Trying to fall in love again!

I won't have fired the Pinecroft wood kiln this year. 45 firings over 8 years and this year nadda! I'm trying to fall in love with my gas kiln which is so much easier to prepare for, load and fire. Somehow though I miss the serendipity of the woodie. I also miss my buds, big time! So like the surfaces of our pots we have to build in the serendipity- the unexpected! Lucky for me I have a smallish 12 cubic foot gas kiln. It's still a gamble but you won't loose the farm. I fired the kiln in heavy reduction for an hour at Cone 012 and then medium reduction to Cone 11. Then instead of just shutting down I dropped it quick to 1900F but kept the pilots on. I then clammed up except for the damper being open an inch and down fired with the pilots to 1600F. I didn't know what to expect but I'm pleasantly surprised and motivated to do it again. The carbon trapping was beautiful and the birefringement( lusterous gold) was amazing. Not sure whether this is a version of striking or down firing. I needed to fall in love again. I'm once again excited to go to the studio and I have a direction. Gee I even swept, mopped the studio and cleaned out the clay trap- peeyou!. I moved my Bose speaker down there and I'm ready to rock and roll. I'm a couple of months away from visiting my buds in the Deep South. Really excited to be presenting a workshop with Captain Brian Nettles in Mississippi. Let the good times roll!