A Woman And Her Kiln

"How is the kiln building going?", you ask...

Like all building projects the management of deliveries and the planning of various jobs in a structured time line is very important to achieving an uncomplicated building process.

So..

Having started work on the kiln a month ago I could now determine where the chimney, doors and stoke holes would be positioned and be able to show the builder before he put the roof iron on. There were bound to be adjustments needed to the structure.

I also knew if I brought in the extra bricks too soon it would make putting the roof over the kiln difficult, as the area around the kiln site is not spacious.

By the start of September I had built as much of the kiln as I could using my "common" bricks.

The next stage  required  hard and soft refractories which I had to order and arrange a crane for the delivery.

So with the lower part of the kiln complete I then had to wait until our handyman/landscaper/builder Hayden , had some time to attend to the kiln shelter. 

(Hayden Cairns http://www.haydencairns.com.au is a wonderful guy who has done a multitude of jobs around our place over the last 20 years from paving to building a fox proof chook shed, tree transplanting and various terracing projects that were just too much for us.) He is always busy because he is great at his work and a nice person to have around.

It was good for me to take a breath and to have a change of work form the intense brick laying.There is always plenty to do here. Spring is a great time to  spend in the garden and we have been trying to plant lots of indigenous plants to replace the big invasive and dead trees that we removed last year in readiness for the kiln building.

I have also been repotting my late  mums orchids.

By the end of September Hayden and his team put the roof on.

As soon as the roof went on it started to rain and we had some strong winds for a couple of weeks. Not great weather for working outside so I spent a bit of time making pots and ordering the bricks.

The bricks arrived by the start of October and my first job has been to move them.

Three pallets were left at the top of the drive for me to shift down and the crane brought 5 pallets part of the way down to just outside the studio. I am so appreciative of the effort the crane company made to negotiate up and down our difficult driveway swinging each pallet on its hook. My job is still huge as I move all the bricks one by one to the kiln site.

Gladly I have only had to move about 1,300 bricks from beside the road at the top of the driveway and the other 2,500 (that the crane moved), I can take from the driveway across a relatively flat yard to the kiln site.

It is now raining again so I will wait until the weather is better for outside work before I start building again. I am not in any rush. I won't be firing until next Autumn and I have glazes to mix and clay to recycle. There is always plenty to keep me busy. My aim is to have this baby built by March 2022.

Stay safe x