offcntr | At last, new pots!

...although more than half of the kilnload--not shown here--was commissions and wholesale orders. This is just the bit I get to take home for Market.

Still a lot of oxidation in unexpected places, including top and back of the kiln, with good reduction near the door--that never happens. Part of the problem may have been my fault. I didn't notice that the potter who fired previous to me had recut a brick that sits atop the damper filling the gap between it--an old kiln shelf--and the chimney. We measure how far open or closed the damper is by marks on the kiln shelf that we line up with that brick, and since the new one was bigger than the old, my body reduction setting was a good inch wider open than ideal. I caught the mistake an hour later, trimmed down the brick so the damper read accurately again, but at that point, the damage was done.

The biggest negative effect was on the dinner setting. Some of the pieces got good reduction, some didn't, and the iron oxide stain in particular got bleached out. I'll have to talk to the buyers next week and see what they think. I may need to redo a bunch of plates. Fortunately, I've got a back-up set of the small bowls that didn't fit into this firing, so they're ready for next time.

That said, there was still a lot of nice stuff coming out.