And there it is… cone 10 is down, soda is in, the kiln soaked for awhile… and I called it done! Always a moment when you turn a kiln off and it’s suddenly so quiet… and you just hope that you did everything you could to make a successful firing!!! Fingers crossed for unloading Monday night.

I’ve had some good “body reduction” going on earlier. It’s where the air-to-gas ratio is out of whack on purpose. Forcing the flames to “find” the air wherever it can. So it’s finding the air in the porous bisque, vitrifying it & sneaking out the peeps trying to make a stable flame!

On a separate note… I have no idea if B6 means anything?!

Bricked up late last night & ready to go this morning! It’s going to be a LONG day… but hopefully I’ll get a lot of cleaning & busy-work done while I’m firing today!

Finally finished stacking the kiln! Shelf by shelf. Post by post. Pot by pot. Tried to make some good choices as to which pot goes where for the best soda effects… in terms of air flow during the firing, as well as factors like clay type, glazed or not glazed, colored slips, etc. Hoping that the right pots in the right places will work out for the best in this firing tomorrow!!!

An empty kiln… always filled with so much potential. Loving the soda-fired patina on the bricks from repetitive firings. Glazing the kiln just as it will “glaze my pots” tomorrow when I fire them in this kiln!

So fun to have my potter-friend Mike Stumbras stop by my little Mug Sale today with some of his family! They got a quick tour of Lillstreet… and a couple new mugs… and I got a beautiful porcelain cup from Mikey! Lots of twists, slip trailing & gold lustre! If you’re not following Mike on Instagram… you definitely should be!!!

Beautiful pottery, incredible craftsmanship, historical references & plenty of videos & tutorials. Be sure to check him out. … @mikestumbras

Well, it’s been a little while, as I’ve been more than a little busy… but I just realized that I never showed off my latest soda kiln after being fired. So here are some quick picks of what it looked like before I started unloading! Most of these pieces will be finding their way onto the shelves at MY HOLIDAY HOME SHOW next weekend!

When the kiln gets to its top temperatures, I introduce a mixture of soda ash, soda bicarbonate & wood chips into the kiln. The mixture combusts & sends the soda throughout the kiln… in effect “glazing” the pots as the flames travel through the kiln. As an added bonus… you also get these wonderful flames shooting out of every space & crack they can find!

Fairly early on in the firing, you put the kiln into body reduction which “forces” the gas to reach outside of the kiln to find the needed air. Which made these really cute flames dance & flutter above one of the peep bricks!

After a couple hours of loading the kiln last night, it’s always great to get to the end & brick up the door. One by one, brick by brick. Hiding the pots… knowing that we won’t see them again until after the soda-firing process works its “magic”… fingers crossed.