I won’t load the kiln until I get back from Cape Cod in the middle of next week, but I’m doing all I can to be ready before I leave. Painting shelves always makes takes my mind back to Winchcombe. The wood kiln has about 140cu.ft of packing space and was fired every 3 weeks or so! That’s a lot of pots made by a team of 6. Anyway, one of my jobs was painting about 120 shelves, often in a cold, unheated kiln shed listening to BBC Radio 1 (Rod Stewart’s ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’…early Police…the Talking Heads). The kiln wash mix we used was alumina hydrate and wallpaper paste. After the firing we just brushed the alumina off and used it again because the paste, being organic, just burnt away. I’ve never tried this with the salt kiln. I ought to at least try? Today was a perfect day for this chore. I’m not feeling all that well and a nice mindless job in the sun was all I was up to.
Since I started firing this kiln five or six years ago, I have come to love seeing the shelves with their fresh coat of kiln wash, ready for pots. It signals some kind of beginning for me.
Hey, Daniel. We’re back from Tobago. When will we see you here on the Cape?
I hope you’re feeling better!