We Made It to Mineral Point!

Hi everyone--sorry for our web absence this past week or two; as you can imagine, we've been a little busy! Both Joe and I had fine journeys to Mineral Point, although Joe did have some parking issues with the moving truck-towing-the-pickup-truck rig... Charley and I made great time getting here with no problems at all, and the bricks arrived the next day. We've spent the past week getting settled into the camper-sweet-home, getting running water, securing the camper down to the ground to keep it from blowing away, applying for a building permit, getting rid of the junk the last residents left behind...they seem to have lived like high-country miners, eating from tin cans and throwing their trash into piles! My parents have done an immense amount of work cleaning the place up, and tomorrow a bulldozer will come to get rid of the remaining foundations and general piles of rubble. We have had some time for fun, too, taking advantage of some music in town and enjoying all the local brews and spectacular sunsets! My mom, grandma, and I went around the property with shovels yesterday and transplanted small cherry, linden, and hickory trees from the pastures to the front yard. We'll have internet access at home next week, so I'll post some pictures then. Hope all of you are well!

Goodbye North Carolina!

Charley is making sure he will not be left behind! Joe just left in the moving van, towing the pickup truck. I will be heading out tomorrow after the bricks have been picked up. We'll miss all of our NC friends so much. Thanks for the good times, Tarheels!

Kiln plans

Welcome to our pottery blog! We're hoping to use this as a means to keep all of our friends updated on our pottery construction. Of course we'll have more to report once we actually move, for our first entry though I'm posting diagrams of our future kiln design. The kiln is based roughly on the Bizen noborigama. We are hoping eventually to use the first chamber for a combination of ash/flashing effects, as well as reduction glazes, with the second chamber being for reduction glazes, and the third chamber for oxidation glazes. The firebox, flue, and chimney proportions are based on proportions from measurements that I've taken from various other wood fired kilns that Christy and I have fired.

oops... I just noticed the bottom picture is incorrect the third chamber is only two shelves deep, I didn't push the paper together far enough when I took the picture.