Finally we have had some rain and the ground is now damp again. That means getting my kiln cleaned up and ready to fire. First on the list of undesirable jobs was cleaning the shelves. In an electric kiln you only have to do it if you have a runny glaze. At school I make sure that NEVER happens. Anything questionable goes onto clay 'cookies' that catch any drips. However..when you are firing with wood the ash becomes an airborne glaze that lands on everything. Of course that is why your pots turn out so great, but it also makes a huge mess of the shelves. Last time I got the brilliant idea to use some Aspen wood, a noted ash maker. Pots were outstanding, even got a dragon's eye pot ! The shelves were another story. Of course going to cone 12 instead of the usual 10 didn't help.
Enter my trusty angle grinder and a sharp chisel and a rock hammer. Safety glasses and the respirator for the dust. It only took about an hour and a half, but couldn't do it before because the grinding causes sparks and there is lots of dry grass around that could have caught fire. After the shelves are clean of glaze drips they have to have a good coat of kiln wash. This is a really refractory mix of kaolin and alumina that sort of helps protect them. Now we are good to go.
Next task was taking all the ash out. Did that. Then taking out the old silica sand on the floor. It also gets hard from all the melted ash, but does a really good job of protecting the kiln floor.
Brought out a bunch of pots and washed them. The glaze will 'crawl' if there is any dust on the pots. Tomorrow is glazing and loading. But before I can load I
have to make wadding.
Wads are used to separate everything, otherwise it would all get stuck together from the melted ash. You use kaolin, some alumina and sawdust dampened with enough water to hold them together without crumbling. You make little balls for the pots and big ones for the shelf props.
This really sounds like a lot of work just to get some pots fired! Wood firing is more work, but more fun too!
The last photo is of the cone packs drying out on top of my wood cookstove. For a treat I put up the spoonholder made for me by one of my best students. Actually he didn't make it for me....a leg fell off and he was going to ditch it in the trash but decided to give it to me instead. It is of a road kill crocodile with the visible tire tracks on the stomach!! That kid has a cool sense of humour.
Took these photos around 3 pm. After the -35 C it looked like we had freezeup coming along nicely. Then one of those huge storms from the Gulf of Alaska moved our way. The temperature went up to 0 C and the winds howled. Some of the ice held, but there is going to be quite a mess at the edge. The sound is amazing, all that bashing and crashing of the ice chunks.
We had to go to Whitehorse on Wednesday to deliver the first part of the hat order. We saw these three caribou on the road on the way in. I have been seeing them closer to home. At night of course! Luckily they have a nice big white patch that reflects light. I donèt care how many people complain about my slow driving, you sure don't want to hit one of these guys. Woodland Caribou are BIG. And really stupid too. If they are in the ditch they like to jump up on the road right in front of you. And if they are in the road they like to run down it instead of getting off.
After the ash has settled and the pots removed there is still a big job for a wood-firer. Cleaning up the kiln and kiln shed. This time I have to remove the sand from the bottom of the kiln because it is so full of melted ash that it is stuck together. It protects the floor of the kiln from glazing. There are wads to pick up and the worst part, shelves to clean. They weren't nearly as bad as last time. Start with a sharp chisel use the angle grinder as needed. The truck load of wood is now down to a five gallon pail of ash. The ash will be spread in the bush and the wads and sand become fill beside the shed.
It was supposed to snow today and then get -30 by the end of the week. No snow today and a very manageable -1. This evening I see that they are only calling for -22. Not that bad either.
Back from my latest adventure to the lower 48. Time to get back to work! Just finished four days of pit-firing in my two trashed wood stoves. They work much better than a pit in the ground. Because they are lined with soft brick they hold the heat better and it is much easier to get the temperatures needed for good and consistent colour development. Out of 48 pots fired 46 were good to sell. One cracked and one got a piece of the ratty stove dropped on it....of course it was a large bowl, now on the shard pile.
When I go outside the first thing I do is check for 'wildlife'. My trusty dog Cassie is first out and she lets me know who else is out there. She has a major hate-on for bears......we think she was a Karelian bear dog in another life. It is just an assumption you make, living in the bush, that a bear could be outside your door. Usually they aren't, however the possibility is definitely there.
Here is Ken's comment....''They look better than they do in the pictures". i agree! Wish I had more time, would have made several different pairs to choose from.
