Saturday's Pottery Stop

I didn't post last week after going to the farm on Sunday because.......Sunday was my only day off from work.  Long drive out, long drive back and lots of work in between.  Then work the following morning!  ugh!  And we had an employee quit and "guess who" gets to cover all his evening hours!!!!  double ugh!  So enough of my pity party.....
Last weekend we got the trusses up and the OSB board on the roof.  Getting those big 4'x8' sheets on the roof with just the two of us was quite the undertaking.  Jeff boosted one up onto the edge of the roof while I was inside the shed on a ladder.  I grabbed and held on while he got a 2x4 to push it further up to me.  When I got a good hold on it, I pulled it up the back side of the roof, balanced it over the peak and down the front side of the roof.  We had to bring it all up from the back side since the shed is built on a slope and the front side is too tall to reach from the ground.  When I got the piece onto the front side, Jeff ran around to the ladder and nailed the leading edge so it would stay put.  Then, with both hands free, we finished nailing it the rest of the way together.  When all the pieces were nailed in place, we tacked a tarp over the top of it all and called it a day.

THIS weekend was another story.  We opted to drive out Saturday afternoon and visit some local potters that hold an annual tour of their studios.  Right before we left, Jeff discovered one wheel on the trailer was loose.  Looks like we might have a worn bearing, so everything in the bed of the truck got crunched in Tetrus fashion to make room for the stuff on the trailer!  Everything but the ladder fit and it went on the roof.  We got there later than originally planned and only got to stop at the potters that set up around the outdoor, wood fired kiln.  A bit about this kiln, cuz I think it's soooooo cool.

The opening is big enough for me to stand inside and it takes them an entire day to load the thing correctly.  When it's all loaded, it takes another day to brick up the doorway and cover it with adobe.  Here's a picture of the back of the kiln so you can get an idea of what it would look like closed up.

When it's sealed tight, they build a fire in the firebox on the chimney side and burn that fire for 12 hours just to heat up the chimney and cause draft.  Then they fire up the box on the side opposite the chimney.  This is the real thing.  When it gets going, the temperature in the kiln gets up to 2350 degrees!!!  The fire has to go from the firebox, over a baffle, around all the pottery and down through vents on the floor of the chamber THEN up the chimney.  Even then, a 6' flame shoots out the chimney.  Someone has to be present the entire 48 hours it's firing.  When it's done, they let it cool for four days, then open it up and take the pottery out!!!  It's certainly not a simple thing to fire a few pots, so a co-op of potters all use it and tend it together. Here's the side of the kiln where they heat up the chimney.

And here's where they add the wood to the main firebox.

And here are two pieces we bought that were fired in this kiln.

The one on the left is a platter that will be perfect for Christmas cookies.  The one on the right will hold the first pumpkin pie made from my own pumpkins!!!!
More about our first night sleeping in the shed in my next post!