First Kiln Firing

Malley came up on Saturday, February 12th, to help me load the kiln for the first time.  We figured it would take about 10 or 12 hours to fire so we loaded it on Saturday and I was to start it up early Sunday morning when I'd be around all day.

The first shelf

Filling the kiln.

Second shelf

Third shelf, which is a half shelf

It's full and ready to fire

 So I went out on Sunday  morning and flipped on the first switch at 8.  I flipped on the second switch at 10 a.m. and the third switch at 12 noon.  I then just waited one hour between switch number 4 and another hour for switch number 5.  So they were all on at 2:00 and at about 3:30 the kiln sitter shut the kiln off.

This was much faster than we'd expected - just 7.5 hours.  I was a little worried when I looked at the cone set on the bottom shelf and could see that none of those cones had bent, indicating that it hadn't really gotten up to the required temperature.  However, the kiln sitter cone had bent and turned the kiln off so I was still hopeful.
 

The cones after firing

 I had to wait until Monday to let it cool off enough to empty, so Monday morning before work I opened it up and the kiln was still warm.  I pulled out the piece below and could see that it had turned fairly pink as they should when it's bisqued.

A bisqued piece - it's actually more pink than it looks in this photo.

More of the fired pieces.  The white ones are porcelain.

I think the kiln should have fired for a bit longer than it did but I think the pieces will be okay to glaze and fire again.  I'll try to do that soon, for the experience.

Rick had to pick up a faculty candidate from the airport tonight so he stopped by Portland Pottery to pick up supplies for me.  I got a bunch of glazes and underglazes, some kiln wash, some more cones, etc.