as you can… but keeping space for the air & soda to flow through.

Here’s the back stack of the soda kiln… a third of the space filled.
More pots. More shelves to come

And then the bottom “floor” layer of the front stack…

And then finally, a few hours later, the front stack is piled up and ready to brick up the door.

And the top cone pack to watch throughout the firing. Each pyrometric cone is a different density so they melt at different temperatures. When the last cone goes down you know you’re done wit the firing. Very hi-tech!!!!

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An empty kiln full of potential.