A lot has been happening around Lillstreet Art Center during the holiday break. Most exciting to many of us… the soda kiln has been torn down & rebuilding will start soon! Very exciting as they’re starting over all the way down to the cement pad with lots of brand new bricks!

Earlier today… just in time… unloading tonight!!! More new pieces & new Christmas trees with pierced holes for this weekend’s SECOND HOLIDAY HOME SHOW!!!

Well look at me… ahead of schedule?!
It’s only Wednesday and my last kiln is already glazed & loaded…
and I don’t even need these trees until Saturday
for my SECOND HOLIDAY HOME SHOW! Crazy, right!

Replenishing my Christmas Trees with a bunch of new ones with holes & no bottoms… so you can light ‘em up with tea lights, votive candles or LED lights. Just in time to make the season more festive!!!

A quick morning glimpse at the first layer of this year’s Christmas Trees! More layers & more kilns in the works! This is just the start as… cue the song… “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”

Into the kiln just in time?! Sure, they might be a little warm still when the new Ghouls make it ART IN THE BARN this weekend?! It wouldn’t be the first time, right?!

Also, thanks to Laura Williams for finishing off my kiln. I had a little extra space on the top shelf… and Laura was racing against her “art fair weekend” deadline as well. And a little sweet treat from Laura as a Thank You… chocolate covered OREOs with little toffee crumbles!!!

Okay, so here’s some of “glamorous side” of being a potter. Sure, it’s great fun to make the pots. But everyone forgets about all of the heavy busy-work that goes on behind the scenes. I was pondering this tonight as I was busy cleaning the soda kiln after my recent firing. Removing all of the shelves & posts, scraping the shelves, kiln washing them all (my least favorite part)… plus the sweeping & mopping!!! At least I got some beautiful pots out of it all. Ha!!!

So my soda kiln unloading went well yesterday. With plenty of fun colors & beautiful soda flashing throughout the kiln! Can’t wait to bring most of these new pieces to ART IN THE BARN this weekend in Barrington!

Started taking off a few more layers of bricks… almost cool enough to unload. It’s always exciting to see a good “pop” of color at the top of my soda firing. I’m not a fan of the “soda-blasted” dark grays that look like “dolphin skin”… some people like it, but not me!!! I prefer COLOR over dark grayness!!!

Today is Monday… welcome to a new week! It’s also soda kiln unloading day!!!
I just cracked the kiln open so it can cool a little quicker. Also… a little sneaky peek!!!

After a full day of firing the soda kiln… and the crazy coolness of the flames shooting out everywhere… it is always odd to me to turn it off at the end. The noise, the flames, the drama… all ending with a flip of a switch. Now hoping that everything inside looks great!!! We won’t find out until Monday night… fingers crossed…