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!

Always a good sign to see…
four little letters that make me VERY happy!!

I’m so used to cranking out as much pottery as I can usually this time of year. You know, getting ready for all of the summer art fairs. Racing to meet deadlines. Scheduling and working towards kiln dates… work, work, work. But this whole Coronavirus thing is really screwing up my mojo! With all of the summer art fairs being cancelled one after another, it’s weird to NOT have that kind of pressure & incentive to keep busy in the studio. Plus, the fact that there is NO ONE around in the studio… there’s no excitement or “energy” there either! It’s just WEIRD.

But, I have been working in the studio… trying to keep busy… trying to maintain some sort of “normalcy” in my life. Trying to find it anywhere I can! So I finally made enough work to fill a bisque kiln. So here it is… layer-by=layer. Not my tightest packed kiln… but it did feel good loading & closing the lid!

Bisque Layer #1 – mugs, oval vases, bowls & ornaments

Bisque Layer #2 – more oval vases, bowls, square vases, berry bowls and more ornaments!

Bisque Layer #3 – sgraffito platters, platters, spoon rests, tiny bowls and a square vase!

Bisque Layer #4 – more berry bowls, mugs, bowls and couple square vases

Bisque Layer #5 – small plates for berry bowls stacked to fit.

i didn’t think I even had quite enough work to fill the kiln. Turns out that I did… as there were still a few pieces that didn’t quite fit into this load. Luckily, the top shelf worked out pretty well… loading pretty much right to the top. Not a lot of extra space there!

Two bisque kilns… two CPLT messages! Always a good sign to see with a lot of work firing in the kiln. Even if it was over a month ago, and I’m just now getting around to posting about them!!!