Thursday, February 4, 2010

Just working, because that is what we do.

Thank  you to all the folks who posted advice about buying a new kiln.
We have made the decision to buy a new kiln this year, just not right away.
We put it on the high priority list of things that need to happen.
Mark did tighten up some connections on the kiln and it just worked like a charm today.
In fact we had to hold it back it was going too fast.
But an 8- 10 hour bisque is better than the 18 hour one.
We were cooking today.
Good thing since we are hearing news about more weather coming our direction.


This week has been a lot of start and go, interruptions to our flow.
I always get up on Mondays with my list of goals for the week.
I think this week I will reach a small part of those.



With the bisque chugging along and an unexpected trip to the doctor, that I am happy to report was nothing major, we did get back to turning some pots.

I have mugs made and covered for handles tomorrow.
Plates, one batch trimmed and more made.
Then I started a round of small jars.
Mark has vases in the works and bowls.
Some days the slap of the clay on the wheel head sounds like music to the ears.

I hope tomorrow’s weather comes and goes quickly.
I could you a whole hunk of sunshine!

7 comments:

Bert said...

My wife describes herself as "solar powered" because she loves and needs sunshine.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

funny that you people have gotten more snow than us, way up here, but ANYWAY best wishes, and HOLY CATS! What lovely raw pots!

Laurie said...

Glad the kiln is working better, & the Dr's trip turned out well. I'm hankering for some sunshine too, but think we may have to deal with a bit more wintry weather first.

Anonymous said...

What a relief when a kiln can be tightened into working better and a doctor's visit is better than feared.
Hope some sun shines on you soon. Another big rainstorm here.

Peter said...

I like "the slap of the clay on the wheel head sounds like music to the ears", nicely put. I've been glazing a lot lately and am growing desperate for a few days of just throwing on the wheel. That slap of the clay is a really friendly sound!

Regarding kilns, my very much second hand electric kiln has trained me well for wood firing.... it has no controller, so has to be coaxed along by me. I am well used to filling in its progress on sheets of graph paper, and getting up in the night to worry over its climb to temperature. The funny thing is that I'm finding crystal glazes not hard at all, as the kiln will keep a nice even 1100 Centigrade with all elements on "2", and "2.5" will keep it at an even 1240 C. However.... it would be nice to be able to sleep at night (they tell me that it is good for the complexion), so maybe a controller would be worth it!

Linda Starr said...

glad you could tweek your kiln into better operation, thank heaven for small favors.

Anonymous said...

8 - 10 instead of 18 is quite a jump, that'll speed up a schedule a bit. as bert said above, we are solar powered, literally, but i think we're gonna have to wait a couple weeks still. i'm trying to time my firings to coincide with the coldest nights