2017-11-27 - Monday - Salting and deer

Monday we finished firing the salt kiln. If you've never attended a salt kiln firing, we add the salt at the end of the firing. The salt (sodium chloride) atomizes and breaks down so the salt coats the pots and the chlorine goes out of the chimney. It's a community event and we usually have several people helping out with it.

We made it a real community event when I put us on Periscope for the salting process. I was talking to a user in the U.K. (who knew Doug and Hannah!) and later to my friend Ang in Australia. It's a big community.

One of the two forced-air burners.

Greg, Kurt, and yours truly waiting to salt.

We shut down the kiln when it was finished and everyone packed up and left. I was last (go figure) and noticed as I was driving out of the parking lot that I could see light between the bricks of the kiln as I went by. Watch this short video. You will see the gaps light up, cascading across the wall of the kiln as the camera moves. I love to notice little things like this.

When I got home I noticed some visitors across the street so I stopped my van in the road and grabbed some photos. They were not alarmed about my running van so close to them and didn't even mind being in the spotlight. They were vigilant, but just kept feeding on the neighbor's grass and acorns.

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2016-03-08 - Tuesday - Salt firing

Tuesday night we finished firing the salt kiln by adding salt and soda to it. I don't have any photos of the salting since I was one of the salters.

These photos show Adrienne, Cindy, and Daniel spraying soda into the kiln. Adrienne pulled the brick, Cindy sprayed the soda, and Daniel held the sprayer can up so she could reach. If you've never sprayed soda in a kiln at cone 9 or 10, there are some interesting things to note.

1. When you spray the soda to a count of five, you then have to quench the brass sprayer nozzle in a bucket of water before spraying the next one to avoid it melting.

2. The light you are seeing in the photos is solely from the glow of the hot end of the brick Adrienne is holding (with a glove) in her hand. 2300+ degrees will do that.

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2014-11-13 - Thursday - MAJOR catch-up Part 1

Once again, the months have sped by without me posting here.  I'm going to try the quickest update yet.  Hold on and don't blink.

August 27 raku

On August 27 we had a community raku firing.  Good stuff.

Yard Art Day

On Labor Day (September 1) I put pots in the yard and threw some to celebrate Yard Art Day.

Son of Glaze-a-thon II

On September 2 I glazed lots of pots.

Fired pots

On September 11 I helped unload the kiln and got my pots back.

Salt firing

On September 16 we fired the salt/soda kiln.

Wet pots

On September 17 I made more pots.

Unloading salt kiln

On September 18 we unloaded the salt/soda kiln.

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During this time I made pots, took photos of sunsets, made more pots, installed a new dining room light, made still more pots, glazed some pots, and generally lived.

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Carolina Clay Matters Fall 2014 Pottery Festival
(formerly known as the barn sale)

October 11 was the CCM pottery festival and much like the spring show, we got drenched at the end.

On October 15 I completed my first set of stacking bowls for my friend Stan to give as a wedding gift.  Stan and I attended high school together about a million years ago and we have reconnected on Facebook.  If you have a chance, check out Stan's website.  He's a very good photographer.

On October 18 I joined the 3H Market at Ballantyne Village.  It's a very nice group of people who do all kinds of crafts and food.

Watch for Part 2 of the catch-up.



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2014-05-27 - Tuesday - Pots

Tuesday I trimmed the pot and lid.  I'm not sure about the way it looks together.  I'll have to revisit it later.

I also remembered to take a couple of photos of my salt fired hand pots.  The left one has brown slip and the right one has blue, even though it looks black.  There are no glazes on the body of the pots, just some slip.  I put a liner in them and dipped the rims, the salt took care of the rest.  I like the way these came out, but I think I will try other forms and surfaces in future salt firings.

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