....the rest is up to the powers that be...

All the work is in the kiln, we said some prayers and the firing process goes on. Through the night the kiln was left at about 200 degrees to get any remaining water out of the pieces, and then at about 2:00 the temp was raised a little - 8:00 raised again to about 600 degrees. We unload sometime tomorrow afternoon. Until then, we clean and keep our fingers crossed that the kiln gods smile upon our work.

There are about 200 students here at Penland this session - two clay studios of about 40 students total. The rest is an amazing assortment of glass blowing, glass bead making, metals, iron, fibers. I have taken some time to wander and see the other studios, but last night, our work completed I got to take a more leisurely view of some of the other work going on. This is really a wonderful community of artists doing some really wonderful work. The studios are buzzing with activity late into the night. On Thursday there is a student auction, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the variety of work created here (and maybe even buying some of it!)

One of the great benefits of my work study job was meeting Charles. In his late 60's Charles has many tales to tell. He's been a joy to work with. He's been making an iron gong up in the iron shop. Late the other night as I lay in bed, the sound of a million crickets outside was punctuated by the clanging of Charles hammering his gong up in the iron shop on the hill. It made me smile!

Here Charles is consulting with Brian on the physics of gongs







This is one of the bead makers in the glass studio flaming a bead.