April is breathing new life into the studio

                                    Life never seem to slow down around here!

                          Harry kiln was taken to his new home at the start of April
                          which ended up being only in the next suburb

I packed him up safe and sound

and with the help of Steve and friends Bree now has a big kiln 

and once a few renovations are done  she should be cooking

I managed to get my little mobile wood kiln, "Rocky",

firing with gas for the first time this month 

and it is very efficient.

 I started with a bisque fire 

but I quickly discovered that
this little guy is just a bit TOO enthusiastic
to comfortably fire a safe bisque!

After watching the first load explode
I ended up repacking and firing to 300˚ with the lid off.

Can you believe it got to 300˚
in about 2 hours with the lid off ???!!!!
(With the lid on it was about 20 minutes.)

Keeping it open was the only way I could slow it down
in order to stop things exploding.

(I won't be trying to bisque in this kiln in the future!)

Once it got to 300˚  I put the lid on
and it was all done a couple of hours later.

I look forward to doing some cone 10 reduction glaze firings in the near future

and also some raku with my students.
It is a fabulous little raku kiln.

This week my beautiful new Rohde electric kiln left Adelaide 

on a truck bound for NSW it is a heavy bundle at 500kg.

The transportation is a substantial task! 

In anticipation of its arrival 

I have been getting organised. 

Once in place this 500 kg beauty 

will not be easily moved so

I have been modifying shelves, attaching wheels 

and making storage for kiln furniture so

that it can be easily accessed when loading the kiln. 

I love being organised like this when I can manage it.

These shelves can fit behind the kiln 

and can be moved out when needed.

 It is important to me that everything is flexible in my studio

so that the space can be adjusted 

to suit different making needs and numbers of inspired students.

Hopefully the new kiln will arrive in early May 

and I will make a special welcome post about it.

AND...

The garden is doing its Autumn Zygo thing

                                After an immensely busy start to the year with family and travel
                                 I have been feeling the lack of time in my sacred creative space.
                                   It is great to now be settled back into studio work full of ideas.

                                            Here is the link to my quiz master husband on
                                                         Million Dollar Hot Seat 
                                                                    aired last week,
                                          filmed when we were in Melbourne in February