Madrid Wood Fire Kiln Opening (Day 8)

These blossom cups are a new shape and design. There are some pre-firing pictures of them in an earlier post.

We opened the kiln yesterday, after a four-day firing and one-week cooling. We were all really happy with the results, lots of luscious pottery from every chamber. The work near the door was typically a little dry and cool, but that’s expected. Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite pieces. I’ll post a slide show of the actual opening & anagama characters tomorrow. Right now I’m tired and it’s freeezing in Albuquerque (mid-40s today… WTF happened to spring?!) so I’m going to go sit in front of the little fire in my living room.

Here’s what the cups looked like before the fire got ahold of them.

This large branchy vase is one of my favorite pieces from the firing. I ran out of time to paint it before we started loading the kiln, so I painted it green (dried but not bisque fired and very fragile!) during the hour commute to the kiln (I wasn’t driving). I love the ash effects and how they + fire changed the flowers in a way I couldn’t have.

One of the best things about collaborative projects — trades! Check out this tiny little carved turtle cup by Sandria, now part of my collection.

Here are the rest of the blossom bowls, lined up waiting to be photographed in my super-deluxe photography area (the bathroom). I’ll be listing these in my Etsy shop within the next few days.