Good Example of a Bad Example

It's a major no no to open the kiln when it's running. But I can't help sneaking a peek at the pots while they are firing. This photo was at just over 1500 deg F. The pots are just starting to glow from the heat. A bisque load like this will fire for about 13 hours to Cone 04 (around 1900 deg F). After that it will take about 24 hours to cool back down to room temperature. At that point the kiln can be unloaded. The pieces will be glazed and fired again. The second firing (glaze firing) is the real patience test for me. The entire time the kiln is running, I'm wondering how each piece will turn out. I've gotten smarter though, I start the firing so it's too hot to peek at when I go to bed at night, I have to get to work in the morning so I can't peek and by the time I get home from work, it's ready to unload. Unloading the glaze firing is a lot like Christmas for a kid. Ya can't wait to see what inside the big shiny box.

Necessary Evil

I unloaded a load of bisqueware from the kiln today and realized my kiln shelves are in need of some TLC. Kiln wash is great stuff, but still doesn't take the place of regular shelf care. Cleaning shelves has to be my least favorite task in creating pottery. But's its gotta be done. So I scraped the old kiln wash (along with countless glaze spatters) off and applied a nice new coat of kiln wash to the shelves. They look so great all cleaned and newly protected. If only it would last. Shortly, I'll have a new batch of glaze spatters. Experimenting with glazes is fun, but sometimes it's the shelves that pay the price. Or is it me since I'm really the one that will have to clean them ultimately anyway? Hmmm.

Yummy

I wanted to make some cards to go with my garlic roasters and wanted to use a photo of a roasted garlic bulb on the front of the cards. So this afternoon I roasted garlic, filling the house with the wonderful aroma. The photos turned out good too. They'll make nice professional looking cards explaining how to use the garlic roasters. Might need to make something similar for the butter keepers too as I sometimes see people looking confused about how to use them.