So the Schaumburg Prairie Fine Arts Festival is just one week away!
And while I probably have more than enough work ready for the show, I definitely
suffer from that “uncureable artist disease” symptomatic of ALWAYS thinking
that you need to make more! Must make more… glaze more… finish more… in a week!

So I started off today with high expectations of making entire electric kiln’s worth of
terra cotta pieces – as they are low-fired and cone be finished with a single electric kiln.
Theoretically, I could make everything today, let it dry  over the weekend, glaze it on
Monday, load the kiln on Tuesday, fire on Wednesday, and unload on Friday…
just in time for the weekend’s art fair! But then… reality set in!

As I’m sharing a cone 10 reduction kiln on Wednesday, I still had some glazing to do for that.
And I thought better of glazing the work that is already done… instead of adding a whole
bunch of pressure on myself to crank out some last minute work.

So tonight I glazed some more pieces for next week’s kiln. As it is mostly Marian’s kiln,
I’m focusing my efforts more on smaller pieces, berry bowls and “kiln filler.” So I pulled out
my buckets of glazed, stirred them up, and started the night’s activities…

But still, after a night of glazing…. there’s still a few more piles of bisque waiting in the wings!
Already waxed, dried and stacked – with paper in between to keep the wax from transferring.

Tonight I’ve been working on “stitching together” some more of my “ClayQuilts.”
Small, soda-fired, textured tiles that are put together as a work of art for your wall.
And what appears to be random, is anything but. I find it interesting every time,
how much effort goes into making it look random while it is all very controlled.
Can’t have too many similar tiles in one area, need to keep colors dispersed evenly,
and I sometimes try to create “thematic” color combinations as I go!

Tomorrow, I’ll look at them again with fresh eyes, make a few alterations,
and start gluing them in place. Again, “forced random” as I like to put it.

Remember… before the soda firing, they were just a lot of textured clay squares
with a bunch of different colored & flashing slips on them for different effects.

It’s been a long day in my pottery storage room today.
Unpacking pots. Cleaning pots. Pricing Pots. Repacking pots.
Repeat. Repeat… Repeat.

I’ve been putting it off for a long time, and my storage room
has taken over… growing well beyond its limits, piles everywhere,
pots here, pots there, pots everywhere! And with the art fair season
coming soon, I had to dive in a tackle the situation. So with the help
of my parents, the best art fair assistants ever, we made some good
progress… but I still have a long ways to go. I didn’t even make it
to the boxes filled with the new pots from my latest soda kiln.
I can’t wait to see those pots again…

Last night in my Beginning Wheel throwing class, some of my students asked
to do some basic handbuilding… so of course, I said yes. I think they’ve all realized
that throwing & trimming plates on the wheel is a little tougher than they expected.
And now they know that handbuilding is always an option… just because it’s a
wheelthrowing class, does not mean they can only make things on the wheel.
It’s just clay. And the wheel is just a tool.

So we started with some basic instruction & demonstration of pulling slabs and adding
some texture to them. Once decorated, the slab was then “draped” over a simple clay
coil “frame.” The plate slumps into the frame and the edge is smoothed & finished off.

Then, as a quick “show-stopper” demo… instant plates trimmed right off the block of clay!
Using a stretched out spring to cut the squiggles, and a straight wire to cut the under side.
Tonight, once they set-up a bit, I added some small feet to the underside for a bit of lift.
I can’t wait to see how these sculptural “plates” will turn out when the glaze pools!

It was a long wait today… as the kiln temperature dropped ever so slowly.
I kept opening it slowly to “encourage” the cooling process; being careful
not to open it too quickly. When it got to about 250 degrees, I felt it was okay
to unbrick the door. And then it was time to start unloading the kiln.
Like a little kid on Christmas…

It’s always fun to unload the kiln – to see the results of your hard work. And to see how
things have been transformed during the atmospheric firing process. It was a very
tightly packed kiln. I was concerned that there may be some “dry patches” in the kiln
because it was packed too tight… luckily the soda made its way through the kiln and hit
everything quite nicely… if I do say so myself. Only two mugs were on the “drier” side.
All in all, it was a great firing with great results.

But then, after unloading and packing everything into boxes to get it home…
I still had to clean the kiln, scrape & kiln wash all the shelves, sweep out the fire box
and all of that fun stuff that comes with maintaining the kiln! Exhausting…

Today was firing day. A long day. But worthwhile when I get to open it in a couple days!
So I started early this morning by “pumping the flames” into the kiln. There are two burner
ports on the back of the soda kiln, one on each side of the chimney. It starts up slowly,
with gradual increases in gas & air to ramp it up for the first couple hours.

About a half-hour into it, I came down for the first turn-up, checked the kiln,
checked the flames, checked the reduction, checked the cone packs… only to be
surprised to find that the bottom cone pack was gone!!! Missing. No signs.
My guess is it must have exploded or fallen off the shards that held it in place.
Luckily, I rely on the top cone pack a lot more than the bottom.

During the firing, you’re “trapped” at the studio… can’t leave, can’t really start much
as you need to check the kiln throughout the day. So it’s a lot of finishing little projects,
cleaning, sweeping, dusting, trimming class demo’s, chatting and waiting for the kiln.
When the kiln finally begins to reach the top temperatures, it’s time to mix up the
soda mixture that will be introduced into the kiln. Who knew that such a “sloppy mess”
of soda ash, soda bicarbonate, whiting, wood chips & water could make your pots
look so great?! It looks like an odd mix of oatmeal & tuna?!

When the kiln is around cone 9, I start introducing the soda mixture into the kiln
on an angle iron. Dropping soda mixture into the kiln every 15-ish minutes until the mixture
is gone. Tonight I also had two assistants putting the soda in. Two of my beginning wheel
students were there working and had never really seen a kiln firing before. So I offered
to show it to them, and even let them put some of the soda in. Pam was surprised
how hot it was back by the kiln, and Chuck had that instant look of “pyro-addiction.”
He loved putting the soda in… the flames, the heat, the danger… he’s in!
And I loved having the help. After the soda is introduced, the flames come shooting out
of the peeps as the atmosphere inside the kiln is quite volatile – with the evaporated soda
mixtures flying all around the kiln and hitting the pots inside!

After all of the soda is in, I let the kiln continue longer so the soda can “soak” and spread
a little more as it gets to it’s top temperature and cone 10 finally drops! During that
soaking time, I had a chance to hang out with Chuck & Pam… and had to laugh at the
persistence, dedication & focused attention Chuck had as he was applying slip to one of
his pots! Not bad for one of my “tile-class-convert” wheelthrowing beginners, huh!!!

After a good soaking, it’s time to turn the kiln off… and it’s suddenly silent.
Turn off the gas. Turn off the blowers. Turn off the exhaust fans. Close the damper
and call it a night. Now it’s time to wait again… as a watched kiln never cools!

So tonight I finally loaded the soda kiln. After months of making work, bisquing,
glazing, wadding and more… tonight was my night to load the kiln. Tomorrow I’ll be
firing the kiln all day. But first… here’s my step-by-step loading process from tonight!

The kiln was empty and waiting for me. You always start with the back stack. I load
the entire back stack, one shelf deep, all the way to the top… then move to the front
two shelves and load them all the way to the top. Each shelf is placed on kiln posts
of different heights to make the shelves work with the heights of your pots. With lots
of tiles conveniently fitting in between all of the pots – the perfect kiln filler!

Lots of pots. Lots of tiles. All different sizes. All different shapes. It’s sort of a 3-D puzzle…
loading in pieces, trying to get as many pieces in as possible – while making sure there’s
enough air space around everything for good soda flow & coverage. It’s tough…
the more I “squeeze” in, the more I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth for the cost
of the kiln firing! Pack it too tight, and some of the work may not be covered & glazed
with soda. So I keep packing… up to the top!

Then it’s time to move to the front two shelves – and load them both at the same time,
layer by layer. Again, matching the brick heights with the work going in. Part way up…
another Kodak Moment.

More pots. More shelves. More posts. Layer by layer. And a LOT of tiles!!!
But then it’s done. Loaded all the way to the top. With one last shelf carefully slid in
at the top… just a few more tiles and a couple cups. Whew… a lot of stacking,
a lot of posts & heavy shelves! And I’m sweating… but glad it’s done.

Once the kiln is packed, and the cone packs in place, the door then needs
to be bricked closed. One brick at a time. Alternating, some this way, some that way.
Making sure that the peeps are in, and line up with the cone packs so I’ll be able to see
them during the firing. Yes, the peeps are the “brighter white” bricks that can be
pulled out for a quick peek.

And then it’s done for the night. Put to bed. Trying to get a good night’s sleep
for tomorrow’s long day of firing! And… scene!

Oh, the possibilities… like the calm before the storm.
Loading starts tomorrow afternoon! Let the games begin!!!

After the mini’s… I did a LOT of glazing! A lot of liner glazes. A lot of inlaid glazes.
A lot of wadding. With a bit of colored glazes sprayed on for accents here & there.
My studio cart filled up quickly… ready to be rolled downstairs to the kiln.
Well, not quite yet. Before I left tonight I rolled the cart and turned it around…
so now the entire other side of the cart can be filled with glazed pieces!!!

As mentioned, my rolling cart will travel downstairs for the kiln loading.
With a rickety freight elevator as my only means of transportation, I have found
that some masking tape “safety belts” tend to keep my pots safe… as they jiggle
and bounce around on the trip downstairs!

I will be loading my soda kiln next Friday, and then firing on Saturday.
And I still have quite the pile of bisque stacked up waiting to be glazed!