It is a Peek

Early this morning we unbricked the top layer of the kiln's door. The kiln has been cooling down for a little over 24 hours now. Still too hot to unbrick the door. But cool enough for us to take a peek inside to see what we have waiting for us.

Now a few hours later, we are able to take off another two rows of brick. We think things are looking good, but it is so hard to make accurate assessments at this point until we really get inside.

There are always refinements and adjustments to be made, like wishing that maybe a glaze had gone on a bit thinner. It is hard to make these fine adjustments when firing infrequently. There is a certain way that we like this grey glaze to come out, and maybe we should record the specific gravity for the more sensitive glazes to get a consistent thickness . The application and heat have to be just right, then Bruce and I can sigh in relief and satisfaction, and say this is it, this is what we like. But with all of the variations that can happen between firing, glazing, materials, etc., flexibility must remain a positive attribute.

We bought this tent last week for Michael's brush work demonstration. We decided to go with the bigger size so that everyone that is watching Michael will have plenty of room to sit. He will be pulling out the brushes on 2:00 Sat. and 1:30 Sun. Bring your June/July Ceramics Monthly magazine for Michael's signature. He is featured with a two page article this issue.