Last Wednesday we, the Soda Workshop people, were invited to show up at the Shadbolt kiln for the big reveal. We waited until everybody was there before removing any of the delicious new ware.

Perhaps because we were only eight participants (due to a couple of last-minute drop-outs) there was lots of space around each pot and there seemed to be orange peeling or warm flashing results around almost everything. Of course I took photos of the kiln contents at the start and again when we’d removed everything from the front half. Bear with me – it was exciting!

As part of the privilege of using this kiln we spent some time wearing protective eye wear and gloves as we ground melted glass from the kiln shelves and applied fresh kiln wash for the next firing. There’s another soda firing scheduled for next week. The soda and wood kilns are becoming very popular for Shadbolt workshops and with groups renting them.

After we’d emptied the kiln we placed all the work on the big tables in the glazing room and shared notes on exactly what we’d done and which glazes and slips we’d used.

Fredi Rahn came in to see our results and, happily for me, she selected my new, grooved, lidded jar to display in the main building for a few weeks. I imagine it will advertise future soda firings. It is my current favourite so I took some photos of it and look forward to fondling it again soon! Many thanks to the very professional and kind technicians Linda Doherty, Tony Wilson and Jay MacLennan.

Today Al has taken some good photos of my other 18 pots from this firing. That’ll be my next blog – although the earthenware glaze firing ended yesterday so I expect Raiders will be waiting to see their results too.