Bright, Sunny January Day

The window in the old part of the studio

 It was 46 degrees F when I went to the studio at 11:30am today: a bright, sunny day with a bit of wind. Inside the studio it was 56 degrees F with the heater on low overnight. The studio stays much warmer now because the addition that Chris built in 2014 has an honest-to-goodness door instead of the barn doors that were in the old studio. Those old doors let all kinds of cold air in. I am so grateful to Chris for having built the addition, not only do I have so much more space, but it's sunnier and warmer.

Old half of the studio with the new kiln

The "old" part of the studio now houses the glazes and work tables, with pride of place going to the new kiln I got last September. It's an L&L E23t-3 with a down draft vent; and I even got new furniture to go with it. I had my previous kiln, a manual Skutt, for 21 years. So I guess I deserved a new, programmable kiln for my 65th birthday. What a treat! I learned quickly how to work the computer and I'm delighting in how much simpler it is to get a good firing! 

The new air-tight door

Sunlight was streaming through the window and the glass front door today and, for a while, I was able to work without turning on the lights. 

I finished the last 3 Starry Nights lamps and made 6 brie bakers. It doesn't sound like much for a whole afternoon because of the time-consuming lamps. I figured out that carving out each stars takes one minute, and each lamp has about 45 to 50 stars!

Still carving lamps!