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| Samantha handing a covered jar over to Bruce |
We loaded our gas kiln this past Sunday in preparation for the upcoming Celebration of Seagrove Potters, November 19 and 20, annually the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year the Celebration has expanded to a studio tour along with the inside event at the Historic Luck's Cannery. Early bird begins at the Luck's Cannery at 9:00am and the main event opens at 10:00am. We will be participating in the studio tour part of the event. We are looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend at our pottery shop. We are taking precautions against the Sars-cov-2 virus as well as flu, so we are requesting everyone to wear masks in our pottery shop. We surely appreciate helping us keep everyone as healthy as possible.
There will be an information booth set up catty-corner from the General Wine and Brew in downtown Seagrove-- handing out maps and information about the weekend. There will be food trucks set up at the Wine and Brew and the Lucks Cannery.
Our gas brick kiln has served us well the past 22 years. The bricks were recycled from two previous kilns all the way back into the early 1970's. If only these bricks could talk... lots of firings, memories, successes, occasional trauma.
We currently fire this kiln with a strong body reduction early on, and then a light reduction throughout. Over the years we have figured out a stacking that works well in the kiln. Though every once in awhile we do change something with the stacking because of the size and shape of what we made that particular cycle. For example putting plate stackers too close to the front brick door or the flue opening -- or not enough space at the top -- these stack configurations can clog up the heat work in the kiln and we can be stalled at the end of the firing. When the kiln stalls this can make the firing 4-5 hours longer then usual. From experiencing these lessons we include taller pieces for the bottom to mix with the plate stackers and even taller pots at the top to give room for the flame and heat to move around the kiln. Also we know not to put plate stackers too close to the brick door or the flu exit in the back. Lessons learned.
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| The beginning of the first row of shelves in the kiln |
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| The front of the kiln is nearly finished |
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| Bruce puts in the final kiln shelf at the top |
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| Bruce is bricking up the door to our gas kiln |
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| The brick door is just about finished, we are getting the cone packs lined up |
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| Bruce and Samantha matching flannel selfie picture with the kiln |
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