Test tiles ready to load

These are the glaze batches and test tiles I've been working on the past two days, that will be going in this kiln load.

After lunch I decided to play with the bag wall some more and redid it (twice in 2 days). I also reduced the exit flues a bit. I think too much heat is going up the chimney. There's a new school of thought about flue sizes, so in the interest of fuel economy, shorter firing potential,and my need to continually experiment, I reduced the flue to about 47 sq in, about 17" less than was recommended by one source. I also removed two layers of brick from the chimney, which I had Shane raise for the last firing and lowered the bag wall. Those changes worked; but they worked too well, with the bottom now getting too hot.

I'm hoping that these current alterations will shorten the 24 hour plus firing which includes an overnight candling, and give me a more even firing. I'm also going to leave the spark arrestor cap on the chimney - hoping that removing those two layers of brick would open up the space enough to not impede the pull of the chimney. It should be an interesting firing! To be on the safe side I've unscrewed the cap in case it becomes necessary to remove it.

I got 3 shelves loaded before it was time to head in and get ready for dinner at the seafood buffet. It was after 7 when we got home. I did a quick garden check and caught some snails in the act of chewing on some veggies and on one of my climbing roses. Who knew they could crawl 4 feet up a rose bush!! It was too late and I was too tired to continue loading, so I opted instead to get caught up with email and snail mail and watch the Lakers, who won and clinched the western division. Kobi was sensational!

This morning I need to check part of my veggie garden. Jim spotted that big, fat, bunny in there last night when walking Bodhi and I have some pea seedlings in there that would be his idea of a gourmet snack! I put down some blood meal a couple of days ago. It works to keep the bunnies and deer away; but the problem is that it has to be replaced every time it rains, which lately, has been every day! :-(

Till later,
June