An excellent weekend!  The standard of work was, as always, superb.

 As 1 of 4 ceramists on the Northern Potters Association stand I felt priviliged to be taking part in such a prestigious event.  After trying various permutations we settled on a symetrical layout which I thought looked modern and  professional (see larger image).

I  arranged my work by colour, keeping greens/blues on the main table and putting brown pots on the plinth (see larger image). 

When it is a work of art!  Or so a few people have commented about the wood for my next firing (larger image).

I am currently busy making pots for the Greenhouse Summer exhibition which takes place at Rufford Craft Centre between late July and early September.  The work will have a theme which I will reveal in due course.  Stock also needs to be replenished for Potfest in the Pens.

At the back end of April the Solstice kiln was finally finished and fired for the very first time.  The fire box door was made & hung during the early stages of the firing!  From the lighting of a small fire outside the fire box to the sealing of the kiln took 14 hours, the first few which were very gentle to dry things out.  The firing proper lasted about 10 hours.  The photograph (see larger image) shows the kiln at top temperature with flame blasting out of the chimney.

The glorious weather has enabled much progress to be made over the past couple of days.

The walls directly below the chamber arch that needed bricks to be shaped were finished a few days ago and 5cm of ceramic firbre blanket placed above the arch.

The fire box wall was completed a day or so ago.  This includes 2 removeable bricks where the fire will be initially lit.  The gap between the wall and arch will be blocked by a door when this happens.

The chamber wicket is nearly finished and just needs a few bricks to be shaped just below the arch. That will just leave the firebox door which I will need to obtain some angle iron and a few insulation bricks for.

Having to modify the bricks that the chamber arch is 'sprung' from and trying  to make do with a former which only covered about half of the required depth resulted in this part of the build taking longer than expected.  Note the cut arch bricks (see larger image) which will allow the chimney wall to be built up.