As it happens, while I am taking my first blog around the block so to speak, my kiln is cooling with the first load of glaze ware it has held since its recent reconditioning. Buying this second hand kiln reminded me of the day I bought my first car in 1975--a classic beige VW Beetle. It was hardly new at the time it come to into my hands, not all that pretty, but gave great service. I sold it 6 years later for considerably more than I paid for it. I am hoping this kiln, which was being manufactured at the Cress factory about the year the Bug was purchased, will be as good an investment.
It fascinates me to stare into its deep hole of an eye during firing...peering into its fiery soul as it changes from deep cherry red to intense vermilion. Once I smelled that weird disgusting odor of singed hair and realized there are limits to peering into the depths of 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, even with many inches of firebrick between the glow and the hair on my chinny chin chin. But as the evening cools down considerably here in So Cal, so do the bowls and samples inside the kiln. There isn't much I can do to speed things along at this point, except wait until morning when I will open the top, and like Christmas morning, behold a beautiful gift, or a lump of coal.
Wish me luck.
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I would hasten to add at least one more factor to your formula of mud + water + fire, and that would be TALENT! And, in your case especially, also SPIRIT. Your pieces are almost as beautiful as you are, Anne. I look forward to following your artistic journey with its ups and downs and unexpected twists and turns, hoping it might kindle a spark of creativity yet undiscovered within me :) Love, Christie
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