Firing Again

We had five spectacular sunny days in a row last week!

I barely knew what to do with myself with so much sunshine. 🌞

Do I weed?

Mow?

Bask?

Well, I ended up doing all the above: weeding, mowing and basking.😎

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You may recall from my June 21st post, Notes From My Back Porch, I had a small snafu with the kiln hole cover for the lid:

As I was rolling my kiln onto my back porch from the garage, the cover for the kiln lid fell off and broke. 😱 A huge chunk of the kiln brick fractured and crumbled. Broken kiln brick can cause brick debris to stick to the melting glaze creating unwanted bumps, lumps and textures.

June 21 Notes From My Back Porch

My kiln guy quickly made a new one and I was back in business loading and firing, firing and loading my kiln last week. 🔥

Why does my kiln lid have a hole you ask?

The purpose of the hole is for ventilation during firing allowing water vapor, gases and fumes to escape.

Most electric kilns have a solid lid. They have peep holes down the side as well as a downdraft exhaust system at the bottom of the kiln for ventilation.

My electric kiln, however, is fairly primitive. I do not have a downdraft exhaust system because I fire outside on my back porch when the weather is sunny and dry! Water vapor, gases and fumes freely escape through the hole in the lid.

After all the water vapor and gases have burned off, I place the kiln hole cover on top of the hole allowing the heat to work on the clay and glazes.

Clouds rolling in this coming week.

Forecasting rain for the next seven days. 😫

Not optimal weather for my back porch studio; however, I will be busy taking refuge in the basement glazing.

Oh, the summer night, Has a smile of light, And she sits on a sapphire throne. ~Bryan Procter