Scenes from a Salt Kiln

We finally closed up the kiln,after a spot of crash-cooling,around two in the morning,having thrown in a massive 15 kilos of salt [we've been using 10-12 kilos until now]- I think it's time we had a look at what "too much salt" might look like.It was an interesting firing [firing with sydney is invariably interesting]-the kiln seems to have a slow spot around 900 degrees,after which it picks up;in the end,it had to be restrained from rushing up to 1300.It always amazes me how sensitive the kiln is to small changes in conditions-a couple of centimeters' movement of the damper shelf in the chimney is enough to move it from heavy reduction,with flames poking out all over the kiln and the temperature dropping,to quite rapid temperature rise and lighter reduction [we never manage to get oxidation,even with the chimney wide open-another mystery].Opening is planned for Friday morning.The cone in the picture is cone 10,around 1285 degrees,but photographed while crash-cooling at around 1100 degrees.Believe me,that's hot enough-I had to move quickly to get these shots,before the camera [and my finger-tips] started smoking.