Last night I loaded the soda kiln with a lot of work… but I’m always struck by the empty kiln before loading. An empty kiln full of potential… and a lot of really cool soda build-up “patina” on the bricks!!!

Gotta LOVE these four letters!!!…
always comes with a small sigh of relief!!!

Just a few more quick pics from my soda kiln! These pieces were the ones facing the front door… where they get blasted with a bit more soda than the rest of the kiln. Loving some of the colored flashing slip effects & the textured orange-peel surfaces!

Okay, so now that my taxes are finally done… I’ve got a second to breath… and share a picture from my soda kiln opening on Monday night. People have been asking… it turned out great. More photos to come!!!

Another layer of bricks coming off as the kiln cooling continues… encouraged by this new view into the kiln! Especially on this another Mugshot Monday!

After a full day of firing, it’s always a little nerve-wracking to me to turn the kiln off. It’s been going all day, flames shooting out everywhere with the fan & gas valves making a good amount of noise. So it’s a big change when you turn it off and it’s suddenly silent!!! Just hope you’ve actually done all you can.

Also great to look at the digital pyrometer kiln at the end to see the difference top-to-bottom… for this firing it was just 15-degrees! Sweet!!! Can’t wait for it to cool now… so I can unload to see the new “treasures” Monday night!

Three stacks of pottery, shelves & bricks from tonight’s loading. A lot of work “crammed in there”… hoping that the soda atmosphere can still make its way around inside to move the soda around!

If you look close, you can also see where my flock of birds have landed!!!

And then the front stack…
which is actually a “square” made of two shelves side-by-side”

An empty kiln filled with potential.
Tonight I loaded it up with LOTS of pots!!!

Feels so good to be getting back into a more “normal” routine. Classes have started. Summer Camp has started. And I’m firing my first “post-quarantine:” soda kiln. Sure, masks all the time is NOT “normal”… but I’m more than glad to do my part to keep our numbers down!!!

The flock has flown into the kiln… ready for a bisque firing.
And let me just say, I’ll feel a LOT better when these have all successfully “survived” the bisque firing. So much safer when they are “solid” and not so fragile as when they’re just dried clay!