he gap in recent posts was because I spent most of the last 10 days helping fire my former teacher, Richard Bresnahan’s giant wood kiln at Saint John’s University.  This firing was three years in the making, and I led the morning shift as usual.  I had a blast with my shift-mates feeding the kiln more wood every 10 to 15 minutes.

The work is exhilarating, as the wood has to be carefully pitched into the chambers which are roughly 2200-2400 degrees.  To protect ourselves while we “stoke” we were welding sleeves, gloves, glasses, and face shields.  Here’s my fabulous crew \/.