Kiln Tetris

All potters will understand the need to get "just one more piece" in the kiln. You have a deadline: a show, someone's birthday or Christmas presents that have been ordered. The problem? You have a small kiln, or a full kiln, or too many things you are trying to get done. I played this game with my last bisque firing and that makes a difference too. If it is a bisque kiln you can stack and lean and invade the personal space of every piece in there. If it is a glaze fire, you need to have gaps between every piece, nothing is allowed to touch and definitely NO STACKING!

My deadline is a show and I had a new product I wanted to add in at the last minute to my already full kiln. I unloaded everything I had loaded and stacked more pieces in wherever I could. Here are the pictures of each shelf. (Minus one, I realized I forgot to take a picture as I took out the last piece. I got too excited to unload!)

Top shelves pre-fire.

Top shelves post fire.

I had an extra half shelf with short items on the top.

 Here is where I missed taking a picture. This shelf included all the new items plus some small things stacked and piled in.

Bottom shelf, I added items inside each mug. Minis and baby bowls got stacked
and leaf ornaments and pendants added wherever they fit.

Leaf ornaments and pendants. There were a couple casualties here that
could have happened anytime from making to loading or even in the firing.

Bud vases (new item), dishes, mugs, minis, and baby bowls.

Beads, pendants, kids' items, whistle, soup mug, wine trivet/plates
and a spoon rest, and some stemless wine glasses.

Here is the tally of what I got in this kiln:

• 17 mugs
• 42 baby bowls
• 9 minis
• 12 dishes
• 13 bud vases
• 5 cups
• 1 whistle
• 1 soup mug
• 2 wine trivets/plates
• 1 spoon rest
• 13 pendants
• 98 kids' items
• 17 beads
• 149 leaf ornaments
• 85 leaf pendants

Making the total of pieces fired: 465! This is my new record. I've done just over 200 in this little kiln before, and it does make a big difference when you add in all the little items and do pretty much all small pieces as opposed to having one shelf dominated by a serving bowl or some taller pieces. Now to glaze it all...