HOME See also, the building of my "Olsen Fast Fire" kiln.
| The second firing took place a month after the first one, on DECEMBER 7-8, 2003. The weather was clear and temperature in the 30's. Wind was very gusty during the middle of the day. The first firebox was started at 7AM Sunday, and cone 9 finally dropped at 5AM Monday morning. Two friends, Sam and Larry stopped by for a few hours on Sunday with hot potato soup which really hit the spot. There was a full moon just like before, but no lunar eclipse. My dog Molly periodically came by to see what I was doing. It was a grueling experience, but I could not quit, as all would have been lost. At 2AM I felt like I was getting the hang of coordinating the damper with the stoking of the fireboxes. The heat of the firebox created sweat which froze walking from firebox to firebox. By 3AM I began cussing and swearing at the cones, then begging them to melt. Also tried throwing in anything that would burn fast, like 2 by fours, wood scraps, pine cones. Mostly tho, I used pine that I had hauled and split. I think the longer firing enhanced the glazes. The knee pads were a BIG help and also added warmth to the knee area. |
| The five spouted pots on the lower right actually have two walls, are stoneware, and can be used as teapots or jugs. Glazes on the large bottles contained ashes from Mt. Saint Helen's Volcano, courtesy of Martha Woods. all photos and collage by Shirley Cadmus. |