I was most anxious about my Tall Bird. He wound up 16″ tall and in spite of lots of flame and soda, being right at the front of the kiln, he has retained some cheerful areas of colour to contrast with the light orange peel. He can be used as a vase – I should take a photo of him like that, and could also be a pouring vessel for celebratory libations.

The other pot that I hoped would be fairly uniformly affected by flame and soda is a larger grooved piece, with a sit-down-in lid. I guess it can be a Cookie Jar. I suspect there will be more pots carved in this way in my future.

Otherwise I had optimistically brought along some pieces from the previous firing that I felt were rather dead or flat. Re-firing has really given them some life, so they’ll be added to my stock, here in my studio or at Circle Craft. The teapot has blue orange peel all over, albeit a little lighter blue than before. I am looking forward to seeing what salt workshop leader Jackie Frioud recommends for flashing slips in June.

One of my jugbirds also is saved by its second soda firing, and is now glazed all over (in spite of having no glaze applied to its outside).

I experimented with the wood and soda/salt firing custom of loading pieces stacked. These little ice cream bowls bear wadding marks on their rims where they were kept apart but are smooth to the touch. The method does require that the rims are exactly the same size.

One mug proved very comfortable to hold and is a fine example of Lorna Meaden’s yellow flashing slip. I’ll use that again!

The last jug bird shown here is large and practical, and is showing off its warm coat and juicy beak.

Jackie had phoned me some days ago to let me know that it was time to refresh my stock! So I put together a group of earthenware jugbirds and some of my freshly soda-fired pieces. The first two toasty jugbirds are now there. I was pleased with how the flashing slips on these behaved in the firing.

There are also a couple of new toasty vases and a selection of yunomis and mugs. Here is one of the vases.

But so much depends on where a pot is placed in the kiln. Just to show you the difference between one side and the other here are two photos of another jugbird. Luckily for me I shall join the TriCity Potters’ upcoming group firing in early April so I plan to have this piece re-fired, asking the techs to have the dry side face the flame and blasts of soda and see if that evens out the surface.

Similarly I find that this teapot isn’t orange peely enough for my taste. I don’t like the dry areas, so this one also will be re-fired. The bottom line is that, even though soda results can be delicious, my heart still yearns for the consistency of salt firing. It’s not possible for me to build a salt kiln in my Port Moody backyard so all I can do is tell BC’s salters that I’d really appreciate the chance to sneak some pieces into a salt firing once in a while. I’m happy to help with loading, firing, shelf clean-up and costs.

A second and larger Bird Rhyton may pass muster. My hand is holding the good side, with a golden bill visible, and the other photo shows that the bill is also gold, but old, matt gold. Tell me what you think. Shall I fire this guy again too?

I’m holding on to this grooved vase pro tem, and this reamer (lemon squeezer). They turned out well.

Meanwhile, I have been back at the wheel today, throwing the bodies of my colourful earthenware jugbirds. I must finish those so that I can once again clean out the red clay from my wheel and wedge up some more stoneware and throw pots for the next soda firing.

Eric and other Raiders hope to paint plates again soon, so I need to make more slab plates  and compile a list of everybody who has painted plates here. We have a plan..