Early morning in the kiln room… with my four favorite letters! Still too hot to unload… but I hope it cools quick enough that I can unload after summer camp today?! Please, oh please… fingers crossed.

Otherwise I might be unloading warm pots on my way to set-up my art fair tent on Saturday morning?

It’s been a LONG day at the studio… morning camp, afternoon camp, glazing, more glazing… and then teaching again tonight. And as if that weren’t enough, I also loaded a kiln after class … later than planned as the person before me didn’t unload their pieces yesterday as they were scheduled to do. I had to wait… finally able to load late tonight after class!!! Here’s just one layer of the kiln with some new, colorful mugs… which might be coming “still warm” to the GLENVIEW SUMMER ART FAIR this weekend?!

All glazed & kiln loaded… with some soon-to-be colorful mugs on the bottom layer! Now to get home to start prepping & packing for this weekend’s HINSDALE FINE ARTS FESTIVAL. It should be a beautiful weekend in Burlington Park in downtown Hinsdale… c’mon by!

And just in the nick of time… more flowerpots, mugs, vases & bowls headed down to the PLANTS & POTTERY POP-UP SALE!!! FRIDAY & Saturday in Bartonville… possibly with some warm pots?!

It’s always nice when you check the pyrometer at the end of your firing… and realize that you’re just 14-degrees different from top to bottom of the kiln! Pretty darn close… I mean, single digits would have been nice, but I won’t get greedy here!!!

And there it is… cone 10 is down, soda is in, the kiln soaked for awhile… and I called it done! Always a moment when you turn a kiln off and it’s suddenly so quiet… and you just hope that you did everything you could to make a successful firing!!! Fingers crossed for unloading Monday night.

Just putting the last of my soda mixture into the kiln… and the fire frenzy is happening!!! Hopefully those soda-rich-fumes are traveling all around inside leaving some sweet soda surfaces on my pots!!! It cools tomorrow… and I don’t get to peek until I unload Monday night!!! Oh, the anticipation!!!

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?!