Last Glaze Fire Of The Year -Shortest Day

[Mark C.]

I’m firing my last car kiln glaze fire of the year on Wednesday the shortest day of the year. I’m candling tonight to about 800 degrees. I’ll get it going hard at 4 am so I can get it turned off when I’m not setting up or closing my xmas pottery booth. This is a late fire for me as I’m usually done firing by now.

This will be my 26^th glaze fire load in this car kiln this year. It’s a 35 cubic foot kiln. I fired 27 loads last year. I fired 28 glaze loads in my small 12 cubic footer this year which is up by about 10 loads more than last year so I’m not slowing down fast enough I feel. Maybe the two less shows next year will help.

I’ll get this kiln unloaded and in my booth by Friday so I’ll have a few days to sell it to customers. I have been sending a load down every few days now near the end, as well as dropping off pots at 4 outlets every other day as they are selling them now very well and the back stock goes fast.

Its been a great pottery year but I’m feeling a bit burned out about now as this is the way it is every year about now. I had a customer today thank me for having my booth open the past 38 years just before Xmas, which makes me feel they get it sometimes. Good customers always make it seem worthwhile.

This year my local outlets seem to want more pots than normal-I will not know how the sales shake out until early in 2017. The fall has been up for me at most shows. I have this love hate deal with xmas every year. It’s my 38^th year of this pottery booth in town and I always about now just want it to be the 25^th so it’s over. Only 4 more days. I get a bit sad on the last fire, as the studio will be empty for some weeks ahead during my winter break. Only have a few boxes of pots packed to ship out after Xmas for UPS to customers.

Today is one of my last  for making pottery runs to outlets-only need to go to two today before opening booth for sales

 

Looks like a trip to Cambodia this winter for us as my sister is there for 6 months and wants us to visit. I have been reading up on the ceramics there and plan to look up a few potteries there. Maybe someone on this forum has been to potteries in Cambodia and can speak about them?

[graybeard]

Spent almost week there in 1969, didn't see any potteries though.

 

Gbeard

[nancylee]

I've always wondered - what is a car kiln? Thanks!

[Chilly]

It's a kiln that you can load up from all four sides, and then roll into the outer shell, see this from Mark C's gallery:  http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/gallery/image/1594-pots1jpg/

[Mark C.]

Thanks Chilly-

I have some photo issues and could not post them from I photo this week

Heres a bisque load on the car which rolls out and into the kiln.Its much easier on the back loading and a lot faster to load and unload. Say I averaged 30 glaze loads a year and 30 bisque loads and did this for say 40 years thaw 60 loads a year x40 which is 2400 loads which you can well imagine takes its toll on your body. That why I built this kiln in the 70's I used to do 35 glaze loads a year now down to 26.

When you work with clay and I mean lots of clay you learn to work smart about how you move it wether in boxes or thrown wares or loading and unloading.I'm not working with a few pots but thousands of pots each year.

Clay keeps me young and wears me down both at the same time.

[bciskepottery]

http://www.walihawes.com/kilns/car_kiln.php

 

zoom, zoom

[ayjay]

My last glaze fire of the year will be tomorrow - yes Xmas day - I screwed up a Xmas pressie for nipper and so I remade it - bisque firing later today - glaze and fire tomorrow.  Travelling down to furthest depths of SW Wales to see him on Tuesday.

 

Merry Christmas everyone - and don't eat too many humbugs - I already have.