Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Monday firing

On a windy Sunday afternoon we finished loading the kiln and bricked up the door. We were both a bit concerned over the wind and hoped that the weather predictions for Monday would hold.
It did yesterday was a  a balmy 54 degrees with low winds. A good day to fire the kiln

Mark was up and out to light the kiln in the wee hours of the morning. He usually does the gas firing. There was a point in our pottery relationship where we decided it was better for one person who knew the kiln best to do the firing.
With the new smaller kiln I hope to go back to taking care of some of the gas fires myself.


I snapped a picture of the kiln just under 2,000 degrees.





 











And one of the burners Mark made back in the day. He has replaced the fans once in the 24 years of the life of the kiln, I asked him how to set the air one time and he said he does it by sound. This was where I figured since I could not wear his ears it would be best for him to fire.
 
Cool down day one today and lot's of things to get done.
I will be loading a kiln with tiles to fire tomorrow .
And the word today is wintery mix.
Just rolls off the tongue.

6 comments:

Tracey Broome said...

you just gotta love that "wintry mix" I for one am tired of hearing it said!! Come on Spring. It was fun being down in your neighborhood yesterday, wish I could have stopped by for a visit, but there was a man at the airport that needed a ride home :) Best wishes for the firing

Linda Starr said...

I'm patiently awaiting the results of your firings, good luck with the wintery mix. When we lived in Arkansas we hated to hear that weather report.

Anonymous said...

hey 54 is good right? looks like progress. i think it is absolutely wonderful that we still have valuable activities where one person's knowledge is based on the ephemeral such as the sound something makes when it's working correctly. makes me happy to be a potter... although i don't remember the sound myself.

Hollis Engley said...

Damn. I would LOVE 54. Or 44, for that matter. I still have to scrape the truck windshield in the morning and will continue that probably through March.

Anonymous said...

I got a fun cartoon image and smile when I read the line about you not being able to wear Mark's ears. Here's to your wintery mix moving soon to a spring mix and happy kiln opening.

Barbara

ang design said...

oohh exciting....