The soda kiln in action at the Colorado Potters Guild

Guild members, Ginny, Jackie and Kate injecting salt burritos in the vapor kiln last April

On September 6 – less than 2 weeks from now, the guild is holding a group vapor firing for any members who want to learn about the process and participate.  Currently, only about 5-6 people use the vapor kiln at the guild.  I love the look of salt glazed pottery, and in fact, it’s mostly what I buy when I buy pottery for myself because it’s not something I make myself.  I need to get a few small pots ready between now and then so that I can get in on the action and  even think I still have a bit of cone 10 porcelain left in the studio to do so.  I don’t really know a whole lot about atmospheric firing because I fire in an electric kiln at home for convenience.  I borrowed the book below from the guild to read up on the process and philosophy before firing day.  I used to interchange soda and salt for this type of firing, but now know there’s a difference.  I’ll have to see what method the kiln director plans to use.

Meanwhile, I’ve been messing around with the template of my site and think I may have found the theme I want to use, but it needs a few tweaks.  It’s called Mandigo and for my first test run yesterday, I was pretty happy with it and think I can make it do what I want.  My static pages can be configured to have no sidebar like a website and the blog page can have either 1 or 2 sidebars.  I also know enough about using templates to make color, font, border, graphic changes, etc.

As you probably know, Denver is hosting the Democratic National Convention this week and it’s turned the city upside down.  I tried getting tickets to Invesco Field (where the Broncos play) on Thursday night so that I could hear Barack Obama accept the Democratic Presidential Nominee, but I am currently wait listed (and highly doubtful that I’ll score tickets at this point).  40,000 tickets were allotted to Colorado residents, and over 80,000 Coloradans applied for one.  Needless to say, I’m disappointed, but also relieved because I’ll avoid the heightened security and throngs of people attending the event.  I-25, a major highway that bisects Denver will be closed on Thursday night since it is adjacent to Invesco – it’s going to be a real mess for anyone trying to drive anywhere near there that night.

It is exciting to have the DNC here in town.  Tomorrow, I’m taking my daughter out of school for the day to go downtown to take in the “Presidential Experience”, go to Civic Center, City and Cuernavaca Parks where many of the protesters are camped out and are going to visit a few art galleries and public art exhibitions dedicated to the political process.  My daughter is almost 11 now, and I think it will be interesting for both of us.  Her teacher gave us her blessing, so hooky it is.  My husband also put his name in a lottery to see Rage Against the Machine perform at the Denver Coliseum on Wednesday as part of the DNC events happening around the city.  I’m not really interested  in this event – their music is way to angry for me.

That’s about it from me today,

~Cynthia