I remember thinking in July that this summer in North Carolina had not been as hot as last year, but the last few weeks have proved me wrong. I'm beginning to appreciate it when people talk about the 'sultry south.' It has been stupidly humid and 90+ degrees for weeks now. Not ideal conditions for firing a giant salt kiln. The weather wasn't too bad during the loading, but we had a hot one for the final day of firing. We stuck it out, drank gallons of water, and all survived, taking a couple of days off during the cool down to recover. When we opened up the kiln the results were very pleasing, especially at the front of the kiln where we heavily reduced the pots.

The pictures start out with ones from inside the kiln during unloading and then switch to pics of pots in the barn just before and during the sale. The sale was on this past weekend, but also this upcoming weekend if you missed it (September 3rd and 4th, Saturday 9-5 and Sunday noon-5).

The front stack of the kiln.

Nice ashy pots in the front stack. Mark's is in front, and Adrian's jug hiding behind the prop.

Mark starting to unload the second stack.

Nice wood ash drips on this pitcher.

One of my bottles, fired on its side.

These shelves were at the top of the first stack and got extremely hot. Our wadding wasn't big enough on these bowls, so they stuck down tight with all the ash and salt n the atmosphere.

Stillman unloading pots.

One of Mark's big pots. This one weighs around 350lbs. Not so easy to get in and out of the kiln!

Some of Mark's pots ready to go up to the workshop.

Salty upside down mugs.

Pots from the mid section of the kiln -- my canister jars and Mark's vases/pitcher.

More of my canister jars and a couple of Stillman's juice cups.

Big pots in the middle of the kiln.

Fat jars about to come out.

Some of my planters on the top shelf and one of Stilly's honey jars.

This was a shot glass made with some raw clay brought to us by Dustin Fowler. Lovely dark clay which he assured us was cone 12 clay. It was not. Some of them warped and melted much more than this even.

One of the cone packs from near the back of the kiln. Cone 12 starting to go down.

The pots always look best when you get them unloaded and out in the sun.

Mark's massive jar out in the sun. "Enough." Mark Hewitt, 2016.

Big pots all lined up for cleaning.

My favorite big pot of the cycle. Mark Hewitt, 2016.

Mark Hewitt ash glaze planters from the back of the kiln.

Mark Hewitt planter. Close-up of the ash glaze.

Oak leaf incised decoration with ash glaze over the top.

Mix of mine and Stillman's pots.

One of my whisky flasks.

A few of my water bottles. These were a lot of fun to make. I can't wait to have enough to bottle a whole batch of beer.

One of my two-part vases. Ash glaze.

Couple of tankards and a vase.

Bud vases and a whisky flask.

Spotty canister jar.

My blurb, up in the barn.

Couple of different shaped vases -- I had fun adding the tops to them and like how the one on the left turned out.

Some of my wall pockets, hung up and ready for the sale.

The two large pots here were made by Adrian before he flew the nest.

One of Stillman's custard cups.

One of my custard cups.

One of my sawanaky's. I'm happy how fat I managed to get this one.

Tea set made by Adrian.

Rice bowls made by Adrian.

Display of Stillman's work.

One of Stillman's custard cups. I like the loopy decoration.

Stillman's blurb.

The pots look so good in the sun.

Stillman's custard cups.

One of my sushi platters.

A few of my tankards and one of Stillman's jars.

Various canister jars.

One of my favorite canister jars. This one got a nice firing: slightly buried in ash at the bottom of the kiln.

Another pleasing canister jar.

Some of Mark's vases and a wig stand on the right.

Pitchers and jar by Mark Hewitt.

Nice ash glazed jar and mugs by Mark Hewitt.

Baluster jugs by Mark Hewitt.

The sale! On Saturday morning there were more people than I have ever seen at a kiln opening. It was nice to see plenty of fresh faces who had never been out to the pottery.