Tuesday, June 22, 2010

hot hot hot

ok.  no break in the temps.  I have a smaller kiln on site, now I just need a new outlet to plug it in.  This week (so far!) I've fired twice.  Well, not this week.  Once on Saturday, once yesterday.  Both smaller loads, fired in the wee hours of the morning.  I can load in the afternoon and fire the first two cycles (warm up- 2+ hours, medium 2+ hours) with the air going and then turn up the kiln to high and turn the air off as we go to bed*.  The bisque firing was finished at 2am, so I turned the air back on when it was finished.  The glaze firing I did last night took until almost 4 (I wake up every few hours to check on the progress when I fire through the night- a nervous wake-up habit), but it was nice to wake up for real in the morning to a cool rather than stifling house.  Firing smaller loads means less time glazing (per session), which is very good for me.  I'd rather work for three hours at it than six hours.

I hope to have some brand new things to show you before Friday.  Fingers crossed.  On Saturday I'll be at the farmers market.  Saturday feels like a million miles away, but Monday already feels like a year ago.

I hope you're having a good week.  I feel like things are settling down here a bit, which is good.  Tomorrow I'm going to swim and work on the wheel.  I'm looking forward to both.

*If you're new to me, I have an old house (1922) with old wiring (ahem. though not 1922, it still provides a limited amount of power) that doesn't allow me to run the air conditioning and the kiln on its highest setting.  Once the air was on, a supplemental AC unit was going, and the microwave was on and we lost power.  When we build a new studio we'll also put in a new/separate electrical box so that I can run both at the same time)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cant wait to see your new goodies. Mom called tonight to tell me she loves her butter crock!

nicole said...

New reader here, I really enjoy your blog and your shop, though I'm still only "window shopping".
When you talked about air-condition and firing your kiln I was confused at first, my mum also does pottery and I'm pretty sure she usually fires her kiln outside, I guess now I know why!

bridgmanpottery said...

hi, Nicole, I should clarify- the kiln is outside, but my house is old (as is the wiring) and I'll blow a fuse if I run the AC and the kiln at the same time!

amy h said...

Babysitting your kiln at night sounds like having a newborn! :) I'm glad the new smaller kiln makes things a little easier though.

Mama Urchin said...

Hot here too and the upstairs AC is not wokring at 100%, I think it needs a recharge. I'm convalescing staring at the ceiling fan.

nicole said...

*lol* that makes so much more sense. I live in an old house, too. Some of our electric wiring has been put in new and some is still "original vintage". I don't think I've blown a fuse since moving in, but I don't run heavy duty things, so I'm probably lucky.