Thanksgiving already.....

I can tell you that the wind is still whipping out there.
And with that said I don't know how much we will load in the kiln today.
And the days are really counting down.
With only one week away from the show.

Now the thought is get it in and fire Sunday.
The kiln then takes two full days to cool down.
Nice and slow.
Sunday fire, Monday and Tuesday cool down, unload on Wednesday.
Set up is Thursday and Friday Night Gala is, well, Friday.
So our few days lead have turned into us chomping at the bit to get it done.
Nothing like letting the wind out of your sails.
And speaking of wind... yea, I already said, IT IS STILL BLOWING!"

I had to share my Thanksgiving cactus which thinks it is time for some turkey.
I think they are both a little early this year.
Maybe I should have left them outside another 2 weeks.

Little sister here is only about four years old. Plucked off at cart a Lowe's hardware one day. The first year no blooms at all. All the spots that I thought were going to bloom just dropped off.
She was much happier after being put in a Geoff Pickett planter with some room to work on her spreading roots.

I have a Pesto Cheesecake in the oven for the (free) reception tonight at the NCPC.

This is the all time easiest recipe. It sounds so strange, but think savory okay?

Off to be productive!

Cheers!

Station Break

Kiln is cooling, I am glazing tiles and family visit with Mark's mom and brother- just talk among yourselves.

I'll be back!

Louise at Joel's wedding.

A station break

This kiln load seems to be busting my chops.
I have been the, bull in the china shop.
Knocking over pots, two broken, splashing hot wax on the bisque while I am waxing, many pots put aside to fire off the wax from unwanted areas.
My feet hurt and I want to take a nap.

And yes I would like some cheese with that whine.

Maybe I am sleep walking.

It is the end of the summer and it is hot and humid. Has the heat settled in my brain and stopping me from functioning correctly?

I am glazing teapots, which is slow.
I am keeping my focus by thinking about Julia over at Henhouse Pottery, who would like to buy a teapot.

If I focus on someone while I am glazing and how I think they might enjoy having this pot it takes away the pain of the feet and that part of my brain that is plagued by self doubt.
The one which says, " go do something else for a living.... why do you continue to torture your self and others?"
Then I have to laugh at myself.
I whisper back to Mr. self doubt, " go away, go bother someone else, Can't you see I am busy."

Where's the flashlight?

Well, there I go with the fast fingers and the post goes out with not one written word---
As I was thinking......... the kiln is cooling and Mark and I have already taken turns with the flash light. First he takes a look in the kiln and then I take a look in the kiln.
Right now, where we can look and see anything, things look good. The ash glaze has stopped above the bottoms of the pots.
Well above the shelf.
At least where we can see.
Mark pulled the kiln back a bit this firing stopping right before a flat cone 10.
The cones are bent, but not flat down.
Hopefully we will continue to see good pots.
Now for some clean up in the studio before unloading the kiln tomorrow.

But! I do have to say, "UNCLE" with the rain!
Here in the land of Magnolias and Mildew we are well covered with both.
Is this not the sunny south?
Bring back some sun.
Then I would like to open the house up and dry things out before the frogs take up residence.
I feel some gills growing as I sit here in my dank basement.
Pots out tomorrow- pictures I hope to follow.
M

Pots from the kiln- Kiln Opening

We opened the kiln yesterday and there was a moment that I thought ,
" I need to borrow a hammer from Sofia."
Just what a girl needs is a hammer to unload a kiln----
In our early days I use to unload the kiln with a hammer and a bucket. Pot- smash- bucket. Repeat. Pot-smash-bucket... the other way to get rid of pots was a good tree or a good toss across the yard.
Back to the kiln- with the opening of the kiln we found good pots and we found pots where the ash glaze ran all the way to the shelf.
Not fun and frustrating and sad.
I needed a few moment to mourn the loss and move on.
And- I needed a hammer.........
If you look all the way down on the bottom shelf you will see two crocks fast glued down to the shelf- ouch and there were others- Two large vases on the top back stack. One might be okay. It was hard to lose the crock. Harder still is a nice large piece.
Maybe it will go in my pot garden.



Deep sigh- there were some really good pots and I will share those-





















But as you can see these big boys came out just fine.




I was happy with this tile.

A burn at the kiln

Several years ago Mark and I read about putting soy sauce on burns. We have used this for several minor kitchen burns and once when I was helping a group.
I burned myself by picking up a pitcher, by the handle, which was straight out of the kiln and about 300 degrees.
So last night as Mark was checking the kiln his ungloved hand was exposed to flame which shot out of the kiln catching the tips of his fingers. He immediately ran to the house for the soy sauce. He put some in a plastic container and put his fingers in. Then we put in ice.
I went out with him to help shut the kiln down.
We then made the decision of if he should go to the emergency room. We decided to keep it on ice and soy sauce.
What looked like it could be a rather bad burn with blisters on the tips of the fingers, turned into just raised white spots. Two of the fingers you can not tell. The other two and mostly the pinkie are white looking but no blisters.
This has worked for us twice.
Soy Sauce- maybe it works because of the salt factor- who knows but it has worked for us.
Note Mark has fired this kiln since 1986 this is the first burn- pretty good I think!

Pots still in the kiln

I have so much to do that taking individual pictures is beyond me at this time.
Here are pictures of the front stack and middle stack of the kiln.
Maybe some singles later....
The green pot on the right is a glaze we have been testing- we liked the results on the bottle better then the last firing.

cooling the kiln

Day two of kiln cooling.
When we fire we always like to let the kiln cool at its own rate of speed. Which is two days no matter what the weather is or if you stand outside and blow on it. It just lumbers along cooling at its own rate of speed. The first 24 hours we leave it alone. No moving the bricks - no looking. we ignore it like a well behaved child.
Day two- today the flash lights come out. One of us will move a peep brick and take a look. Then we move another and take another look.
We always have the same discussion. "Do you think we could?"
"No", the other one will say- "just wait."
We think waiting is the best method to our madness. Even when we try to cool faster it is 9 or 10 pm before it could come out. And face it, we are not spring chickens anymore. I will confess I would rather get up with the chicken these days then stay up with the guards.
While the kiln is cooling there are two days to get other things done.
Sometimes we go right back on the wheel.
Other times we clean the studio and refresh everything- go get groceries- bookwork -read-watch a video....
I am handing building while Mark is working on odds and ends in the studio.
So today we will head out there and see who finds the flashlight first- time to take a peek!