waiting game.

i finished the firing at about 4:30am, the kiln was pretty fickle most of the firing, well more than usual. it was real erratic with temperature gains and temperature fluctuations for the first 3/4 of the firing, again more than usual. i had an unusual stack this time so that may be part of it, but i'm just not sure.

i had a nice little reception from the fire department at about cone 9, 2 trucks and 3 police cruisers, someone called them and told them our barn was on fire. while explaining to them about the kiln and that i had a permit i lost about 150 degrees and was asked if i could keep the flame from coming out of the stack because we're under burn ban. so i proceeded to fire with the one or two sticks every 30 seconds method which actually got me back up to cone 10 in about 30 minutes, then i gave it a good soak and shut her down. i had the fire marshall stop by this morning and take a peek at the kiln and he told me that while we're under burn ban i need to have a spark arrester on the stack, he was real nice and told me how to make one because of the size of my stack it would be expensive to buy one. this is grass fire country so these guys take their business very seriously, this is what happens when people are careless with cigarette butts and sparking tailpipes and such things, that place is the next county over, about 30 minutes from here.

unloading wednesday afternoon, keep your fingers crossed. cheers.