Well I managed to get the kiln loaded in a single day on Tuesday, it got fired on Wednesday and when I got in on Friday it was still too hot to unload, I did mange to get a sneak peek into the kiln though, it looks like a good firing, but I won't know until I manage to unload everything which is on Monday now.
On another note we had a visiting lecturer for the day, all the way from St Ives. the lecturer in question was Jack Doherty who is lead potter at the restored Leach Pottery in St Ives and is the retired Chairman of the Craft Potters Association here in the UK. So we got to handle pieces from their standard range that they are producing, they are very nice pieces to handle, we also got to handle his personal work. The though the whole lot is soda fired, his work tries to avoid the "orange peel" affects that is the signature of soda firing. His work also has subtle blue colours throughout, as it was explained that he plays about with the slips to resist the soda and alter the colours.
He also did some demonstrations for us in porcelain, showing us the Leach pottery porcelain range of work and also how to make his own, which used 3 piles of clay and then coils. All the work was made on the wheel, though the first stage of his work he beat it into centre with a mallet that belonged to the pottery and with his fists. It gave me some ideas on what to do for some bigger pieces.
I also got to speak to him one on one about my work, as my tutor wanted me to ask about doing a pottery start up down there in St Ives, but it is a little far from anyone I know to help out with the little one. He was definitely an amazing potter to talk to.
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