After a lengthy loading of the soda kiln… it felt good to finally have it all bricked up! It was late Friday night… looking forward to an early start firing on Saturday morning!

So Friday night I loaded the soda kiln… layer by layer… brick by brick… pot by pot. It always takes longer than I think it will. But it’s important to think it through while loading to allow some air space & flow through the kiln for good soda exposure… while at the same time getting in as many pots as possible! The more pots you squeeze in, the more pots you can divide the kiln costs over. Can’t wait to see how these turn out… as many of them will be going to ART IN THE GARDEN next weekend!

An empty kiln is always filled with so many possibilities. This will be my first firing in the NEW Lillstreet soda kiln. It was just rebuilt about a month ago, and has three or four firings under its belt. Nice to see the soda build-up already “glazing” the bricks inside! I hope the new kiln fires well for me!!!

Okay, so maybe we’ve re-learned that important lesson that I was pushing too far to the brink?… and maybe you CAN’T throw something on the wheel in the morning, finish it in the afternoon and then put it in the kiln that some evening. Looks like an 11-hour production time frame might just be a little too quick???

Maybe?…
I mean, I did have more that survived than those that blew up. So maybe next time I need eleven and a half hours??? HA!!! Ya’ learn some, ya’ lose some!!!

Always a good sign… four simple letters… and one step closer to next weekend’s soda kiln firing! Hopefully everything survived the bisque firing and I’ll soon have a LOT of glazing & wadding to do!

Well, we’re one arch closer to getting the Lillstreet soda kiln back up & running. Still need a few more bricks to fill in some of those holes!!! Doug Jeppesen & Neil Estrick have been working hard to get it done for us! Can’t wait to get it firing again! It’s getting there… brick by brick!!!

Looks like the new Lillstreet soda kiln is coming along quite nicely… brick by brick. Thanks to Doug Jeppesen & Neil Estrick for working on our kiln for us!

So then THIS is happening!

The soda kiln where I fire my work at Lillstreet Art Center is currently being demolished and rebuilt. It’s been about three years since it was last rebuilt… with practically weekly firings with a lot of soda mixture to slowly work its way into the kiln bricks eroding the surface & allowing some bricks to move a bit more than one would like! Looking forward to using the new kiln for my next soda firing!!!

One of the coolest part of soda-firing is the randomness that happens during the firing. So anyone who is soda-firing needs to be aware of this before they expect “matched perfection”… ‘cuz that’s not gonna happen!

Here’s a great example…
As each of these mugs have the exact same glaze on the interior. All from the same bucket of glaze!!!

But notice the color variation that happened during the firing… based on shelf location, firing, atmosphere, reduction, oxidation & tons of possibilities!!! A wide range of unexpected colors…. all from one bucket of glaze!!!

…and DONE!!!

Always good to see those four letters!!!