I spent New Year's Eve with my brother Dave, at his apartment. When I went back to Eva's at about 1:30 am, the temperature on my car thermometer was zero. Yes, zero. No windchill, no other modifiers, just zero. No wonder the snow was squeaking when we walked on it.
Thank goodness I was heading south.
Later in the afternoon, I was at Scott and Rich's. Their dog Sydney loves to be tucked in and in fact will whine in the evening until someone does it. We tucked her in for a nap in the afternoon. She's a big baby, and I mean big. She's a great Dane and weighs in over a hundred pounds, but she's still a baby.
My friend Dave sent me some Black Mountain sculpture clay from Aardvark Clays in CA. He told me how he swirls it with Coleman Porcelain and I couldn't wait to get my hands on some. It arrived and I threw one pot with it and then decided to try swirling it with Phoenix from Highwater.
Very interesting stuff. It's very gritty. After all, it is sculpture clay.
Saturday was the big day. We fired Hal's groundhog kiln and the pots got hot.
I've stated this here many times: the firing of a wood kiln is like a barn raising. It's a community effort, and we always have the nicest community at the firings.
It's a whole day of watching, adjusting, and feeding the fire. When you first do a stoke the smoke is black out of the chimney and the temperature rises. As the smoke clears the temperature starts to slide back down, so it's time for more stoking. It can be a cat and mouse game at times where the temperature plateaus for a while and you have to be able to read the signals to push past it.
I am learning more about this process every time I'm at the firing, but I will leave reading the kiln to Hal and Tara. They understand it's language and know what it needs.
Once the cones are down we hold it at temp for a bit of a soak and then it's time to get some dramatic photos and seal up the door. It takes several days to cool down. When it's fired on Saturday it's opened on Tuesday.
Thanks again (as always) to Hal and Corine for letting me be a part of a wonderful event. Thanks also to Tara, Chad, Dave, and Mark for making it fun and keeping the conversation lively.
Mark stoking the flames.
Stoking the kiln
I can't stress the extreme nature of the stoking enough. Right at the stoke holes those temperatures are above 2000 F. Notice how Mark pokes one piece of wood with another to get it out of the way and the piece he pokes it with is instantly combusting. We wear heavy welding gloves and don't spend any more time than necessary in front of the stoke holes. We have fun, but we're very careful.
During a stoke.
After the soak.
I finally went to see the "Deadpool" movie that night at the 10:00 pm showing. I was confused when the person at the ticket booth asked me which seat I wanted. Apparently when they renovated the theater in December they started doing assigned seating.
I stared blankly at the seating chart for a moment trying to process this new information. Rows A and B were available, and there was one seat in row F (the last row), so I took that one. I noticed there didn't seem to be a lot of seats in the room.
When I got into the theater I was shocked to find big, red, electric recliners where the seats had been. A quick count showed that there were only 49 seats in the room now. It was a surreal experience before the movie even started.
I really enjoyed the film, but I will tell you it was very crude and not for everyone.
It's been a while and life has been very busy. Here we go with some updates.
When last we left off, I was getting ready for the holiday sale.
On Friday 12/11/15:
Getting set up for the sale.
I finally figured out where to put the hydra light --in the ceiling.
I went to Sears to get some staples for hanging the drop cloths in the garage and found a bunch of bag worm cocoons in the junipers outside the store. Quite a few of them.
Bag worm cocoons.
A huge hillside of them.
On Saturday 12/12/2015:
The sale was good, especially for a holiday sale in 75 degree weather.
Kim's banner.
Our snacks for the sale (and sunscreen).
Saturday night:
Karen's company Christmas party.
Me and Karen.
Sunday 12/13/2015:
Taking down the sale.
Saturday 12/19/2015:
Monday 12/21/2015:
I found some TINY mushrooms growing out of the maple tree out back. I also found some brown lacewing larvae that cover their backs with moss and lichen. Cool stuff.
I used my clip-on macro lens for my phone which has a really short focus length so bear with me on this.
These are really tiny.
I like the barnacle-yness of the lichen.
Zooming out to show the scale.
REALLY tiny.
12/25/2015:
Our Christmas was pretty quiet. Meredith came home for more than a week and it was nice having a full house again for a while.
Meredith with Binkley and his Christmas bone.
Stephanie throwing wrapping paper at me.
Overnight cinnamon rolls.
12/31/2015:
The day after Christmas we went to Pennsylvania to visit family for the holidays. We had a great time for the week.
On New Year's Eve, my brother Dave took me to his favorite Thai restaurant where they decorate the plates with various sauces. The woman there really does beautiful work.
Tofu in mango sauce with a beautiful design.
A closer look. I love the addition of the swirl with all those geometrics.
For dessert we had the dream bomba which is chocolate covered peanut butter ice cream with a caramel center --and an umbrella.
Saturday we went back to Hal and Corine's to help fire the kiln. It was a great time as always but it was a bit colder this time than the others. Corine made sure we had a steady supply of hot boiled peanuts to keep us going and Adrienne made sure everyone was drinking plenty of water. Corine also rolled out a delicious lunch which we scarfed up quickly. There's nothing like a hot lunch on a cold day to keep you going.
We stoked the kiln until we could see the cones had fallen and then took a much-deserved rest on the porch with our beverages.
We fired the kiln by throwing wood in the firebox until we achieved the correct temperature and the pots were done.
We had a lot of fun during the day and a great lunch, not to mention lots of boiled peanuts.
Afterwards we had a beer and visited for a bit before heading down the road to home.
I can't tell you how great it is to be a part of this firing. It's fellowship, the joy of making, the anticipation of the finished pots, and enjoying time with the great people doing it. Hal and Corine have such a wonderful home you can feel the good karma all around you. It's a magical place and I feel honored every time I visit.
If you have a chance to attend one of their home sales, you can see what I mean. Don't miss it.
Back to the firing...
During one of the breaks I snapped some photos of the various artwork that sits atop the kiln.
The crew taking a breather. Adrienne, Hal, Dave, and Chad.
That's over 2000 F. If you don't think so, stand next to it for a second.
Hot stuff.
Finished with the final blast, some of the pots are visible behind the flames. Time to close it up and let it cool slowly. A job well done.
