I drove up to school Thursday evening before it got dark, and since Jeff got out of work early, he and the kids came along.  Ty and Connor stacked bricks, and Molly gathered wadding balls and threw them in a bucket. Nancy arrived in time to unload her sculpture.

The first thing we discovered when we got the door unbricked was that it was NOT a ^7 in the front of the cone pack — it was a ^6, ^8 and ^9.  So although we thought we had salted at ^7 touching, we were actually at ^6. It looked awfully hot in there, and I know that salting can freeze up a cone and affect the readings. Since we took the thermocouple out to spare it from salt damage, I can’t be sure what our final temp was, but judging by the matt-ness of some of the glazes, I am guessing we didn’t get much above ^6.

And no, I am not all eager to fire this kiln all over again, any time soon. It still seems like a lot of hours of commitment for a box of pots. The accidental nature of the firing is really appealing, but my time is so precious to me at this point that I want a more predictable outcome for hours spent.  I do like what salt can do to an unglazed surface, but I can’t picture this being my full time mode of firing.