A Few Cracks, but Pots Look Nice
A look at some of the pots up front
I don't know what it is about firing in the freezing weather, but the last two loads we fired we had freezing weather. Sunday's firing went well, except having a few pots up front crack, and a little trouble getting the back of the kiln up to temperature. In the picture above, you can see three wads at the bottom middle of the picture where a stack of two larger preserve jars stood. These cracked, so I decided to pull them into the firebox early on. We also had a couple of smaller jars crack up front and one of the lugs on one of the larger jars pop off.
I pushed the large jars into drying on time before we loaded the kiln, and this may have contributed to weakening the bonding of the lugs onto the jars. I'm hoping the rest of the larger ones haven't lost any lugs. We'll see tomorrow when we unload. Also, I may have been a little overzealous with the fire early on when I started firing.
I am usually pulling out a few pots at this time in the cooling process. I managed to reach one 20-mile award from the front of the kiln. The picture at left shows the runner side of the piece that I pulled out which was facing to the left when in the kiln, so that most of the ash hit to the right of the runner and I got some nice flashing on the left side of the runner.
It seemed appropriate to take a picture of it on the ice.
Here's a little clip of Levi doing a stoke near the end of the firing. If you watch, notice the smoke after he puts the first log in. That's his glove burning.
I pushed the large jars into drying on time before we loaded the kiln, and this may have contributed to weakening the bonding of the lugs onto the jars. I'm hoping the rest of the larger ones haven't lost any lugs. We'll see tomorrow when we unload. Also, I may have been a little overzealous with the fire early on when I started firing.
I am usually pulling out a few pots at this time in the cooling process. I managed to reach one 20-mile award from the front of the kiln. The picture at left shows the runner side of the piece that I pulled out which was facing to the left when in the kiln, so that most of the ash hit to the right of the runner and I got some nice flashing on the left side of the runner.
It seemed appropriate to take a picture of it on the ice.
Here's a little clip of Levi doing a stoke near the end of the firing. If you watch, notice the smoke after he puts the first log in. That's his glove burning.
