Thank you Hannah!!

This is what the mailman brought to me al the way from Hannah.

Not just one gift but three!! Thanks you so, so much Hannah! I love them!

They feel just perfect and the glaze is amazing.

As always with pictures I take, they don't do the pots justice. The glaze has beautiful little specs and the color is much nicer in 'real life'.

Thanks for some very nice 'Scenes from an Italian restaurant'. :-D

Oh, and thanks to Billy Joel to I guess, haha.

I have been absent from this blog for a while. There's so much happening in my life, some good, some not so good and some just plain rotten. I haven't had the energy to post on this blog, have been absorbed in everything that has been going on.

I feel like I'm in some sort of transition in my life, or maybe it's my midlife crisis, haha, who knows. :-)

Thank goodness for clay, I think it has kept me sane. 

And, finally I got to fire a woodfired salt kiln with Bert. The potter I wrote about in my last post, long, long ago... :-)

I still don't feel like writing much so here are some pictures of my very first woodfiring-adventure.

I can say that I loved it with all my heart and feel like this is a big steppingstone for me and my claywork.

As everything in my life is changing and seems to be different than I thought and felt it was this may be one of the good changes!

Enjoy the pics and please leave a comment, this is a big learning-curve for me, as my life itself is at the moment.

blessed be,

Monique

We 'practiced' the filling of the kiln in the studio. In the end the kiln was filled a bit different though...

At 300 C the fireboxes looked like this:

The spyhole at 300C

The kiln from the front. On the right you can see the glow from one of the fireboxes.

After 13,5 hours of stoking the kiln, (we reached 1300C and we salted at 1280C) the fireboxes were closed with bricks and slib.

Next morning the kiln was still hot, we unbricked the outside layer of the door for some more slow cooling.

The rings we drew from the kiln to check the saltglaze.

At noon we could have a sneakpeak. (finally!! the waiting is agony... haha, patience is not a friend of mine)

This is Bert unbricking the door.

Front row.

Back row.

Discussing the results.

Results, some successes and some failures but I have learned a lot! It was so much fun!

Now I'm going to pack my suitcase. I'll be of for a couple of days. 

My dancepartner and I will submerge ourself in the international world of ballroomdancing.

A needed break from real life, :-)

When I come back I will post some pictures of my pots out of this firing.

Happy potting!