Second Day Bowls

Thank goodness the weathermen were wrong when they predicted today's temperatures would range in the high teens lower 20's. If they had predicted the temps accurately to be in the mid-30's, i'd-a darn near killed myself today trying to fire another load in the kiln! Two days of firing back-to-back (that's 48 hours) with only 4 hours sleep per night darn near did me in!

Figure i'm just too old to be replaying Sleepless in Seattle . . . .

The Paragon kiln shut itself off twice during yesterday's firing. Seems as if when it contains 2 items instead of one, it shuts itself off twice instead of once! You really have to be on your toes to use a Paragon digital programmer kiln !!! By 8 o'clock last evening there was definitely tension in the air. Would the kiln complete the job or was all that lost sleep going for nothing?

Ah . . . . . . . . . . !!!

It finally did reach temperature.

Was so glad to see that this cup/bowl turned out fine. There was a lotta work involved in carving out all those little half moons and then in trying to stay within the lines when glazing. How can something which looks so simplistic have taken up so much time? Had forgotten to wet-sponge it off before applying the glaze. Have discovered that wet-sponging before glazing really helps the glaze settle into the bisquedware and diminishes the chance of minor glaze cracks. So i worried.

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx This little Yunome cup did just fine also.

xxxxxxx Am delighted that they both survived their journey thru the inferno!

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Doesn't look like much was accomplished in two solid days of firing, does it?!!

Wish i'd done things a wee bit differently when i was buying my kilns. Wish i had gone with a large electric kiln and a smaller gas kiln, instead of the other way around. But as i recall, we were having fierce electrical storms every day at that time with plenty of electricity outages. Figured a gas kiln would be more practical under those conditions.

And, just to think, if i'd bought a Skutt instead of a Paragon electric kiln -- it probably would-a worked perfectly !!! At least Skutt would probably have honored its warrenty . . . .

Ah sure now and isn't there some old, mostly forgotten, adage out there about hindsight?

Chae