My class demo bowls have made it out of the bisque kiln…
so now it looks like I have a lot of glazing to do!!!

I unloaded my soda kiln earlier this week but have been too busy to post photos. Too busy making the “new Ghoul.” Until now. So here’s a quick peek inside my fired kiln as I was unloading last Monday night… with a lot of the pots that will be coming with me to ART IN THE BARN this weekend in Barrington!

Here’s the front stack. Always a little heavier soda build-up. A little too gray for my liking… personal preference… but that means the pots “inside” will be nice!

And the back stack. A lot brighter colors. Not so much gray.
And some pretty sweet new teapots if I do say so myself…

Not quite a morning sunrise, yet surprisingly similar color-wise?!
My day has begun and the kiln is warming up slowly.
It’s gong to be a long day of firing before we get to Cone 10.

A FULL day of glazing & wadding. Followed by more than a couple hours of loading. Luckily everything pretty much fit. Okay sure, some sections might be a little tighter than I would normally like in a soda kiln. But oh well, it is what it is. So now it’s all packed, loaded and bricked up for the night. Time for a “couple” hours of sleep and then right back to start the firing in the morning!

Here’s the back stack… one shelf deep.

And the front stack… two shelves deep… and DONE.

An soda empty kiln… such potential. So many possibilities.
Love the colored “patina” of soda build-up from all of the previous firings.

A large stamped & glazed platter being loaded into the soda kiln.
Lots of fresh wadding underneath… pressed flat & securely to the kiln shelves.
Hoping that the Kiln Gods protect it from the evil forces of warpage!!!

My studio cart full of glazed pieces ready to be loaded into the soda kiln.
Complete with my masking tape “seat belts” to keep the pots from jumping off
the cart during their ride downstairs on the rickety freight elevator!

So I’m getting ready for another soda kiln firing next weekend. And this is my last bisque kiln before then. It may not by my tightest packed kiln ever, but I was pleased to get everything in… without too many open spaces. Cause you know how that kills me!

Kiln Layer #1 – wall pocket vases & mugs.

Kiln Layer #2 – large stamped platter, miniature vases and tiles.

Kiln Layer #3 – large stamped platter #2 and more tiles.

Kiln Layer #4 – ovals, teapots and urns.

Kiln Layer #5 – a few more ovals on a half shelf… and on top of other pots!

My glaze kiln is finished, cooled & unpacked… LOTS of tiles!!!
693 to be exact… I dropped one!

Now I just need to start assembling my pieces with Cory McCrory’s wonderfully whimsical works to create our special collaboration pieces for this weekend’s ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview!!!

Spent much of yesterday “laboring” in my studio. Finished glazing & loading 694 tiles!!! Many of which will become part of the collaboration fun I’m doing with Cory McCrory for next weekend’s ART IN THE GARDEN.

And sure, I probably could have gotten ONE more tile squeezed in there… if it weren’t for that glaze splotch that somebody left on the kiln shelf from a previous firing. Usually I’m okay with chipping them off. But this one’s a deep one best saved for another day! And what’s ONE more tile really in the big scheme of things?!

I better NOT be one tile short when it comes to assembling our collaboration pieces!