Right on schedule…
one last kiln to unload before this weekend’s HOLIDAY HOME SHOW!!!

Solving the mystery of the “missing” cone pack! Remember when I was firing my kiln, a couple hours into it I finally took out the top peep to look at the cone pack… only to find that it was just plain GONE!!! So it turns out that the top cone pack literally exploded at some point. It must have still been damp inside or too thick. My concern was that the shrapnel would end up inside some of my pots!!! Luckily, none of the pots were affected. The cone pack “parts & pieces” ended up on the shelf next to it… and a few pieces fell all the way down to the kiln floor. The unexpected hazards of firing a kiln!

It’s a rainy & windy day… perfect for sharing some more photos from my recent soda firing! Lots of pots ready for my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW in two weeks! So now I just need to prep & price them all… as well as setting up all the shelves & decorating my place! The pottery party is in just two weeks!!!

Well, here it is… my soda kiln full of pots!

Plenty of shelves covered with pots of all shapes & sizes! Looks like it was a good firing… even without a top cone pack! Plenty of vibrant colors & good soda “glaze” coverage. Gearing up for my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW which is just a couple weeks away! How can that be?… it still feels like summer!!! More photos to come…

Another layer closer to the “big reveal”…
and already loving the bright colors!!!

The first sneak peeks… so far, so good!

First layer of bricks taken out…

Yesterday was my soda kiln firing day. A long day of playing with FIRE!!! So much “fun” firing with my fingers crossed as I was missing the top cone pack… guessing & hoping for the beast. The firing seemed fairly smooth all day, so I’m pretty pleased so far. Always exciting when the kiln gets to the top temperatures and you introduce the soda mixture into the fire boxes. Flames come shooting out every crack & crevice. So beautiful. So dangerous. Definitely not for the pyrophobics out there!!!

Okay, so here’s a story… I made my cone packs a few days ago so they would be nice & dry before they went into the kiln. Sure, I could have made them plain like everyone else… but MORE IS MORE. So you know I stamped mine just because I can.

Anyway… here’s the story!
So yesterday when I was firing the soda kiln, about three hours in I finally pulled out a brick to view the cone pack. Looked inside… and there was nothing there?! The star ornament behind it is still there… but no cones?! All I can think is that it either fell off the shelf or exploded?! Nothing I could do at that point… so I fired the kiln using just the bottom cone pack and the pyrometer. I can’t wait to open the kiln tomorrow to find out where that cone pack went?! And what it might have landed on… or in??? ugh… fingers crossed!

After about four hours, I finally had the soda kiln all bricked-up for the night. Looking forward to a couple hours of sleep before coming back to light it! A lot of work inside… and a LOT of work getting it all packed up.