Smokeless and Raku

I taught a half-day on Thursday, which means that I was up at 5AM. At 11:30 I bolted out of school to head to MA to fire the kiln at Nobles, by 2:30 we were loading. It was really hot, almost too hot to deal with. It was decided that we would start the kiln at 5 AM, and off we went to clean up, eat a fantastic dinner (Scallops and pasta), drink wine, and watch WIPEOUT which was remarkably close to MXC

At 9 PM I was having trouble staying awake but after a night of weird dreams 4:45 still managed to come way TOO early. We headed to the kiln and got things going, settling in for what was going to be a very long day. Steve came by at noon to reuse the heat from the kiln and raku some work (yes this kiln has a seperate Raku chamber). We had a really nice, much needed, heart to heart while waiting for the ware to heat up. It was almost comical to see this person who loves to GO FAST during every waking moment of life have to slow down and wait for the wood to do its thing. It was one of the best visits. I attribute this to being makers of objects together for once. After Steve left, John, Nora and I continued with stoking until about 6PM, coming to terms with the fact that we were not going to get cone 11 to push any further in the front. We cleaned up the kiln, then ourselves and then I settled into a long drive home.

I arrived home about the same time all hell broke loose in my life within the teenage world, and I spent the next 3 hours (until 2AM) tending to the mess. With all being fine in the end, I realized that I am way too old to handle impromptu all nighters well. When I finally did get some rest, Kenny and I had to be up 5 hours later for a wedding in Saratoga (which, tired or not, I wouldn't miss for the world).

The wedding (and better than IOWA explained) will be featured in a separate post.