It's Ocarina October
.
Fun and games unloading the Bentengama
.
Ryan on blowfish
.
Clay Flambé on totem turtle
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Door unbricked, drawing the kiln
.
Can you tell the wife thinks highly of my commentary?
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

A couple more photies from early in the firing
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Towards the end of the weekend's firing, around 2:30 AM
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Exhausting fun
.
The process, not the chimney
.
Last stoke was at hour 35, two hours less than fall '24 and '25
.
Building a fire in the chimney didn't speed things up much
.
Maybe a propane burner at the anagama flue next time
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Some people just can't help themselves
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Hour 23
.
Getting slightly warm now
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

About 6½ hours in last night
.
Candled a fire the chimney, just to speed things up
.
High humidity, light rain, a little wind
.
Great conditions
.
Probably go 30+ hrs before throwing soda in, hope to finish before hour 36
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Time to biscuit
.
I sprayed rims and feet with Helmer (flashing porcelain), as those parts will not be glazed
.
The belly buttons? I want my pots to live, and everything alive has a scar
.
The holes in the feet? So water can drain out after rinsing
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire

Bowl throwing session
.
I like throwing wide pieces on hydrobats, because I can come back after leaving them overnight and they pop off, uniformly dry more or less, ready to trim
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Where I am in upgefukting those mugs
.
Don't worry, I'll continue to mess them up with a slew of incompatible design elements after bisquit
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

When I say, "I've got it handled," this could well be what I mean
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Threw this afternoon for the first time in four months
.
Just some mug blanks to start
.
I'll go for uniformity later
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Split wood
.
Put wood in the gap in the rick
.
So it's time to buck more logs
.
And repeat
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama #noborigama

Moved the split soft under roof to dry yesterday
.
Still a gap to fill, maybe a cord, cord and a half
.
After that, I'll split still more
.
Build two sizable holtzhausen, one round stack of hardwood, the other of soft
.
Five or so cords to go
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama

The pile of split soft, after adding to it
.
It's a full cord plus now
.
Maybe I'll move it into the covered rick today
.
#pottersofbluesky #ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama

Yesterday
.
Spent a few hours splitting white pine, cat spruce, some cedar
.
I burn hard and softwood in close to equal proportions during a firing
.
I'd like to have about six full cords of soft cut before winter
.
Enough for close to two firings
.
#ceramics #pottery #woodfire #anagama