We are finally getting around to firing the fruits of the pottery merit badge and all of the fun that brought our family! With Matthew and Nathan doing the merit badge, everyone wanted to join in the fun of clay. We spent 3 summer days playing with clay and not much else. We made pinch pot monsters, tried some coil pots, and worked on our skills on the wheel. And now for our first real firings!
Here is Matthew attending to the Bisque firing, and loading of the kiln
After the bisque firing was done, on another day we took to glazing. It was very experimental, we aren't experts yet. We tried some brushing and some dipping, some mixing and some dripping. The little girls had made food items and bowls for their dolls. The boys mostly made pinch pot monsters and pots. I tried a few things on the wheel.
The loading of the kiln for a glaze fire. What goes in is never the same as what comes out. It's pretty exciting, and a long 18 hour wait! We love checking the temp every hour for the first four hours to watch it climb from 500 degrees to 999 to 2000 degrees. The hardest part of the wait is when the kiln is done, but you have to wait another day for it to cool down! No peeking, or the surprises inside may crack from the drop in temperature.
Here are most of our treasures from our first family clay camp and firing!
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