The Ice

Overnight the rain fell and turned to ice that glazed the trees, the roads, and our long driveway making it hard to walk up to the sawdust firing. But the fire kept going through out the storm and didn't stop until about 8PM tonight. For 29 hours the firing barrel smoked and slowly burned through the sawdust. I can't wait to see how the beads came out. It was still too warm to open the can tonight. I will look tmorrow.

It amazes me that the fire kept going through the heavier rain, wind and ice. At one point I was sure that it had gone out as the can felt cold. But then I caught a red glint from one of the air holes and smelled smoke and knew it was still alive. This picture was taken at about 11AM the next morning and the fire was still going strong.

A Sawdust Fired Pendant Vessel

This pendant vessel came out of a sawdust firing done on January 8, 2006. Again the weather was cold but there was no rain or snow falling. I had used very fine and dry sawdust and the fire burned out much more quickly. It was started at about 4PM but was completely burned out by the morning. This pendant has a glazed stripe down the front and back, has been previously pit fired, and was painted with a coat of copper carbonate before it was put in the the barrel. I think it came out very well and I love the pinkish aura around the stripe.