Happy faces all around when the door was off of the soda kiln for my 3-DAY SODA-FIRNG WORKSHOPpers!!! They were so excited Wednesday night as they unbricked, unloaded & admired their new soda-fired pottery! Becky was giddy & Kelsey was documenting with photos!

A glimpse inside the soda kiln after firing with my 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP. A lot of different pots by a lot of different potters. They all had a great time & did a good job loading their kiln… and now they can enjoy the soda-fired “fruits of their labor”!!!

Back to my 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP… and last Wednesday night when the workshoppers got to finally unbrick their first soda kiln! The excitement was palpable as the door came down brick-by-brick. Revealing their work after being transformed by the soda-firing process. So much fun to watch them find their pieces in their very first soda-firing!!!

Last night my 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOPpers finally got to unload their very first soda kiln. Always a great treasure hunt… with this being their very first peek into the kiln! So far, so good… more to come…

Just a little afternoon snack celebrating NATIONAL MUFFIN DAY.
You know how I love a good holiday!!!

Yesterday was my firing day for the 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP. So much fun firing the kiln when the flames start to peek out during “body reduction.” Basically, when the gas-to-air ratio is a bit out of whack and the flames are searching for more air!

So much fun watching Kelsey get so enamored by the flashings & patinas on some of the crusty kiln door bricks. Sure, it might have slowed down our process a little… but Kelsey is right… some of the bricks are GORGEOUS!!!

After stacking the kiln full of pots, it was time to close the door last night… brick-by-brick, one at a time. Luckily, I had some eager volunteers to help with the process. The bricks of the kiln door have been well-used & well-worn through MANY soda-firings, so stacking them is an ever-changing challenge. With that, a little sealing of the bigger cracks with some wadding always helps. They all persevered and we finally got it closed up & put to bed for the night.

It was a LONG night of loading, with my SODA WORKSHOP students learning a lot & did a lot of the work! They did a great job collectively… working together to make some loading decisions & working together to get all of their pieces in! Most of them had never loaded a kiln before… so this was.a great learning curve for them!

Last night we started with an empty kiln for my 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP. So my “workshoppers” started their evening with glazing & wadding their bisqued pieces. The goal for last night was to FILL this kiln… and they did!!!