Firing

We started around midday,having taken a couple of hours to finish loading the kiln,placing cones and rings,and wrestling the 4-piece cast door into place.We drilled a new hole for the pyrometer,and fixed a pyrometer whose wires had been fried.Now,sixish,and,remarkably,on schedule,we're at 1030 degrees,having tried three burners (one developed a worrying cough,one had a too-overbored aperture,but the third,after some improvised mid-air plumbing,seems to be working just fine),with a reasonable reducing atmosphere,and a pleasing rate of rise of temp.In fact,we are having to slow the monster down a tad,so eager is it to reach those heady high temperatures.There's a bit of grey smoke at the chimney,and glowing orange cracks around the door,and the whole affair is rumbling in a serious and thoughtful fashion.I am having a cup of tea with Sydney,then a brief kip,then on duty for evening watch.This is a combined web- and kiln-log!Once again,new frontiers in communication!By the way,Hadass's site for the handle workshop (I forgot how to do links) is www.clay-or.com