Kiln loading

Just finished loading the little Olympic gas test kiln. I couldn't get all the tiles in because I was short of shelves. If I could figure out how to cut just one of my old silicon carbide shelves, I'd be able to fit everything in there; but I did get the most important ones loaded.

Firing will be tomorrow when I can start it up very early. This way if I run into a shortage of gas I can refill while the dealer is open.  Olympic says it can fire to cone 10 on 5 gallons of propane but of course that may not be for a prolonged firing. I have a 7 gallon tank and have the plumbing set up with a manifold, so I can also hook up the backup 5 gallon tank at the same time. Each, of course, has it's one on/off switch and hose., so I think I should be OK.

The rest of today is going to be spent doing some glaze math and catching up with a lot of snail and email to give my sore back a rest. Dinner is going to be margaritas and a chicken, onion, garlic, tomato, and serrano chiles stir fry with re-fried beans.

Studio reorganizing in progress

Photos of my partly organized "command center" tool storage above one of my wheels, and a table filled with more tools, etc waiting for new shelves and organizing.
Yesterday turned out to be a pretty productive day. The workers all arrived very early, so gardening plans were put on hold. First we had to have a meeting about paving the driveway, then and a meeting with friend Jim and Aaron about the studio and house "to do" list.
They got the pug mill oils changed while I took down my throwing tools and trim tools that were in various places, near their respective wheels. I filled 3 buckets with these tools! Then I removed all the screws and nails from shelves that held the tools, including my big tool unit, that my husband Jim has nick named "the command center".
They re-cut part of the command center and got it hung for me in a new spot. One of my wheels was stuck in a corner and I hated using it. So Jim and I moved both electric wheels to their new locations, and moved a work table between the two wheels (the messy one in the photo above). I spent the rest of the day sharpening metal and wood trim tools, damp wiping tools, nailing them on to the command center.
It's going to take me at least another full day to get these things organized and in place. I'm pulling nails out of some places on command center and hammering in others. These changes are going to make the studio much more functional particularly in the area of glaze and slip storage, with a new table in the plan for next to the spray booth, which will give me another place to store glaze and slip buckets.
A trip toBurnsville Craft show, which was huge, but pretty mixed in craft quality, was followed by a stop at our local hardware store for shelf brackets and wood for shelving and a couple of quick stops at one or two flea markets.. My table search was fruitless, so I'll keep looking, or just make one.
Time to get lemons squeezed for tonights margaritas.