Firing again

[offcntr]

One month to the day since my last firing, I'm back in the kiln. I normally tell people that it takes about six weeks to turn around our 50 cubic-foot kiln. Unload, sort, price; make, bisque, glaze, reload--it's a lot of work.

All bets are off at Christmas time, though. I started making pots for this firing before I finished the last one, loaded a bisque while the turkey was roasting on Thanksgiving day, and left Denise to run the booth on Black Friday (which was at best, grayish for us) while I glazed batter and serving bowls. I also had about twelve ware boards of pots left over from my last firing, which helped, at little. (There's currently six of them left on my shelves from this one.)

So we loaded the kiln yesterday afternoon, lit it off to candle last night, and I came in at 5 this morning to start firing in earnest. With a little luck, it'll be coasting toward cone 4 at noon while I go over to load in pots at Holiday Market. A craftsman's holiday--the world's biggest juggling act.

Don't try this at home, boys and girls. We're professionals.