Monday, March 10, 2008

A New Baby

We have welcomed a new baby into the family. She is big, weighing in at 500 pounds! Meet Bertha, our new Shimpo Cone Art 2827 kiln. She is 10 cubic feet with double wall insulation and a Bartlett controller. She has the amazing quality of heating up fast and cooling down slowly - we love her!

I felt so bad about her space being incomplete that as soon as we reassembled her and took this photo, I decided to finish painting the wall behind her. Now I hate the color and I'm going to get something else. I want something that will look clean and crisp. Maybe a blue or celadon color.


Yesterday we did our first test firing of Bertha. Today, I'll check the cone packs and decide whether or not she needs calibration. I am hoping we will be on steady ground. I will probably run her empty one more time before I put her to work.

I love this groovy unintentional self portrait by Alex.

4 comments:

jewelstreet said...

Whoa! Big baby, but she's beautiful. You should take another pic of her when you get her space done.

Caroline said...

Congratulations on the family member! 500 lbs seems like it would be a, errr, rough delivery! ;)

High Desert Diva said...

Hello to Bertha!

Chris Stone said...

oh what fun! After the, ah, 500 lb delivery I wouldn't have the energy to paint the wall!