Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Had The Power All Along

Kilns waiting for use.

My kilns were shut off and unplugged a few years ago when things sorta changed in my life. I packed them (and their kiln guardians) up for the big move, moved them into their new space, and they have since collected cobwebs and lots of dust down in my basement studio.

I'm not one for making New Years Resolutions, but this year I made an exception. This year I made a promise to myself that at some point I'd have both my kilns, "Starbuck" and "Spanky" fully functional. I gave myself till December 2013.

An opportunity came about this week to talk to my father about my kilns and the possibility of running a 220 line into the house. I figured I'd just throw that idea of getting things started to him so we could both plan to tackle this. I figured by the summer we'd be involved in the project. He was over the next day to assess the kilns and the volts and amps and all that technical stuff. His assessment? Just plug it in.
I apparently had the power to use the kilns as is all along. So this weekend, at some point, I'll have the big "plug in" and test fire something cause Lord knows I've forgotten my times and firing temps and calculations for this color and that. I should have written that all down, but no matter, all I have to do is plug them in.

Three of my favorite pieces.


Raku clay and raku glaze.

Raku clay and raku glaze.

Pioneer clay harvested in the woods near my
home. Raku glazes which did strange things. A
true OOAK cause I don't even know how these effects happened.

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