We have ignition… giddy-up!!!

My soda-firing has been going pretty smoothly today. Still a long day, but I got a LOT of projects done around my studio too! Getting my soda mixture ready… as it’s about time to start adding the soda into the kiln atmosphere. That’s when the real flaming drama really begins!!!

I’ve had some good “body reduction” going on earlier. It’s where the air-to-gas ratio is out of whack on purpose. Forcing the flames to “find” the air wherever it can. So it’s finding the air in the porous bisque, vitrifying it & sneaking out the peeps trying to make a stable flame!

On a separate note… I have no idea if B6 means anything?!

Bricked up late last night & ready to go this morning! It’s going to be a LONG day… but hopefully I’ll get a lot of cleaning & busy-work done while I’m firing today!

Finally finished stacking the kiln! Shelf by shelf. Post by post. Pot by pot. Tried to make some good choices as to which pot goes where for the best soda effects… in terms of air flow during the firing, as well as factors like clay type, glazed or not glazed, colored slips, etc. Hoping that the right pots in the right places will work out for the best in this firing tomorrow!!!

An empty kiln… always filled with so much potential. Loving the soda-fired patina on the bricks from repetitive firings. Glazing the kiln just as it will “glaze my pots” tomorrow when I fire them in this kiln!

When you’re in the final “mad-dash” preparing for this weekend’s soda kiln… you need that last bit of bisque… and you couldn’t quite fit it all in one kiln?!!! Okay, so maybe that “one last bit” was bigger than I expected… did I make to much?! Time to get to glazing… and we’ll find out!!!

Just loading a last-minute bisque kiln…just under the wire… as I will soon have a LOT Of glazing & wadding to do if I”m still planning on loading the soda kiln on Friday night. Maybe I can focus on getting my taxes finished while this kiln fires & cools??? Fingers crossed… ugh.

Layer One –

Layer Two –

Layer Three –

Layer Four –

Okay, so it’s been a hot minute… a couple weeks since… a couple holidays in between… but I’m finally getting around to showing off Christine’s beautiful pieces that came out of her VERY FIRST kiln firing!!!

Christine has been in my pottery classes for several sessions now… Beginning, Intermediate, Throwdown, Surface Decorations, etc. She’s always been on a quest to gather as much information as she can. She’s like a sponge in class trying to soak everything in. She’s been experimenting with everything she can get her hands on… lots of test tiles, underglazes, overglazes, hi-fire, low-fire. etc. She’s been getting a wide range of results – some beautiful, some not-so-much. So we’ve been discussing some other “options” for glazing of her work… particularly some of the stamped platters & bowls still unglazed from our Surface Decoration class almost a year ago!

One of the options we were discussing was Cone Six glazes. I’ve been doing some cone six firings myself with my work, and she’s liked the effects. So she expressed interest in trying that option… except Lillstreet doesn’t offer Cone Six firings to the students. So I worked with her independently as a friend & mentor instead of as her “teacher.” She glazed up her pieces with some commercial glazes she had purchased online… a group of “celadons” from Amaco. Loaded & fired… and now for the BIG REVEAL!!!…. sorry for the delay…

Here we go…
She started unloading the kiln… her first kiln ever! She had to learn how to load a kiln, stack the shelves, use the posts, etc. And now the excitement of her first kiln unloading!!! Shelf-by-shelf… revealing the treasures inside!

It was SO MUCH FOR ME to see the sheer joy & excitement on Christine’s face… or at least her forehead… every time she pulled out another piece! Large platters with a lot of handpainted underglaze details…

Or my favorite… surprise, surprise… this amazing stamped platter from our Surface Decoration class last Spring.

And a few more stamped beauties…

Followed by the bottom shelf with a lot of great colors! And especially intrigued by how the celadons from Amaco are making all of her textures & details really POP!!!

Plus, there were some wonderful “retro” mugs in her handpainted collection… so vibrant & fun when fired at Cone 6.

And some great “ombre” gradation mugs with sprayed glazes making the blend!

And again… my favorite stamped platter!!! Well done Christine!
I can’t wait to see where the success of this latest “test” by Christine takes her down her pottery path… as I’ll see her again in my class in the next session!

The four best letters this week! It always feels great to see this code on the kiln… relieving some of the anticipation of an electric kiln firing. Now it just needs to cool down a bit before I can peek inside. Hoping to see some beautiful new glazed Christmas trees in there… just in time for this weekend’s MUD & METAL Holiday Home Show!!!