Friday we made up some for lost time. Unloaded the 16 cu ft bisque load.
Another perfect load. I was really glad to see the ten fish platters make it through. Eight of them are ordered for Images of Canada, and I started with twelve, breaking two while trimming them. I tried to trim them before they were totally dry and they didn’t handle the stress very well. (Come to think of it, neither did I!) Still have two spares so that is cool.
Cindy worked on trimming and throwing more of the show pots and built a couple of teapots.
Recording artist Karla Anderson came in and signed her heart bowl from the VIP session. Very artistic first attempt!
She has just released her first CD and was in the city to play at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Took time out from her busy schedule to sign her bowl.
I worked on slab platters and sushi sets for the rest of the afternoon. I took some pictures for an addition to the How To Make Pottery web site on slab building. We both ran out of steam about the same time so called it a day. The ten cubic foot kiln with all the big platters was still at too high a temperature for us to open it and feel safe. We can’t afford to lose any pieces this close to show time!
Today we went in and I unloaded the ten cubic ft bisque, then we loaded a bisque in the 7 cu ft. I pugged clay for mugs for Cindy, then took a quick trip over to Plainsman Pottery Supply to see Larry. All I needed was 2.5 kg of placing sand, but we had to have it before we glaze fired the big platters. $2.50 is pretty cheap insurance when it comes to a 22 Inch platter. Larry said he thinks our new kiln should be in this coming Thursday, so looks as if I have a project for the weekend following the Gift Show. We’ll retire the 7 cu ft, and put the new 16 cu ft in its place. I will have to run an exhaust vent and fan above this one as it is too far away from the window and existing fans. Luckily the old bakery building we are in has a wood frame extension on the walls above the brick so it should be fairly straighforward to do a decent job of venting. I think we’ll also have to talk to an electrician about installing another 200 amp service panel for us.
We had some lunch when I got back then went back to work. I waxed the big pieces. We then tried to figure out the best way to glaze them. We are using 32 gallon garbage cans for glaze containers. 
The problem is the inside diameter is 22 inches and narrows a bit as you go toward the bottom. A 22 inch diameter platter makes for a tight fit. I did buy a 44 gallon can but it is just taller, almost the identical diameter. We finally solved the problem this time with Cindy pushing on the sides of the can while I dipped the piece. No dipping tongs made which can handle anything this big without damaging the ware so I got to glaze my hands!. The vases were a problem as well. We decided to pur glaze into them and then roll them as we poured the glaze out, then dip the rim by holding the pot upside down. Once the rim had dried I pushed the vase straight down into the glaze trusting displacement to raise the level enough to glaze the whole outside. That worked good up to a point. The 30000 gram batch of glaze I mixed up a couple of weeks ago was not quite deep emough. Cindy had to do a quick splash all around the neck. Once I removed the vase from the glaze bucket she did a final touch up with a brush.
All in all they didn’t turn out too uneven.
Cindy did her splash magic on each piece and then we went to load the glaze load in the 16 cu ft, and…………….realized we needed the shelves from the 7 cu ft to set the platters on because the shelves in the 16 cu ft weren’t wide enough by themselves to support the entire diameter of the large platters. We stopped the bisque fire in the 7 cu ft, it was still at 150 degrees, just getting ready to start ramping up to 200. We unloaded that kiln, took the round one piece shelves, and sat one under each platter on top of the kiln shelves in the 16. I made sure there was lots of placing sand under each one. Four large platters and three large vases made up a kiln load. Had to get creative under the vases as well to make sure none of them were over a crack. Full support is necessary as at glaze temperatures the clay will sag if not totally supported. While I was loading the 16 Cindy reloaded the 7 using half shelves and odds and ends. Got a fair amount of the original load back in! SHe reprogrammed it to start up where it had left off and I set the 16 to ramp slowly up to 190 and hold until the other kiln had finished. Once we finished our pot juggling routine we decided we had done enough for one Saturday. It was also after 5:00, so although there is still some throwing to do we called it a day. We’ll get up at 6 and head in tomorrow morning. Can’t leave until everything is thrown. Has to be done tomorrow if we are going to make the show. We’ll also glaze and fire again in the 10 cu ft. We sat for awhile today and planned out how the display will be set up. All the big stuff will go in the extra five feet of our new 10 x 15 ft booth. We’re going to use the tea set crates we purchased some time ago as risers to display the large pieces. Should look prety good.
Started raining again! Just when we get some decent drying weather. Well, at least we aren’t sitting out on the side of the hill at Gallagher Park at the Folk Festival. Loses a bit of its charm when that happens!
Well, tomorrow is that proverbial, another day, so….
nite