Bringing the Heat this Week

Firing all the kilns!

Goldilocks repair was just right.

During the last firing of the IUS soda kiln, I saw a significant bow of one of the walls. I cut my firing off as soon as I hit temp and did not proceed with down firing. After unloading and assessing the issue, Brian came up with an ingenious idea of using jacks to slowly push the wall back in when the kiln is at temperature (~2300 degrees Fahrenheit). Over the summer I started preparing the kiln for this adventurous repair. This all came to a head this Monday where Brian and I used car jacks to slowly press the wall back in. Above are the before and after images of the flame box wall. We were able to close the gap by 8 mm! Narrowing a 14 mm crevice to a reasonable 6 mm.

Other firings and happenings.

Throughout this past week, I bisqued all my work and am preparing for firing in the newly repaired soda kiln. This weekend is going to be filled with glazing. I’m still playing with the blue and white, but I want to find a higher contrast surface to this aesthetic. I’m continuing my investigation into high iron flashing slips and how much surface area they take on the pot.

I’m finally starting to push through my summer project, the big 4, by bisquing them this past week. However, I have ran into an issue that I will need to figure out down the line—they’re too wide to fit through the soda kiln door!