My kiln officially set a new record. It took 8ish hours to fire--normal--and 24 hours to cool down enough to open. A 32 hour total fire. Wow. It was indeed hot here.
Fired the kiln. No trouble with the firing, but.....DUH!!! It's going to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to cool down!!
I went out to start the kiln last night, and when it knocked the breath out of me how hot it was at 9pm, I decided.....maybe tomorrow!
It's tomorrow, and if you can believe it, it's supposed to be as hot--but with a higher heat index--117--today! I think I'm going to try to find a space helmet so I can breath! JK. I am going to start my kiln today. I am interested to see how the heat affects the firing. I've never had to give much thought to how the heat affects a firing! Conversely, I've given A LOT of thought to how the extreme cold affects it. (It's actually more of an issue for the computer on the kiln than the kiln.) BTW, the pieces I made two days ago have not even begun to dry. I think they--like most people--are refusing to do any work, and are simply conserving energy until the heat breaks! (The break comes on Thursday!! Yea!!) I think I will begin to pack up my studio today. That is going to be a huge challenge! Since I have done quite a bit of teaching, I have a number of kids pieces on my shelves! Each one of them is precious but space is becoming a premium!! (If you've ever been in my studio, I know you are probably saying, "Becoming?!! You've been out of space for years!!") I have rented a storage space just for Altaredartist, so even though I won't know where anything specific is, at least I'll know where it generally is! If you can fry an egg on the sidewalk, I wonder if you can bisque clay on my patio? It's hot. Really hot. Really, Really, Really hot. lest you think I'm complaining, let me clarify: I'm whining and being ungrateful. I'm whining along with everyone else here. Let's face it--when the heat index exceeds 110, even the most staunch "Minnesota nice" melts! I'm being ungrateful (even though I have an air conditioner), because my clay won't dry. Many people up here don't even have an air conditioner. In the deep winter, I fuss that my clay won't dry because the cold inhibits the evaporation of moisture from my work. Right now the work won't dry because of the absurdly high humidity level! I moved up here to get away from that weather junk! It found me this week.
I loaded the kiln yesterday for a bisque fire. I also created several new pieces, so in theory I should be able to turn around and do a second bisque fire immediately. The theory then says that I should be able to do back to back glaze fires before I have to load up my studio and kiln and move to my new home location. Yep. I'm moving. In a couple of weeks. To a Yurt, on a farm. Sound Artsy enough for ya?! Like I said in the title, Never a dull moment! I took a chance and it paid off! I will be doing the show in Galena, IL in August. Can't wait to get back into the studio. (Aiming for at least half a day on Saturday.)
|